008 \u2013 Dangerously Close To Jealousy\u00a0<\/p>\n
DARIUS\u00a0<\/p>\n
I spent the whole afternoon locked in my study, staring at contracts and financial reports that might as well have been written in a foreign language. My mind kept wandering to empty closets and suitcases, to the way Sera\u2019s eyes had looked right through me at the hospital.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The numbers on my computer screen blurred together. I rubbed my temples, trying to focus, but it was useless. My work efficiency was complete garbage today.\u00a0<\/p>\n
By evening, I gave up pretending to be productive and went to find Luna.\u00a0<\/p>\n
She was sitting at the kitchen table, picking at her dinner with a fork. Maria had made her favorite\u2013mac and cheese with little hot dog pieces\u2013but she was just pushing it around her plate.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cNot hungry, sweetheart?\u201d I sat down next to her, my chest tight at the sad look on her face.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere\u2019s Mommy?\u201d she asked in a small voice. \u201cShe always cuts my hot dogs into stars.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
I looked down at the round slices on her plate. Such a tiny thing, but it mattered to her. \u201cShe had to go away for a little while. But I\u2019m here.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Luna nodded, but I could see the confusion in her eyes as she ate. Kids her age didn\u2019t understand adult problems. They just knew when something was wrong.\u00a0<\/p>\n
After dinner, I carried her upstairs for her bath and bedtime story. She picked out three books, the same ones Sera usually read to her. I did my best with the voices, making the bears growl and the princess sound sweet, but Luna kept correcting me.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s not how Mommy does it,\u201d she said, frowning. \u201cThe bear sounds more rumbly.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cLike this?\u201d I tried again, making my voice deeper.\u00a0<\/p>\n
She giggled a little. \u201cBetter,\u201d She smiled, eyes twinkling as she looked at me.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I laughed, relieved at her approval for some reason.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I didn\u2019t realize just how hard it was to tell bedtime stories. Sera did it every night, never making seem like it took much effort.\u00a0<\/p>\n
When I finally got Luna tucked into bed, she looked up at me with those serious eyes that were so much like mine.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cDad, can you tell Mom that I\u2019m not mad at her anymore?\u201d Luma\u2019s little hand reached up to touch my cheek. \u201cI gave Vivienne my favorite doll today. That means Vivienne will forgive Mom for hurting her, right?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
My heart stopped. So that\u2019s why she\u2019d given away her most precious toy. She thought it would fix everything between Sera and Vivienne. The innocence of it made my chest ache.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cOkay, baby. I\u2019ll tell her.\u201d I kissed her forehead, breathing in that sweet smell of children\u2019s shampoo. \u201cMom will come back tomorrow to tell you a bedtime story.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The promise came out automatically, but as soon as I said it, I wondered if it was true. Would Sera come back\u00a0<\/p>\n
1\/4\u00a0<\/p>\n
008 Dangerously Close To Jealousy\u00a0<\/p>\n
+25 Bonus\u00a0<\/p>\n
tomorrow? Or was she going to drag this out for days?\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cReally?\u201d Luna\u2019s eyes brightened.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cReally.\u201d I stroked her soft hair until her breathing got slow and steady.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Back in my bedroom, I sat on the edge of the bed and stared at my phone. My thumb hovered over Sera\u2019s contact, but I couldn\u2019t make myself press call.\u00a0<\/p>\n
What would I even say? Come home? Apologize for something I wasn\u2019t sure I\u2019d done wrong? Beg her to stop acting like a child?\u00a0<\/p>\n
Just as I was about to put the phone down, it started ringing. Sera\u2019s name flashed on the screen.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I answered on the second ring. \u201cHello.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIs Luna asleep?\u201d Her voice sounded different. Stronger somehow.\u00a0<\/p>\n
My muscles grew tense as I found myself calculating the right things to say in my head.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cShe just fell asleep. She complained that my storytelling was terrible compared to yours. She wants you to come back tomorrow for bedtime stories,\u201d I explained with a hint of impatience in my voice. She needed to know she did something wrong by leaving her child.\u00a0<\/p>\n
There was a pause. \u201cI can\u2019t come back tomorrow. Please ask Lucy to tell her a story,\u201d She said. Her voice was quiet yet, it was firm and final.\u00a0<\/p>\n
What?\u00a0<\/p>\n
I sat up straighter. \u201cLucy is just Luna\u2019s nanny, not her mother. She needs her mother,\u201d I pushed, my patience wearing thin.\u00a0<\/p>\n
This wasn\u2019t like Sera at all. She guarded every moment with Luna like they were made of gold. She\u2019d never let Lucy do something she could do herself, especially something as important as bedtime stories.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Where the hell had she gone that was more important than tucking in our daughter?\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI found a new job in New York,\u201d she said after another long pause. \u201cI won\u2019t be back for a while. I\u2019ll call every day to check on Luna and come visit on weekends.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
My brain felt like it was short\u2013circuiting, \u201cWhat? How did you move to New York in half a day and find a job? Sera, what the hell is going on\u00a0<\/p>\n
The line went dead. She\u2019d hung up on me.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I tried calling back immediately. Straight to voicemail.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I stared at the phone in my hand, my jaw clenched so tight it hurt. A job in New York? What kind of job could she possibly have gotten that fast? She\u2019d been a housewife for five years. Her resume was basically blank.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Something wasn\u2019t adding up.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The next day, Luna kept asking when Mommy was coming home. When I had to tell her Sera wasn\u2019t coming back that night either, she cried silent tears that broke my heart into pieces.\u00a0<\/p>\n
2\/4\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Souls Remember What Matters \u2014 Corey Gibson 8 008 \u2013 Dangerously Close To Jealousy\u00a0 DARIUS\u00a0 I spent the whole afternoon […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[59],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23454","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-the-day-i-signed-the-papers-novel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23454","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23454"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23454\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23454"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23454"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23454"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}