"So how was the spa?" Chris asked while they were sitting across the table the next morning.

"It was really nice. I had a great experience." Angelina replied while taking a sip of her orange juice.

"Good. I'm glad you enjoyed yourself." Chris said with a smile. "So, Angie, do you know what you want to do when you're done high school?"

"I've been debating." She replied as they ate. "I feel like I'd really like to go into education, but the job market in that field is so hard to get into right now. So I feel like I should go for something more promising."

"My advice do what you love. Do what you want to do with your life. If you work hard you can find a way to make it work."

"True. But sometimes it means sacrificing a lot." Angelina said as she took a break from eating and looked at him.

"You're right. It does. Sometimes more than you think it will." Chris agreed.

"Was it worth it?" She asked.

Chris choked a little bit on his food as her question hit him out of nowhere. "Wow. That's a pretty big question, especially coming from you. At this moment right now looking at you, I'd have to say no."

"Then why'd you leave?"

"I traveled a lot."

"But mom showed me pictures. You used to be there a lot. Then she said you stopped coming around and she didn't know why."

Chris didn't know how to explain this to her. He didn't even really want to explain it to her. How do you tell your child why you just walked away, especially when you're far from proud of it. But she deserved to know an answer.

"Back then I was young, stupid, and given a lot of freedom. I didn't make the best decisions. I started to run with some bad people and got into bad things. I couldn't go home like that. If I showed up like that your mother would have killed me. Soon I realized I needed to straighten myself out. And a that point I thought you were better off without me. I had already fucked up a few times, I would probably have done it again."

"Mom said you were a really good dad when I was born."

"She did?" Chris asked surprised.

"Yes. And I would have rather had you there."

"You don't know that for sure."

"Yes I do. Do you know how hard it is going to school and doing family projects and heritage speeches and not knowing anything about half of who you are? To wonder why you weren't good enough for someone to stick around? To wonder what was wrong with you to make them leave?"

"Angie, I'm so sorry you felt that way. You were never the problem. I don't ever want you to feel like you're not good enough. I was the one who wasn't good enough for you. Your mom and I weren't together anymore, so we couldn't have that little picture perfect family. I was on drugs. I was binge drinking. I was never in the same place for more than a day. You didn't deserve to have that around."

"Then why did you have to leave in general. You didn't have to. After I was born you could have just stayed home." Angelina brought up.

"There's no way to say this without it sounding horrible. But I didn't want to. I've wanted wanted to wrestle. I trained for years and was offered a shot. Your mom encouraged me to take it, and I trusted her with you, so I went."

"You're right. That does sound horrible." Angelina agreed while Chris was looking upset. "Especially when you cleaned yourself up and still didn't come back."

"I couldn't look your mother in the eye after everything I put her through, let alone you."

"So you just continued to pretend like we didn't exist while you got girlfriend after girlfriend and branched out into music and cruises and lived the best life you could dream of?"

"When you put it that way it sounds bad."

"It is bad Chris, because that's exactly how it is."

"I may not have been around but I didn't pretend that you didn't exist."

"Really? Name one person you told about me?"

Chris couldn't answer. Other than his family and friends he had at the time, no one else knew about her.

"But I thought about you every day. And every year on your birthday I have a pink frosted cupcake just like you had at your first. And I always wish that you're happy."

Angelina was taken aback. That was not the answer that she was expecting to hear. She thought she was going to meet with a man who left her just to go live out his crazy dreams because he was selfish and when he succeeded never look back. But that didn't seem to be the vibe she was getting. That was an act of a man who cared.

"See this tattoo right here?" He asked as he pointed to an ink spot hidden within his sleeve. "It's an angel. It's for you. When you were born, I used to rock you and sing to you at night to help you sleep. I'd make up songs about how you were my precious little angel."

At this point Angelina was trying to not cry. As a child she was sad. When she got older and found out who he was she got angry. She held onto resentment for years and she wanted nothing more than to be mad at him right now, but she just couldn't be. He wasn't selfish. At least not complete.y He really did believe she was better off without him complicating her life.

"Brunch may have been a bit early to start this conversation." Angelina finally said.

"Yeah, this was a lot deeper than I expected it to be. Then again, part of me expected to still be talking to a five year old." Chris agreed with a nervous chuckle. "But you're clearly not five anymore."

"Nope. Not for some time now. Angelina laughed also.

"So did you have any plans for the rest of the day?" Chris asked.

"I was looking into the intro to DDP yoga at 4:00. That looked like it might be interesting." She replied.

"It is. I used to do it. How about I join you?"

"Really?"

"Yeah. We can wear our yoga pants and messy buns together and match!"

"I don't know about going that far." Angelina laughed. "But yeah. That sound like fun."

Chris did have things he had to tend to throughout the day so he wasn't able to be with her much, but he did show up at 4:00 just like he said he would. The class was pleasantly surprised to see him there as well since he wasn't scheduled for it. They spent a good amount of time talking before the class and during some breaks. Angelina also made sure to make fun of him a few times during the class. When it was over, everyone wanted to take pictures with Chris and talk to him, and Angelina waited.

"Thanks for waiting for me. You didn't have to, but I'm glad you did." Chris said as he met up with her outside of where the class was. She just smiled. "Do you wanna go get a cool down smoothie?"

"I would love a smoothie right about now."

"I know wrestling isn't really your thing, but we're doing a finale show tomorrow afternoon and I'm going to be performing. It would mean a lot to me if you were there." Chris said as they got their smoothies.

"Sure. Who knows, itt might be fun. I mean most of the men are in underwear right? Or at least shirtless."
"Hey! None of that!" Chris said as he put his arm around her. "No boys until you're married!"