The Day Everything Changed

Emma's POV

Eight Years Later

The coffee mug slipped from my hands and broke against the kitchen floor.

I stared at the broken pieces. My heart was beating so hard I could barely breathe. On the small TV screen across the room, Jake Sullivan's face stared back at me. He was older now, more mature, but still very handsome. Still the man who could make my world stop with just one look.

Alex called from the living room where he was doing homework. "Mom, are you okay?"

I managed to say "Fine, baby. Just dropped something." But my voice sounded strange even to my own ears.

I had been making Alex's afternoon snack when Sarah changed to the sports news channel. Now I was frozen in place. I was watching the man I had spent eight years trying to forget appear on my television like a ghost from my past.

The reporter was speaking, but I could barely hear her words. There was a rushing sound in my ears. Something about Jake leaving his team. Something about a move. Something about Portugal.

Portugal. My Portugal. The place where I had been hiding with his son for eight years.

Sarah said softly from behind me "Emma, you need to see this properly."

I forced my legs to move. I stepped carefully around the broken mug. Sarah had that look on her face. The one that meant she had news I definitely did not want to hear.

She said quietly "Your superstar ex-boyfriend is making headlines again. He is making big moves. Come here, you need to see this."

Before I could protest, she rewound the segment and pressed play. Jake's face filled the screen again. This time I forced myself to listen.

The reporter leaned forward. She said "So, Jake, you are leaving the Chicago team and moving to Portugal. What is behind this sudden decision?"

Jake shifted in his chair. His expensive suit fit him perfectly, but there was something different about his eyes. They looked empty, tired. He said "I just need to take care of some business there. Start fresh, you know? I have been feeling a bit burned out lately, and I think a change of scenery will be good for me. Portugal has a lot to offer."

The reporter asked "Are you planning to continue your hockey career there?"

Jake said "We will see what happens. Right now, I just want to focus on this new chapter in my life."

My blood turned to ice. Portugal. He was coming here, to my city, to the place where I had been hiding with his son for eight years.

Sarah paused the TV and turned to me. She said "He is coming to our city. What are the odds? Is he actually looking for you or something? Does he still remember you after all these years?"

I shook my head. I was trying to process what I had just heard. I said "He cannot remember me. I mean, why would he? I am sure he has dated dozens of women since then. I wish him well, I really do. I am happy he was able to achieve his goals. His mother must be so proud of him."

But even as I said the words, my heart was racing. The truth was, Jake and I were not in the same class anymore. He was a famous hockey star with money and success. I was a cleaner scrubbing floors and struggling to make ends meet. We lived in completely different worlds now.

I said "You know what?" I was trying to convince myself more than Sarah. "I just want to live my quiet life with Alex and you as my family. Even if Jake does come to Portugal, there is no way our paths would cross. And even if they did by some miracle, I could never tell him about Alex. I do not want him to know about that."

Sarah stared at me. She said "Are you serious? You would never tell him he has a son?"

I said defensively "What is the point? Look at my life, Sarah. Look at where I am. He is a successful athlete living his dream, and I am a single mother cleaning toilets. What good would it do to complicate his life now?"

Before Sarah could respond, the TV suddenly cut to breaking news. A reporter stood outside Portugal's main airport. She was speaking urgently into her microphone.

She said "We have just received word that hockey star Jake Sullivan has been spotted here at the airport in Portugal. In his interview earlier this week, Sullivan mentioned moving to Portugal but did not specify when. It appears that time is now. Fans are gathering, hoping to catch a glimpse of the athlete and maybe get a selfie with him."

The camera showed crowds of people with phones out. They were all hoping to spot Jake. Security was trying to manage the chaos, but it was clear that Jake's arrival was causing quite a stir.

Sarah said, her voice tense "He did not say when he was coming in that interview. But he is here now."

My body started trembling as the reality hit me. Jake Sullivan was in Portugal. He was in my city, breathing the same air. He was probably just miles away from where Alex was doing his homework in our tiny apartment.

I whispered "Oh Jesus. I do not want to see him. I cannot see him. What is going to happen to my life if he sees me again? What if he recognizes me? What if he finds out about Alex?" My hands were shaking.

My mind raced with terrifying possibilities. What if Jake was working for the same company I cleaned? What if he shopped at the same grocery store? Portugal was not that big of a place. There were a dozen ways our paths could cross.

Sarah said "Emma, breathe," but I could hear the worry in her voice too.

I said frantically "I do not want to rekindle anything. I have moved on. I have a life here, a routine. Alex is happy. We are fine without him. We do not need him disrupting everything."

But even as I said it, I knew I was lying. Seeing Jake on TV had stirred up feelings I had buried so deep I had almost convinced myself they did not exist anymore. The way my heart had jumped when I saw his face, the way my breath had caught when I heard his voice. It was like the past eight years had disappeared in an instant.

I whispered "What if he is really here looking for me? What if he somehow found out about Alex? What if his mother told him something?"

Sarah said "You are panicking," though she looked pretty worried herself. "Let us think about this logically. Even if he is here, Portugal has over 20,000,000 people. The chances of running into him are..."

She was interrupted by Alex bounding into the room. He was freshly washed and ready for dinner. He said "Mom, why do you look scared? What is wrong?"

I looked at my son. Jake's son. He had his father's blue eyes and stubborn cowlick. I felt my world tilting dangerously. If Jake saw Alex, there would be no denying the truth. The resemblance was too strong, the timeline too obvious.

I lied, forcing my voice to stay steady. I said "Nothing is wrong, baby. Let us get you some dinner."

But as Alex chattered about his day and Sarah busied herself sweeping up the broken mug, I could not shake the feeling that everything was about to change. Jake Sullivan was in Portugal. Somehow, I had the sinking feeling that our eight years of careful separation were about to come crashing down around us.

The life I had built, the secrets I had kept, the sacrifice I had made. It all felt suddenly fragile, like a house of cards waiting for the slightest breeze to bring it tumbling down.

And that breeze had just landed at Portugal's airport.

My phone buzzed with a text message. For one heart-stopping moment, I thought it might be Jake. But it was just a reminder about my work shift tomorrow at the Pinnacle Sports Management building.

The same building where, according to the news ticker scrolling across the bottom of the TV screen, Jake Sullivan was scheduled to meet with Portuguese business partners about his "exciting new venture."

Tomorrow, I would be scrubbing floors in the same building where the father of my child would be making business deals.

What were the odds that after eight years of successfully avoiding Jake Sullivan, fate would put us in the same building on the same day?

As I stared at the text message, one terrifying thought consumed me. What if this was not a coincidence at all?

What if Jake Sullivan had not come to Portugal for business at all?

What if he had come looking for me?