father?” I asked, my voice breaking.
She sighed, pretending to be exhausted.
“I just told you. Ernest died. Cancer. Fast. Painful. It’s over.”
I felt the ground shift beneath my feet.
“And no one told me? No one requested permission so I could see him? Not even when he was dying?”
Grace gave the faintest smile.
“Michael, you were in prison for stealing from your own father. Do you really think he wanted you at his funeral?”
I tightened my grip on my backpack straps.
“I never stole anything from
