no humor in it.
“You removed Mason from your health benefits.”
“That was temporary.”
“You secretly borrowed against our house.”
“I can explain that.”
“You drained our savings.”
“I can explain that too.”
“And you publicly proposed to another woman while still married to me.”
He looked away.
“That part,” I said, “does not require much explanation.”
Vanessa slipped the engagement ring off her finger.
Tyler saw the movement.
“Vanessa.”
She placed the ring on the table.
The diamond clicked softly against the plastic surface.
“I spent five years believing one of my sons was buried somewhere.”
Tyler’s face tightened.
“I know.”
“No. You don’t get to say that.”
She pushed the ring toward him.
“I visited an empty grave.”
I looked at her.
She wiped her eyes angrily.
“His name isn’t on it. Tyler told me the hospital arranged a private burial because everything happened so quickly. I used
to bring flowers anyway.”
My anger shifted into something heavier.
Grief for a woman I had believed, less than an hour earlier, had simply stolen my husband.
She looked through the window at Mason.
“He has my father’s eyes.”
Mason glanced toward us.
Vanessa quickly looked away.
Something about that gesture broke through the tension.
She wasn’t trying to claim him.
She wasn’t trying to take him.
She was afraid to even look.
I stood.
“I think Mason needs food.”
Tyler stared at me.
“That’s what you’re saying?”
“Yes.”
“After everything I just told you?”
“Especially after everything you just told me.”
I gathered my bag.
“Mason is seven. Whatever chaos you created, his world does not stop requiring lunch.”
Vanessa gave a shaky laugh through her tears.
I opened the door.
Mason looked up.
“Are we done?”
“No,” I said. “But we’re leaving this room.”
He looked past me\
at Tyler.
“Is Dad coming?”
Tyler stood.
I answered before he could.
“No.”
Mason nodded.
He didn’t argue.
That hurt too.
