EXCERPT: "I like you, Jake. I feel I can speak openly with you—is that okay?”

“Of course.”

“Good.” He paused briefly. “First of all, you know I love Phoebe. She’s my own flesh and blood, so don’t take what I’m saying wrong.”

Jake’s curiosity, along with his discomfort, grew. Martin pursed his lips and frowned. “Rose is closer to Phoebe than me. I have to confess, I’m closer to Zoe. I know it isn’t right—parents shouldn’t have favorites. They should give all their kids the same amount of love. But I didn’t do that. I had my reasons, but they don’t matter. They don’t make it right, and I know it hurt Phoebe growing up. I don’t mean I was a bad parent. I didn’t neglect her, but Zoe always got more of my attention.”

Jake weighed his words. If Martin’s intent was to make him love Phoebe more, it was working.

“That’s funny. She’s never said a bad thing about you.”

“Maybe not, but I know it’s there. I saw it in her eyes when she was a kid. And now I can’t take it back.”

He tried to find the right thing to say. “Can’t you make it up to her?”

“I’ve tried, but for some reason, it’s always harder with Phoebe.” He pointed a thick finger at a faded beer sign over a liquor store. “Her sister was all smiles and giggles. She could be a little demon too—I’m not stupid. In high school, we lost plenty of hair over Zoe—but it was hard to stay mad at her. She was a charmer. Still is. And I needed that, especially when she was young.”

Jake pulled into the parking lot. He put the Chevy in park but stayed in the cab. So did Martin.

“I don’t get it. Why did that matter so much?”

“Well, here it is. When I was your age, I had big plans. I was a hard worker, a quick study. I could do just about anything with my hands. Rose was a pretty woman, sharp as a tack, and she had every right to expect something from the man she married.”

Uh-oh, here it comes. My job.

“Then I went to Korea. I was a rifleman. I won’t say much about it, except I saw and did things a person never wants to tell his wife and kids.” He paused and gathered himself. “When I came back home, I couldn’t get back to normal. I couldn’t sleep. I had nightmares. I couldn’t focus, and I was angry all the time. I took a job, any job, just to keep my hands busy—that calmed me down. And when I came home from work, I drank. A lot. That’s how I got by for years. I forgot about my big plans. I didn’t care anymore. They seemed pointless. “I became a stone around my wife’s neck. She tried to help me, but I pushed her away. I’m surprised she didn’t leave me. I deserved it.

“After a while, I started to think about shooting myself. I thought about it all the time.”

Jake swallowed. “What stopped you?”

“One day I found myself holding these two baby girls. They stared up at me with their big brown eyes, smiling and cooing. They didn’t know about the holes I had in me—they didn’t know what I’d done in Korea, and they weren’t going to judge me. And I thought, if they can look at me with love in their eyes, then maybe I could start over. Maybe I could stand to look at myself in the mirror again.

“After that, I was okay. I was a good dad. Better than most. I came home every night and played with my kids. I read them books and told them bedtime stories. We had picnics by the creek. Vacations up north. We made them study and do their chores, and we brought them up to be good kids. They never had any shortage of love, although, like I said, I did favor Zoe—but now you know why. She wasn’t so quiet and serious like Phoebe, and she always cheered me up. I love Phoebe just as much, but it’s harder for me to show it.

“So here’s where I’m going. I can tell Phoebe loves you. That’s the most important thing, but it’s not the only thing. She’ll expect a lot from you. She’ll challenge you. In fact, I know she won’t be happy if her life isn’t better than her father and mother’s—do you understand me? I don’t mean you have to make a lot of money to make her happy, but if you could give her more than I gave Rose, more than just a working man’s life, I know that she’d be grateful, and so would I.”