School.
Everything suddenly made sense.
“Did Nathan pay her?”
“He helped cover her rent.”
I stared at Vanessa.
My ex-husband had claimed he couldn’t afford to support his own son.
But apparently, he’d found enough money to help finance someone who monitored our lives.
“Why would he do that?” I whispered.
Vanessa looked miserable.
“He told my mother you wouldn’t let him see Joel.”
I nearly dropped my coffee.
“What?”
“He claimed you were keeping his son away from him.”
I shook my head.
“Nathan never even asked to visit.”
Vanessa looked down.
“He convinced Mom that she was helping him stay connected.”
“But why not contact Joel himself?”
She hesitated.
“Because if Mom told him Joel was happy, Nathan could pretend he hadn’t done anything wrong.”
Those words struck me harder than I expected.
For five years, I’d made excuses for Nathan.
I’d told Joel his father was busy.
That he’d probably forgotten to call.
That maybe something had come up.
Meanwhile, Nathan had been receiving regular updates about the child he’d abandoned.
He knew Joel was growing up.
He knew we were struggling.
And he still stayed away.
I took a deep breath.
Then I asked another question.
“Why was Ivy throwing away Nathan’s clothes and watch?”
Vanessa’s eyes filled.
“Because Nathan left me two months ago.”
I
stared at her.
“Let me guess. He said he wasn’t happy anymore?”
She gave a sad laugh.
“He told me he needed space.”
I shook my head.
Of course.
The same words.
The same excuses.
The same disappearing act.
Vanessa wiped her eyes.
“He left me with bills, too.”
“Credit cards?”
She nodded.
“And a car loan. He promised he’d take care of everything.”
I almost laughed.
Nathan had made me the exact same promise five years earlier.
Then Vanessa added something that stopped me.
“Lily keeps asking when Daddy’s coming home.”
My anger softened.
Suddenly, I wasn’t sitting across from the woman Nathan had left me for.
I was looking at another mother who had to explain to a little child why her father had vanished.
I knew that pain.
I knew what it felt like to watch a child stare at the front door, waiting for someone who
wasn’t coming.
“Where’s Nathan now?” I asked.
Vanessa hesitated.
“My mother says he’s staying with someone else.”
