“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.The woman had left, leaving her to her thoughts. Her son ran into her, ramming himself into her body.“Mommy, inhaler!” He wheezed. She quickly collected herself, giving him the inhaler and directing him on how to use it.“Good boy!” She applauded him and he gave her a wide grin before running back to keep playing. She stared at her son, her mind reeling with this new discovery, Logan wanted Toto to be older before he got rid of his mother. Insane, the audacity of this man.After a while, she decided they had spent enough time at the park.“Toto! Come now we have to get going!”“I'm coming!” He yelled back, running and yelling bye to his friends. “Ouu, you're so stinky. I'm gonna give you a bath when we get back.” She carried him, trudging to her car. “No baths, Mommy. I'm not stinky I promise.” He whined.“Yes, you are,” She responded, giggling. “No time to waste.”Meanwhile, back at the house, Christa was alone and she used that time to move around the house, imagining herself as
Christa had been in her home for two weeks now and it was terrible, Marybeth thought as they all sat at the dining table, she and Christopher on one side while Logan and Christa were on the other. To an outsider, they presented a happy family, but if one looked closer, they'd notice the cracks. How Logan and Christa were icing out Marybeth, how Christopher was playing with his breakfast and not eating it with enthusiasm the way he usually did, and how Marybeth was ignoring the two people in front of her who were shamelessly cozying up to each other. Or maybe the more obvious signs like how the two sides of the table had two different dishes for breakfast. The Renfry home was in shambles.Logan glanced at Marybeth from the corner of his eye to check if she was watching them, but she wasn't; instead, her attention was on trying to get Christopher to eat, but he was refusing. Christa fed him a berry which he ate, making exaggerated noises trying to get Marybeth’s attention.“Christopher.
Logan paced the guestroom his head turning to the door periodically. He was waiting for her to co.e to him and apologize like she always did. He waited for an hour and she still didn't show up. He frowned at the door, looking at it like it was the cause of the current situation. She had refused him.. She'd never once refused him before, heck, she was the one always instigating. Why was she acting so differently now? Was she really that and at him for forgetting their son? It wasn’t a big deal, the boy was okay now and was fast asleep. It's not like he got traumatized or anything. In that moment, his phone rang, he glanced at it thinking it was Christa and was ready to ignore it, but it was his uncle, Ryan Renfry. He cleared his throat before he picked up the phone.“Hello, Uncle.”The voice at the other end of the line was a deep baritone voice “Hello Loahan, how have you been?”“Very well Uncle.” He paused a bit, “To what do I owe this honor?”“I've been informed that Christa is ba
“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 r
Weeks had passed since the roses came, and since then, Logan still had not come back. She was tired of coming up with excuses for her son, who kept demanding to know when his daddy would take him to buy cars like he’d promised. On this faithful day, when she felt she would snap, the sound of the code being punched into the door echoed in the room and Christopher turned around hopefully, his mind wishing that the person about to enter was his dadLucky for him, it was his dad. Logan walked in, his hands filled with luxury items.“Daddy!” Christopher cried out running to meet him.“Hey, my boy.” He responded, kneeling down to accept his hug.“Where did you go, Daddy? Did you forget you are supposed to take me to look at cars?”“No son, I didn’t forget. In fact, I was busy searching for all the best shops for us to go to so you can have only the best cars.”“Really!?”“That’s right.” “So what about these bags then?” He asked pointing at the bags in his father’s hands.“These are for you
Divorce. What an intense word that she never once thought she would have to use. Her husband did not love her, it was very obvious, even a blind person could see it, but she still loved him; however, it seemed her love wasn’t enough for her marriage to be alright anymore. She sighed deeply, hands gripping the railing tightly. From her point of view, she could see the entire living room and she gazed at it sadly. From the high-scale furniture to the matching carpet and drapes, all of which she had single-handedly picked out in a bid to make this house a home. It all seemed worthless now. She gazed at her son’s room and she decided not just yet. Logan did not return home that night, choosing to remain with Christa, and she was happy about that. She did not know how she would react to him when she saw him. He was acting as though she were only dependent on him, and she supposed he was allowed to feel that way because she had let him have that kind of power over her, and that was a terri