“They’re not appointments you squeeze between meetings.”
He shrugged.
“I’m starting over.”
“Sabrina and I have a baby coming.”
“Things are complicated.”
From beside the door, Monica gave me a tight smile.
“Maybe this is for the best, Laura.”
“Michael finally has a chance to have the family life he always wanted.”
I turned toward her.
“He already had a family.”
The room fell silent.
Michael rolled his eyes.
“There you go again.”
I did not respond.
I stood.
I picked up my handbag.
Then I removed the condo keys.
I placed them carefully beside the divorce papers.
“Keep them.”
Michael’s expression softened into satisfaction.
He believed he had won.
Before turning away, I added, “Just remember one thing.”
He raised an eyebrow.
“Children remember who shows up.”
Michael gave a short laugh.
I walked out.
Five minutes later, he followed me into the hallway.
The elevator had not arrived yet.
He checked his watch impatiently.
Then he looked at me.
“Laura.”
I turned.
He lowered his voice.
“Don’t make this harder than it needs to be.”
“I’m not.”
“You know what I mean.”
I waited.
He sighed.
Then he said the words I would remember for the rest of my life.
“Take the girls—I have a son on the way now.”
For a moment, I simply stared at him.
Eleven years.
Two daughters.
Thousands of breakfasts.
School concerts.
Fevers.
Birthday cakes.
Bedtime stories.
Family vacations.
Christmas mornings.
And he reduced Lily and Sophie to something he could hand over because a
son was supposedly coming.
I could have screamed.
I could have slapped him.
I could have told him exactly what kind of father he had become.
Instead, I nodded.
“All right.”
His expression changed.
He had expected a fight.
“That’s it?”
“That’s it.”
The elevator doors opened.
I stepped inside.
Michael remained in the hallway.
As the doors closed, I saw him checking his phone again.
He was already somewhere else in his mind.
What he did not know was that my decision had been made weeks earlier.
I had accepted a senior design position with an architecture firm in
Vancouver.
The offer came with better pay.
It also came with flexible hours.
My sister, Rachel, lived twenty minutes from the office.
I had rented a small house near a good school.
The custody agreement allowed relocation.
Michael had signed the provision without reading it carefully.
