Chapter twenty Two

"Daddy!" The door burst open and Zane came running in with his arms outstretched and his face lit up with pure joy. "Come play with me and Mommy! We're building a castle!"

Jeff looked up from his laptop and his chest tightened because Zane's happiness was so genuine and so innocent and he had no idea what was happening between his parents.

"Buddy, Daddy's working right now." He tried to keep his voice gentle.

"But you're always working." Zane's bottom lip pushed out. "Mommy says families are supposed to spend time together."

Of course she did.

"I'll play with you later, okay?" Jeff reached out and ruffled Zane's hair.

"Promise?" Zane's grey eyes were so hopeful.

"Promise."

Zane ran back out and left the door wide open and Jeff could hear Irene's voice drifting down the hallway.

"See, sweetie? Daddy's too busy for us right now. But that's okay, we have each other."

His jaw clenched and he forced himself to breathe through the rage because she was already starting her campaign and using their son as a weapon.

That night at dinner she'd made his favorite meal and the smell filled the entire house and made his stomach turn because he knew exactly what she was doing.

"I made pot roast." She announced when he came downstairs. "With those roasted vegetables you like. And I baked fresh bread."

Zane was already sitting at the table with his hands folded and his eyes bright. "Doesn't it smell good, Daddy? Mommy worked really hard."

Jeff stood in the doorway and wanted to turn around and go back upstairs but Zane was looking at him with such expectation that he couldn't.

"It smells great, buddy." He moved to the table and sat down as far from Irene as possible.

She served the food and kept up a steady stream of cheerful conversation directed entirely at Zane and Jeff sat there pushing food around his plate and counting the minutes until he could leave.

"Daddy, aren't you hungry?" Zane asked with concern written all over his small face. "Mommy made your favorite."

"I'm just tired from work." He forced himself to take a bite even though it tasted like ash.

"You work too much." Irene said it softly with a gentle smile. "You need to take better care of yourself. We worry about you."

He looked at her and saw the calculation behind her concerned expression and wanted to throw his plate across the room.

"I'm fine." His voice came out harder than he meant and Zane flinched.

The rest of the meal passed in tense silence broken only by Irene's attempts to engage Zane in conversation about his day.

The next few days followed the same pattern and Jeff found himself trapped in a carefully orchestrated performance where Irene played the role of perfect wife and mother and he was cast as the distant workaholic husband.

"Daddy, come see what I built!" Zane would appear at his office door several times a day.

"Daddy, Mommy says we should watch a movie together as a family!"

"Daddy, Mommy made cookies and they're still warm!"

Every interruption was innocent on Zane's part but Jeff could see Irene's hand behind each one and it made him sick.

On Friday evening she suggested they take Zane to the park.

"He's been cooped up in the house all week." She said it casually over breakfast. "Some fresh air would be good for all of us. Just a quick trip to the playground."

"I have work to do." Jeff didn't look up from his coffee.

"It's Friday evening." Her voice stayed light and pleasant. "Surely you can spare an hour for your son."

The way she said it made it impossible to refuse without looking like a terrible father and she knew it.

"Please, Daddy?" Zane's voice was small and hopeful. "I want to show you how high I can swing now."

Jeff's resistance crumbled because he couldn't say no to that face. "Alright. One hour."

Zane's whoop of joy should have made him happy but instead it just made the guilt worse.

The park was crowded with families and children running and laughing and the late afternoon sun made everything look golden and perfect.

Irene had dressed carefully in a sundress that used to be his favorite and her hair was down and she looked exactly like the woman he thought he'd loved all those years ago.

She made sure to walk close to him and made sure other people saw them as a family unit and made sure to laugh at everything Zane said.

"Watch me, Daddy!" Zane called from the top of the slide.

Jeff watched and clapped when Zane came down and tried to ignore the way Irene's hand brushed against his arm.

"He's growing up so fast." She said it softly with her eyes on Zane. "Sometimes I can't believe he's already five. It feels like just yesterday we brought him home."

Jeff didn't respond because anything he said would be a lie.

"Remember how scared we were that first night?" She continued like they were having a real conversation. "How we took turns checking on him every hour to make sure he was breathing?"

He did remember that and the memory made his chest ache because that had been real and those feelings had been genuine even if everything else was built on lies.

"We've been good parents to him." Irene's voice dropped lower. "Whatever else is broken between us, we've given him a good life. A stable home. Love."

"Don't." His voice came out sharp.

"Don't what?" She turned to look at him with wide innocent eyes.

"Don't pretend this is about Zane." He kept his voice low so the other parents nearby wouldn't hear. "This whole performance is about you trying to manipulate me into staying."

"Is it manipulation to want my son to have his father?" Her eyes filled with tears. "Is it manipulation to not want his world destroyed?"

"You should have thought about that before you lied to me for over a decade."

"So he should suffer because I made mistakes?" A tear rolled down her cheek. "That's not fair to him."

"Mommy, Daddy, come push me on the swings!" Zane called and saved Jeff from having to continue the conversation.

They spent the next thirty minutes pushing Zane on the swings and helping him across the monkey bars and pretending to be a normal happy family and Jeff hated every second of it.

He excused himself for a moment, he suddenly felt suffocated and needed to breathe.

He suddenly found a cemented chair and sat down for a moment, watching Zane swing from where he was seated.

His heart took a dive when his eyes fell on someone.

“Claire!” He muttered and dashed towards her.