“Hi,” it began. “I know you probably don’t want to hear from me. I just wanted to say I’m sorry if I made anyone uncomfortable. I never meant to. I wasn’t trying to be creepy. I just… I always felt like I didn’t belong. You guys seemed like a real family, and I was just watching from the outside. That’s why I kept those things. They made me feel close, even if I wasn’t.”
I stared at the screen for a long time, my chest tightening.
I sat down and cried.
How had I missed it?
I called Tom. I told him about the message. About what Jake had written. He didn’t say anything for a while. Just breathed heavily on the other end of the line.
“I should’ve seen it,” he finally said.
We agreed to talk to Jake together, this time with open ears and hearts. No judgments. No accusations.
We drove out to his mom’s the next weekend. Jake met us outside. He looked older. Tired. Nervous.
We sat down and let him talk.
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