Page 146 of Wonderstruck

I threw up my hands, my frustration spilling out, and myeyes pleading with hers. “I’m sorry, Daisy, but I can’t.” My hands raked through my hair, but the frustration kept climbing. “I can’t stand here and pretend the last nine years never happened. Why should I? Why shouldwe?”

Seems I was choosing anger.

My feet shuffled. “How can we stand here and act like this isgoing to change anything? By next week, he’ll be holed up in some seedy bar, forgetting about us again.”

Dadflinched but didn’t lash back. Instead, he sniffled, hisvoice raw. “I don’t want to be that person anymore.”

I crossed my arms, glaring at him. “Yeah, because afternearly a decade of drinking yourself numb, now you’re ready to change—”

“I don’t want to be that person anymore, Finneas,” herepeated, his voice trembling as he looked between us. Tears welled in his eyes. “I’m lucky I’ve gotten this far without ending up in a hospital bed before today. But I lost it. When you stopped returning my calls, I thought I’d finally pushed you both away. And if you were gone,andshe was gone, what was the point?”

His voice cracked, and he wiped at his face with shakinghands. “So I drank, and I drank, and I didn’t see a reason to be present anymore. But now I’m here, and I feelsickthinking about how much I didn’t want to be.”

Daisy burst into tears, grabbing his hand. “Dad, it’s okay.”

“No, it’s not,” he choked out. “It’s not. And I’m sorry.” Hegripped her hands tighter. “I’m so sorry, guys. I’m sorry for everything.”

Then he turned to me, holding out his other hand. Hisfingers trembled, and his face was soaked with tears. “I know it’s going to take time. I do. And I’m okay waiting for you to forgive me, even if that day never comes.”

I stared at that hand, my chest tight. I didn’t know if I couldtake it. This was the man who I thought hated me. Who I thought didn’t care enough to stick around.

Butthen Rory’s words came back to me.If there’s a chanceto still have a relationship with him, take it.

It seemed impossible.Feltintangible. Forgiveness wouldn’t come easy. It would take time, maybe years. But this? Maybe this was the moment I realised that being like him wasn’t the curse I’d always believed it to be. Maybe it wasn’t about fighting so hard to be different or polishing my armour before I walked out the door every morning—maybe it was about choosing who I wanted to be, despite the past that tried to define me.

Second chances were rare—hell, I knew that better than anyone after Rory. Life didn’t hand them out like apologies or empty promises. You had to earn them. Work for them. You had to teach the girl you love how to skate again whilst she bared her heart for you, and trusted you to take care of it this time round. And when you cherished them, they weren’t just a door cracking open; they were a test, a choice.

Because sometimes, giving a second chance to the right person at the right time wasn’t just about forgiveness. It wasn’t about letting go of the past. It was about the future—about standing at the edge of something terrifying and deciding to jump anyway. Because in the end, that was the difference. The difference between spending the rest of your life loving without fear or drowning in the regret of never taking the leap.

I looked back at Dad, seeing my reflection in his eyes.

This was a start. And I think all I’d ever wanted was a sign thatDaisy and I mattered to him. And seeing him sober for the first time in years, regardless of what got him here, was a start.

I stepped forward, a tear sliding down my cheek as I took hishand.

He pulled me in, his arm wrapping around the back of myneck, holding me like a father should hold his son.

And like years of bottled emotions had finally been uncorked, I broke.

I cried. With Daisy. With him.

A broken family, trying—just maybe—to start putting thepieces back together.

chapter forty one

i'm wonderstruck, blushing all the home

“Iwant to take you somewhere.”

Finn’s voice pulled my attention from the book on mylap. I’d crept out onto the porch just before the sun rose and had been swinging aimlessly on the porch swing ever since. When I looked up, the first thing I noticed was the light in his eyes—a vivid, almost electric green I hadn’t seen in a while. His cheeks were kissed with the cold, and his whole presence carried this quiet, magnetic happiness.

It was hard to describe. But I know the last time I saw itwas when he told me he loved me. And the time before that was after the recital. Come to think of it, he looked this way the first time I met him, too.

It was all in his smile. The way it curled at the edges, theway his hair sat kind of messy, like he’d barely run his fingers through it. Even the way his quarter zip was draped on him felt lighter somehow, like he wasn’t carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders for once.

If I had to pick a word I’d say he looked sunnier.

AndI could pinpoint the change to the second we left thehospital yesterday evening. After being in the room with his Dad, with Jack, with Dais, and coming out with a smile I’d never seen him show the world.

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