No Longer Waiting For You Chapter 08
Rodney really waited downstairs. He waited from three in the afternoon until six in the evening.
Everyone at the law firm had left before Konnor finally came out. He looked at Rodney sitting on the steps and let out a sigh.
“Come with me.”
Rodney sprang to his feet, a flicker of hope flashing through his eyes. Konnor drove him to the entrance of a kindergarten.
“Tanny goes to school here,” Konnor said. “They’ll be out in ten minutes. You can look at her from afar, but don’t go over and scare her.”
Rodney nodded, staring fixedly at the kindergarten gate.
Ten minutes later, the dismissal bell rang. The children came out one by one, each holding a parent’s hand.
At last, Rodney saw Tania.
She wore a pink little dress and two pigtails, noticeably taller than she was in his memory. She held Konnor’s hand, smiling brightly.
“Mr. Warrington, the teacher said my drawings look really pretty today!”
“Did she? Then you’re amazing, Tanny! How about we go have your favorite strawberry cake tonight?”
“OK!”
Rodney watched the scene, his heart hurting as if it were being sliced by a knife. The person who should have been holding her hand, listening to her share her happy little moments, should have been him.
He couldn’t help taking a step forward. When Tania saw him, she shrank back behind Konnor, peeking out with half her tiny head and looking at him timidly.
“Mr. Warrington, who is that man?”
Konnor patted her head. “He’s a stranger. Don’t be afraid.”
Rodney’s tears fell at once. His daughter no longer recognized him after a serious illness.
I watched it all quietly, then walked over from behind and said flatly, “Rodney, go home.”
Rodney looked at me, his eyes reddening, his voice catching. “Liv… I was wrong. Will you come home with me?”
“This is my home.” I looked at him calmly. “Rodney, we’re divorced. Don’t come here again.”
After that, I took Tania’s hand and turned to leave.
Rodney stood where he was, and a tear hit the ground with a soft pat.
Rodney didn’t leave. He rented a one-bedroom apartment across from the kindergarten. Every morning at seven thirty, he appeared on time beneath the plane trees by the roadside.
He never came close — he only stood at a distance, watching Tania bounce toward the school gate with her little backpack.
At four thirty in the afternoon, he stood in the same spot again, watching Konnor and me hold her hands as we walked out.
Sometimes he carried a thermos, filled with oatmeal he had made in the morning. Other times it was strawberry cake Tania liked.
He left the things in the guardroom by the gate, along with an unsigned note, then turned and walked away.
But every time, I sent everything back untouched.
The security guard tried to persuade me. “Ms. Robbins, that man looks sincere. He stands here every day, out in the wind and sun.”
I smiled and said nothing.
Sincere? Five years of coldness and neglect couldn’t be made up for with a few thermoses.
That afternoon, a torrential rain suddenly poured down.
When I rushed to the kindergarten with an umbrella, I saw Rodney standing at the gate, soaked through. In his hand he gripped a small pink umbrella tightly, eyes unblinking as he stared toward the classroom building.
When Tania ran out, he instinctively lunged forward a step — then stopped short.
I opened my umbrella and pulled Tania into my arms.
“Mom, that man is there again,” Tania whispered against my ear.
“Ignore him.” I took Tania’s hand and turned to leave.
“Liv!” Rodney called after me.
I stopped, but didn’t turn around.
“Tanny’s cold medicine has run out. I bought some and left it in the guardroom — and this.” He ran over and held a beautifully wrapped box out to me. “It’s the starry-sky projector Tanny has wanted for a long time. I asked the teacher, and she said it helps kids sleep.”
I looked at his drenched hair. Rain streamed down his cheeks and dripped onto the box.
“Rodney,” I said, meeting his eyes calmly. “I told you — don’t come and disturb us anymore.”
“I just want to do something for Tanny.” His voice was pleading. “Liv, I know I was wrong before. I’m not asking you to forgive me — just asking you to give me a chance to make it right.”
“No need.” I pushed his hand away. “Konnor already bought one for Tanny.”
Tania suddenly sneezed. Rodney tensed immediately.
“Tanny, do you have a cold? Should we go to the hospital?”
“That’s none of your business.”
Holding Tania’s hand, I quickened my pace into the rain.
