Chapter 198

Ollie POV

“I know,” Jennifer said softly. “And I think—I think your papa needed to hear it from you. That you still want him. That you still love him. He’s been so convinced that he was hurting you by being around that maybe he needed his son to tell him that wasn’t true.”

We sat down on the couch in the waiting area. Jennifer got me a juice box from the break room and some crackers. I wasn’t really hungry, but I ate them anyway because my stomach felt weird and empty.

Other people started arriving for work. They looked at me funny—a kid in dinosaur pajamas sitting in the lobby—but nobody asked questions. Maybe Jennifer told them not to.

I kept watching the door, waiting for Papa to come through it. Every time it opened, my heart jumped. But it was always someone else. A business person. A delivery guy. Not Papa.

“How much longer?” I asked Jennifer for the third time.

She checked her watch. “Soon, sweetie. The airport is about twenty minute