Blair led her out the front door and onto the sidewalk that ran in a circle around her neighborhood. “Talk to me,” she said when she realized Erin wasn’t going to say anything without a little prompting.

“I’m seriously fine. I’m sorry. I don’t know why I was starting to get emotional. I think I’m getting my period or something.” Erin laughed and shook her head. “Not that you needed to know that.”

“Hey, we’re both women. It’s nothing I haven’t dealt with myself. You don’t need to apologize, though. I’m  the one who should be apologizing. I shouldn’t have brought up your last name.”

Erin shrugged. “I’m sure it would’ve come up eventually. My dad left when I was two, which is really ironic since that’s the same age Nolan was when his other mom left. I can’t remember my dad, so all I know about him are the things I’ve heard. In reality, his leaving should be much harder on April since he left when she was ten, but it always felt like he left because of me. He was with my mom for seven years before my sister was born and then stayed around for ten years of her life, but couldn’t make it more than two years with me.”

This was a lot for Blair to take in, and she wasn’t sure what to say. She knew nothing she could say would make things better, but she wanted to say something. “Well, since I know he didn’t actually  leave because of you, do you know why he did?”

Erin gritted her teeth as she stared straight ahead. “He was having an affair. It apparently started right after I was born, and he left when his other woman got pregnant. He essentially exchanged his old family for a newer model. I only know that because I overheard my mom talking about it with one of her friends when she didn’t think I was around. He paid child support and would send a birthday card to me every year. He never wrote anything in it. Just signed Dad and threw in a hundred-dollar bill, like that somehow made up for him not being in my life. That’s why I told Bianca, my ex, that I didn’t want anything from her when she left, not even child support. If she doesn’t want to be part of Nolan’s life, I want her completely out of it in every way.”