CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR

Jeff stood in the middle of the park watching her go. His mind was spinning and his chest felt like someone had reached in and squeezed his heart until it stopped beating.

His eyes fell on the little boy walking beside her.

The boy was four years old, which meant Claire, if that even was Claire, had gotten pregnant a full year after she died and had moved on and built a whole new life without him.

"Jeff." Irene's voice cut through his thoughts. "We need to go."

He didn't move and couldn't stop staring at the spot where she had gone.

"That could be her." He whispered almost to himself.

"Don't be ridiculous." Irene's laugh was too sharp and too loud. "Claire is dead. We buried her five years ago. That woman just happened to look like her."

Right, that was where he was confused, he had watched Claire being buried, how can one have such a striking resemblance to another?

"You're seeing things because you feel guilty." Irene continued in a softer voice that almost sounded sympathetic. "It's understandable. But that woman is not Claire. Claire is gone."

“No, she has to be Claire…maybe she had somehow survived, maybe she…”

"Jeff, stop." Irene's voice got sharper. "You're obsessing over a stranger. Claire is dead. You need to accept that and move on."

Jeff sighed, his mind was boggled and filled with a lot of questions. Zane came and tugged on Irene's hand. "Mommy, I'm tired. Can we go home?"

"Yes, sweetie." Irene's voice instantly softened. "We're leaving right now."

The drive home was tense and silent except for Zane chattering in the backseat about what he'd seen at the park.

When they got home, Jeff went straight to his office and shut the door. He brought out his system and typed

Amber Clark.

She'd said her name was Amber Clark from Chicago.

He typed it into the search engine and dozens of results came up. LinkedIn profiles. Articles about tech developers.

He clicked on the first LinkedIn profile and there she was.

Amber Clark. Senior Software Developer. Currently freelance consultant.

The account had only been active for about ten years. Claire wasn't dead ten years ago. She couldn't be Claire.

His office door burst open without a knock and Irene walked in.

"What are you doing?" She asked and her gaze fell to his system.

Her expression changed drastically when she saw what he was doing

“Jeff, stop. You're obsessing over another woman when I am still here." She blinked severally and tears spilled out.

“I am your wife”. She yelled.

“Soon to be ex wife”. He deadpanned.

Her expression grew hard and she glared at him. Walking up to him, she punched on his chest hard with her index finger.

“I am never going to divorce you Jeff, never”.

His eyes narrowed on her and a muscle twitched in his jaw, “what the hell do you mean by that?”.

“It means that you are going to kill me first before I divorce you”.

Jeff stood up from his desk, his hands clenched by his side, “we had an agreement”. He yelled.

“To hell with the agreement, I am never going to release you just so that you can run into the arms of another lady just because she looks like your dead wife”.

“I want a divorce and it has nothing to do with Claire”.

“You are divorcing me because of her, you are in love with a ghost and can't seem to let go”.

Maybe you're right." Jeff's voice came out cold. "Maybe I can't let her go. Because unlike you, I actually feel guilty about what I did to her."

"What you did to her?" Irene's laugh was bitter. "What about what she did to you? She trapped you into marriage! She manipulated you!"

"No, she didn't." Jeff's voice was quiet but hard. "You did. You lied about saving me. You made me believe I owed you everything. And then you stood by and watched me destroy an innocent woman because of your lies."

"I loved you!" Irene sobbed. "Everything I did was because I loved you!"

They didn't realize that they were yelling until Zane's small voice said from the doorway.

"Mommy? Why are you crying?"

Irene's face crumpled and she turned to Zane with tears pouring down her cheeks. "Because Daddy doesn't want us anymore."

"Irene, don't..." Jeff started but she cut him off.

Zane's grey eyes went wide and filled with tears. "Daddy? Is that true?"

"Zane, it's not you..." Jeff moved toward him but Irene was faster.

"Yes." She said it clearly and loudly. "It's true. Your father keeps thinking about another woman. Even though she's dead, he can't stop thinking about her. And because of that, he doesn't want us anymore."

"Irene! Stop it” Jeff's voice was sharp and he glared at her.

But the damage was done.

Zane's face crumpled and his whole body started shaking with sobs. "You don't want me anymore?"

"Of course I want you." Jeff dropped to his knees. "Zane, listen to me. This has nothing to do with you."

"You're thinking about another lady? You don't love mommy anymore and you don't love me?” Zane's voice was small and broken. "L

"I love you more than anything." Jeff reached for him but Zane stepped back.

"But you don't love Mommy." Fresh tears poured down Zane's cheeks. "And if you leave Mommy then you'll leave me too."

"That's not true." Jeff tried to move closer but Zane kept backing away.

"Yes it is!" Zane was crying so hard he could barely speak. "You're going to leave us and I'll never see you again!"

"Zane, no..."

But Zane had already turned and was running.

"Zane, wait!" Jeff started after him but Irene grabbed his arm.

"Let him go. He needs to calm down."

Jeff shook her off violently. "If anything happens to him because of what you just did, I will never forgive you."

He ran after Zane and his heart was pounding because Zane was small and fast and already disappearing around the corner.

"Zane! Stop!"

But Zane didn't stop and didn't slow down and his sobs echoed through the house.

Jeff caught a glimpse of him running through the kitchen and toward the back door.

The back door slammed open and Zane ran outside and Jeff was right behind him but not close enough.

Zane ran across the backyard and his small legs were pumping and he wasn't looking where he was going because he was crying too hard to see.

The back gate was open.

Jeff's blood turned to ice.

"ZANE! STOP!"

But Zane ran straight through the gate and toward the street and Jeff could hear cars and could see Zane's small body running blindly forward.

"ZANE, NO!"

Zane didn't stop and didn't look and ran straight into the road.

Jeff heard the screech of tires and saw headlights and saw Zane's small body in the middle of the street.

"ZANE NOOOO!”