Maybe you can stay.
Laura had always told me that Tomás’s biological father was dead.
According to her, they had been in a short and complicated relationship.
She said he had died in a car accident before Tomás was born.
There were no photographs of him in the house.
Laura rarely spoke about him.
And I never pushed her.
I thought the subject was simply too painful.
I never tried to replace Tomás’s biological father.
But little by little, Tomás began coming to me whenever he needed help.
At first, he called me Andrés.
Then one afternoon, something happened that I will never forget.
He was at school, talking to one of his classmates.
The boy pointed at me and asked who I was.
Tomás looked at me.
Then he smiled.
“That’s my dad.”
I heard him.
