The answer came the next day at school. I arrived with my heart pounding, only to see him—Wes. Tom’s younger brother, standing beside Tyler like he belonged there. It was like seeing a ghost wear a new face. Wes had answered Tyler’s plea to not feel alone on Father’s Day.
My son had reached out in his own quiet grief and found comfort in the only familiar echo of his father left. But I wasn’t ready. Not for the wave of emotions, not for Wes’s gentle guilt, not for the truth hiding behind Tyler’s sparkling eyes. And as I stood under the crimson leaves, face to face with the man who wasn’t my husband—but still showed up like one—I realized some ghosts don’t haunt to hurt… they haunt to help us heal.