When Love Is Gone

I put on my raincoat and rushed out into the pouring rain under Sarah Higgins’s surprised gaze. I hurried over to the neighborhood mail delivery hub and read my package number to the guy running the counter.

The guy’s expression was terrible. He yanked the box of formula from the bottom shelf and slammed it right onto my foot. Pain shot up my leg as my ankle instantly swelled up, going red and numb.

“What’s your problem?” I glared at him in confusion.

Instead of backing down, the guy grew even more agitated, shaking his fists as he cursed at me. “Were you the one who chewed me out on the phone last night? Are you out of your mind?

“I called your wife several times yesterday afternoon, urging her to pick up her package, but she ignored all my calls! Then at midnight, you call me a home-wrecker, accusing me of seducing your woman?”

I froze, and color drained from my face.

I had long promised my news anchor wife that if she were willing to sacrifice her career to have a child, I would take full responsibility for raising our baby. So last night at midnight, while our daughter Lily was fussing, I was busy trying to soothe her to sleep.

How could I have called the guy to chew him out?

I remembered pacing around the living room, cradling our ten-pound baby in my arms, which were so sore they barely felt like my own. I called Sarah several times, hoping she would come home to help me calm Lily down, but she hung up on me every time.

A little while later, she sent me a quick text saying she was “working overtime.” However, as it turned out, she was with Mark Fisher, her colleague, the whole time.

I let out a bitter smile. After apologizing sincerely to the guy, I clutched the box of formula and limped back home.

In the pouring rain, my phone rang. It was Sarah calling.

She sounded impatient as she questioned me. “We agreed that I’d give birth and you’d handle the raising! Why aren’t you at home taking care of the baby? Where did you run off to again? Lily has been crying non-stop. How do you call yourself a father?”

I clenched my teeth and stayed silent.

“Say something! You’ve only been without a job for six months. Did the famous Harry Baker suddenly go mute?”

“I’m picking up the package.”

Hearing my answer, she went quiet for a few seconds before saying coldly, “How was I supposed to know what you were up to when you didn’t say a word? Forget it, it’s raining heavily out there. I’ll come down to get you.”

I looked down at my swollen, bruised ankle and turned her down. “It’s fine. Don’t you know a baby can’t be left unattended? It’s dangerous.”

Before I could even finish my sentence, she hung up.

When I dragged myself home looking bedraggled, Sarah was on a video call with Mark. He was asking her if wearing a white semi-sheer shirt for tomorrow’s outdoor shoot at the park would make him look good.

He chatted away while trying on clothes right in front of the camera. By the time he took off his jeans, he was left wearing nothing but his underwear.

Then, I heard Sarah call him “her star” and felt a lump in my throat.