“Our Secret Weekend”
My first thought was the obvious one.
He had a new girlfriend.
He was playing house.
He was feeding Lily a story and hoping she’d keep it from me.
That was already bad.
But a hospital badge didn’t fit that storyline.
“Did you go to the hospital?” I asked gently.
Lily shrugged in that casual way kids do when they don’t understand the stakes.
“Just a little,” she said. “We saw Dad’s friend. He sleeps there.”
“Who is Dad’s friend?”
She frowned, searching her memory. “Gray. Or… Graham. I don’t know. He has a dog sometimes.”
A dog.
My mind grabbed that detail like a hook in the dark.
Because I’d heard James say that name once on a call.
A call he ended the second I walked into the room.
“Did Daddy tell you to keep it secret from me?”
Lily nodded without hesitation.
“He said you’d get mad and ruin it.”
I wanted to scream.
But this wasn’t about being mad.
This was about my child being brought into something adult, something medical, something she couldn’t possibly understand.
“Lily,” I said carefully, “did anything scary happen?”
She shook her head.
“No. We get hot chocolate after. Daddy says we’re helping.”
Helping.
That word turned my spine to ice.
I smiled for her sake. Kissed her forehead. Told her to go color.
Then I went into the bathroom, shut the door, and stared at myself like I didn’t recognize the woman in the mirror.
Because suddenly, the story in my head split into two possibilities:
- James was lying about where he was taking our daughter.
- Or James was taking our daughter somewhere he absolutely should not be taking her—and making her complicit.
Either way, I needed facts.
So when Friday rolled around and James pulled into my driveway for pickup, I did something I’d never done before.
I watched him leave.
And I followed.
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