chapter 7

“Ma'am.” He began trying to reason with her, “You have to understand that this isn't the first time a child has been left at our establishment. Parents come with their kids and drop them off, going off to do whatever it is they have planned for the day, but they always come back for them before the day is over. So we assumed this was simply the case. It is not uncommon to see parents who don't wish to parent here in New York, ma'am.”

“Wow, so you had no sense of urgency? What if something had happened to his father or to my son while he was under your roof?!” She demanded.

“Then we would have called an ambulance.” He responded simply, “In my opinion, madam, I think it would be more productive for you to turn your anger towards your husband, who felt it was alright to leave his son here without saying a thing about where he would be going to you.”

The manager was right. She knew that. But she needed an outlet for her anger and Logan wasn't around. She decided to keep her anger; she'd release it to whom it belonged when she saw him.

“Come on Christopher, let's go back home.”

“What about daddy?” He asked as he joined her. “ I still haven't gotten my Happy Meal.”

“Tell you what honey. I'll get you three happy meals tomorrow, okay? So let's just go.”

“Really? Yay!” He said cheering up instantly.

They drove home in silence- Christopher was kept occupied with cartoons. And Marybeth was occupied with trying to find an outlet where her husband got the audacity to leave her son alone in some area. Where did he go? She asked herself although deep down she knew the answer. Throughout the drive, she kept calling him repeatedly, but it kept going straight to voicemail. They arrived back home and Logan wasn't there. She got dinner ready for only her and Christopher this time.

The incessant buzzing of his phone woke Logan up. He was in the hotel room, curled up with Christa who was asleep next to him. The phone buzzed again and he picked it up in frustration.

He opened it to find multiple emails from the toy car shop. Why on earth were they calling him? He didn't buy anything from them. He saw a missed call from Marybeth and numerous text messages, the first being around six pm he checked the time; it was past eight now. He opened her texts.

You left our son alone with strangers for hours?!!!!

Where are you???

Answer me. Why was it so important that you had to leave our son and you couldn't call me to come get him?

This is our son. Something bad might have happened to him.

Fuck! He'd forgotten that he had left his son at the toy shop, that must have been why they called him. He had been so caught up in Christa that he forgot. Now, Maryneth was probably furious at him, but he already had a plan forming in his mind. He got up, got dressed, and left for home.

She'd finally put Christopher to bed, a difficult battle though it was, it was like he finally caught on that his daddy had left him at that shop, abandoned him.

“Does daddy not love me?” He'd asked her, his lips trembling from unscheduled tears. She gave no reply in response, choosing to hug him. She would no longer lie to cover up Logan’s mistakes.

She sat in the living room, waiting for him to show and he did, around past nine.

“Where were you?” She asked calmly.

“Listen, I have no excuse but something came up and I had to”

“WHERE WERE YOU!?” she yelled.

“Don’t yell at me.” He said to her.

“Is that all you have to say? You should be on your knees begging for forgiveness, you left our son alone with people who could have taken him away and done God knows what to him.”

“Well, he is fine, isn't he?” He replied nonchalantly losing all presence of being apologetic. “I mean let's be fair, this is partly your fault as well.”

She stared at him mouth open in shock. “What did you say?”

“Yes, it is. What kind of a mother are you that you don't try to find your son for hours?”

“I'm sorry, why would I be worried when he was with his father? The last time I tried to keep tabs on you, both of you called me a controlling woman, and now I'm not attentive enough?”

“Just drop it. He's fine is he not? I'm going to bed.” He waved her off, pounding up the staircase into their bedroom.

She felt disbelief. He didn't want to take responsibility for the fact that he had forgotten his own son, so his solution was to place the blame on her. Insane.

She realized then and there that there was no saving this marriage, so she made a phone call.

“Hello? Yes, good evening. I need you to help me draft some papers. “

Pause.

“What kind? Oh divorce papers.”

Pause.

“Yes, everything is fine. I just wanted it, just in case.”

Pause.

“Stop asking all these questions and get the papers ready for me. Have them delivered to my house. Oh and be discreet. Thank you. Goodbye.” She ended the phone call and went up to join her husband in bed.

She lay on her side and he rolled over to her, his hands searching and fondling her.

“Don’t touch me.” She said pushing him away.

He got up angrily, “Well excuse me for trying to console you.”

“Console me? You think you can use sex to console me? How fucking dare you?”

“Weren't you always talking about how you want another child? So I figured this would be a good time for us to try.”

“You thought it would be a good idea for us to try having another child, even though you abandoned one just now? How exactly does your brain work?”

“Don’t speak to me like that woman. If you don’t want to have sex fine, just don't come crying for it later on. I'll be sleeping in the guestroom now.” He said grudgingly.

“Don’t let the door hit you on your way out.” She responded, turning away from him.

He frowned at her figure. Then left the room closing the door with a bang.

She knew this tactic; he did this whenever he didn't want to admit he'd done wrong, and she'd always end up being the one apologizing to him. He'd walk around the house in a gloomy mood, and everyone would be on eggshells around him. She'd usually bear the brunt of his anger as she'd try her best to appease him. Not this time around. She closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep, and for the first time in a while, she chose not to worry about what was wrong with her husband.