“I never meant to lie to you, it’s just … you started asking questions and I got worried that you’d start looking things up and realize that a Jason Smith never went to Florida State. I also didn’t want you wondering why someone with a business degree was working construction.”

“I didn’t even know we lived in Florida.”

He nods. “That’s where I’m from—and Paula … your—your mother. We got married young, right out of college, and then we had you. You were a bright spot in our lives. But we … we grew apart. We would have these epic fights about the smallest things.”

“Did you hit her?” I ask, although I couldn’t picture my father ever being violent.

“Of course not. But our marriage was never going to last. After a particularly bad fight—and what’s crazy is I can’t even remember what it was about—your mother and I decided to separate. I moved a few blocks away into a studio apartment, still holding out hope that maybe we could reconcile. Your mother had primary custody—courts usually favor the mother. So I got you every other weekend. Then I got laid off. I worked for a marketing consulting firm and they downsized.” He speaks slowly, probably sensing that I’m going to need time to process this all. “The good news in losing my job was that I was able to look after you while your mother worked.”

“What does she do?”

“Back then she worked long hours in the marketing department for a hotel. It was amazing for me, getting to spend all day with my little girl. You were so inquisitive. Always asking, ‘Why, Daddy?’

“Every day, you’d learn a new word or discover something. And you loved animals. We spent hours poring over books with animals, or I’d sit you on my lap and go on the internet and look at whatever animal you were obsessed with that day. You went through a really long koala stage and kept saying, ‘We go Australia.’

“We developed such a strong bond. I’d come get you every morning at eight and then return you when your mother got home. Sometimes that wouldn’t be until seven, and you went to bed soon after that. You started crying when I’d pull up to your mom’s house … Sometimes Paula had to call me in the middle of the night because you would wake up and scream for me. Paula wasn’t happy about that. She didn’t like that you only wanted to be with me.”