I called Barry in for an interview.
“I made mistakes; I paid for them. I just want a chance to prove I’m not that person anymore,” he told me.
He looked so much like my son that it felt like I was sitting across from him.
When I hired him, my wife was furious.
“WHY WOULD YOU HIRE AN EX-CON?! What if he robs us?”
But Barry never gave me a single reason to doubt him.
He always showed up fifteen minutes early. He did everything perfectly. He was polite and decent.
Before I even realized it, we had started growing close.
He came over for dinner. Sometimes even for the weekend.
I could see that my wife was angry about it.
But I didn’t pay attention.
I finally had the chance to spend time with a son again, even if I wasn’t his biological father.
One evening, Barry came over for dinner.
When he suddenly dropped his fork, my wife suddenly shouted:
“HOW LONG ARE YOU GOING TO KEEP LYING? When are you finally going to tell him the truth?!”
“Honey, enough,” I said.
“NO, NOT ENOUGH! How dare you lie to my husband and not tell him WHAT YOU DID TO HIS REAL SON?”
My heart stopped.
Barry had a STRANGE expression on his face, not looking at me.
“Barry, what is she talking about?” I asked.
He finally looked up at me.
