016: The Day Everything Changed

Lily's POV

I kicked off my heels the second the door clicked shut behind me. The relief was instant. My arches were screaming. My toes felt like they’d been slammed into bricks all day. My dress was crumpled from hours of sitting, standing, walking, repeating. My makeup had surrendered somewhere between the mayor's speech and the endless photos.

And my head? My head was a balloon. Full, aching, and ready to pop.

"Nathan?" I called, dragging myself down the hallway. My voice came out rougher than I intended. I cleared my throat. "Munchkin? I'm home."

A beat passed. Then...

"Mommy!"

That little voice could’ve knocked down walls.

I smiled, muscles relaxing in a way they hadn’t all day. That sound always did it. No matter how chaotic, how burnt out, how drained I felt...Nathan's voice cut through all of it.

I followed the sound into the living room.

There he was. Curled up in his favorite spot, dressed in his bright green dino hoodie...his favorite. He was clutching his T-Rex plush, the one with the wobbly eye, and kicking his socked feet like he was too excited to sit still.

I walked over, dropping my bag with a soft thud. "Hey, baby."

He launched off the couch and into my arms. "Guess what happened today! Guess! Guess!"

I laughed and caught him mid-air. My arms ached, but I didn’t let it show. "What? Did you finally convince your teachers you're the king of the dinos?"

"No! Better!"

He pulled back, eyes wide with excitement. His curls were messy, cheeks a little sticky from what looked like juice.

"A real dinosaur came to school!" he said.

I blinked. "Wait...what?"

"A real one! Big and green and funny! He danced! He hugged me so much!"

I raised an eyebrow, smiling. "Okay... so the school brought in a mascot or something?"

He nodded eagerly. "But he wasn't just any dino. He took off his dino head and... Mommy. It was the airport man."

The smile slid off my face.

I stared at him. "What?"

Nathan was already flipping through his memory. "The man I saw at the airport. Remember? When I said he looked like me? It was him! Under the costume."

I swallowed hard. "Nathan, what are you talking about?"

He stepped back, hands waving with excitement. "He said he's my daddy. He said he didn’t know about me, but now he does and he wants to be with me forever. And he helped me build a volcano in the sandpit. And he said we’re a team."

My mouth was dry. My legs felt like jelly. I backed up slowly until I hit the edge of the couch.

"He said he's your...daddy?"

Nathan nodded, completely serious now. "And I believe him. He has your sad eyes when he smiles."

I stared at him, my heart beating in places I didn’t know hearts could beat.

"And the teacher let him stay?" I managed to say.

He nodded again. "Miss Clara said I look just like him. And the principal let him in ‘cause he brought new books for the library and he was funny and nice and he gave me a dinosaur drawing and said he’ll take me to the zoo!"

I stood.

Too fast. The room spun.

"Mommy?" Nathan asked, worried now.

I held a hand up. "I’m okay. I just..."

He looked down. "Did I do something wrong? Should I not have talked to him?"

I dropped to my knees in front of him. "No. Never. You didn’t do anything wrong. I’m just... surprised. That’s all."

He looked so small now. Like all the confidence had slipped out of his little body.

I pulled him close. I held on tight.

"I just wasn’t ready," I whispered.

We sat there in silence for a while.

Then he mumbled, "I liked him. A lot. He didn’t feel like a stranger. He felt like... I don’t know. Like he belonged."

And that was the part that hurt the most.

Because I’d tried to prepare myself for this day. I really had. I’d played the scenarios in my head. What would happen if Ashton found out? What would I say? How would I stop him? Would I take Nathan and move again?

But I never thought he'd go to his school.

In a costume.

Behind my back.

I got up and went to the kitchen. I grabbed the edge of the counter and gripped it until my knuckles turned white. Then I opened the cupboard and pulled down a glass, trying not to drop it.

Water. I needed water.

I drank it fast. Still shaking.

My phone buzzed on the counter.

Dana.

‘Caleb Maddox asked if he could take you to lunch next week. He says you owe him a rematch for who had the worst day. Should I pencil it in?’

I stared at the message.

The two worlds couldn’t have felt more different.

Caleb...with his coffee and calm voice and quiet humor.

And Ashton...crashing back into my life in a giant green dinosaur suit.

I didn’t reply.

Nathan wandered into the kitchen, still barefoot, now holding his drawing book.

"Look what I made today," he said quietly.

He opened the page.

A green dinosaur with a cape.

Next to it... a smaller dino.

"This is you and him?" I asked.

He nodded. "He said we’re a team now."

I knelt beside him again. My eyes burned.

"Mommy?"

"Yeah, baby?"

"Can we see him again? Please?"

I didn’t answer.

Because I didn’t know.

I hugged him tight again. So tight he squirmed. But I couldn’t let go.

Everything was different now. And I wasn’t ready.

But I also couldn’t pretend this didn’t happen.

Because now Nathan knew.

And there was no going back.