Liam's POV
"I wish Mommy would just go away."
The words slip out of my mouth before I can stop them. I'm sitting in the back of Daddy's car, and Miss Winters is in the front passenger seat where Mommy normally sits. Except Mommy never sits there anymore because Daddy doesn't take her anywhere.
Miss Winters turns around, her pretty face shocked. "Liam! That's not a nice thing to say."
But she's happy. Just a little bit. Like maybe she thinks it's a little bit nice.
"I mean it," I say, crossing my arms. My new tablet—the one Miss Winters gave me, not Mommy—sits in my lap. "Mommy's always sad and boring. She doesn't do anything fun. You're way better."
Daddy's hands tighten on the driving wheel. He doesn't tell me I'm wrong.
He never tells me I'm wrong about Mommy anymore.
"Your mother loves you very much," Miss Winters says, but her voice sounds fake. Like when teachers say "good job" when your drawing is actually bad. "She just shows it differently."
"She shows it by making gross healthy food and making me do homework," I grumble. "You bring me candy and let me play games."
This time, Miss Winters's smile is real. "Well, everyone needs a little fun, right?"
Daddy still doesn't say anything. We're going to his office, and I'm supposed to spend the day there because it's some kind of special day. An anniversary? I don't really know what that means, but Mommy was acting weird this morning. All dressed up and happy in that creepy way she does when she's trying too hard.
I hate when she tries too hard. It makes my stomach feel funny.
"Liam," Daddy finally talks. His voice is serious. "Your mother does a lot for you. For us. You should be more respectful."
But he doesn't sound like he means it. He sounds tired. Like he's saying words he's supposed to say but doesn't believe.
I've heard him on the phone late at night. Talking to someone about "the marriage" and "obligations" and "what's best for Liam." Adult words that don't make sense, but I know they're about Mommy. About wanting her gone.
If Daddy wants her gone, then I should too, right? Kids are supposed to agree with their dads.
At the office, Miss Winters takes me to Daddy's big room with the leather couch and the huge windows. She spreads out colored books on the table—brochures, she calls them. They show fancy schools with pools and sports fields and kids who look happy.
"These are boarding schools," she says, sitting close to me. She smells like flowers and vanilla, nothing like Mommy's boring soap smell. "You'd live there during the school year. Make tons of friends. Play sports every day."
"Live there? Without coming home?"
"You'd come home for holidays," Miss Winters says quickly. "But think about it, Liam. No more boring dinners with your mom asking about homework. No more early bedtimes. Just fun, all the time."
It sounds amazing. But something in my chest feels tight. "Would Mommy visit me?"
Miss Winters's smile gets smaller. "Maybe sometimes. But you'd be so busy having fun, you wouldn't even notice."
Daddy walks in then, bringing coffee. He sits on my other side, and suddenly I'm between them, and it feels... right. Warm. Like how families look on TV.
"Whatcha think, buddy?" Daddy asks, actually looking at me. Really looking, not the distracted way he looks at home. "Want to go to one of these schools?"
"Yeah!" I bounce on the couch. "This one has robots! And this one has an Olympic pool!"
Daddy laughs—actually laughs—and brushes my hair. My heart feels like it might explode. He never does this at home. At home, he's always locked in his office or going early or coming home late.
But here, with Miss Winters, he's different. Happy.
"The three of us should visit the campus," Miss Winters offers. Her hand touches Daddy's shoulder, and he doesn't move away. "Make a weekend trip. Just us."
"Just us three!" I agree excitedly. "Can we, Daddy? Please?"
"We'll see," Daddy says, but he's smiling.
That's when it happens. The crash.
We all turn to see Mommy standing in the doorway. There's red stuff all over the floor—cake, I think—and she looks like someone punched her. Her face is white and her eyes are too big and she's looking at us like we're strangers.
My happiness drips away like water down a sink.
"Mom," I say, and I don't mean for it to sound angry, but it does. "We're busy. Miss Winters is helping Daddy find me a good school."
Mommy's mouth opens but nothing comes out. She looks at the cake on the floor, then at us on the couch, then back at the cake. Like she can't understand what she's seeing.
Miss Winters stands up, moving closer to Daddy. "Mrs. Kane, I'm so sorry about the misunderstanding. Adrian asked me to help study schools during my lunch break. Maybe you should have called first?"
I don't understand why Mommy's eyes get all shiny. Why her hands are shaking.
"Elena, this isn't a good time," Daddy says, not even looking at her. "I have a meeting in twenty minutes."
"Daddy," I tug his sleeve, wanting to get back to the fun we were having. "Can we finish looking at the brochures? I want to see the one with the Olympic pool."
Then Mommy says something weird: "I'm pregnant."
I don't know what that means, but Daddy's face goes scary. Miss Winters looks like she swallowed a bug. The air in the room feels electric, like before a thunderstorm.
"What does pregnant mean?" I ask, but nobody answers.
Daddy and Miss Winters are looking at each other. His jaw is doing that clenchy thing it does when he's mad. Her eyes are wide and scared.
Finally, Daddy looks at Mommy. "We'll discuss this at home. Tonight."
Mommy stumbles backward like he pushed her, even though he didn't touch her. "But—"
"Tonight, Elena."
And then Mommy runs away. Just runs, like a little kid who got in trouble. The cake is still on the floor, all messy and destroyed, and I feel that tight thing in my chest again.
"Is Mommy okay?" I ask softly.
"She's fine," Miss Winters says quickly, sitting back down next to me. "Now, where were we? Oh yes, the school with the robotics club!"
But the fun is gone. I look at the brochures and they don't seem as interesting anymore. I look at Daddy and he's texting someone, his face all hard and angry.
I look at the entry where Mommy was standing, and I remember her face.
She looked broken.
Did I do that?
That night at home, I'm meant to be asleep, but I'm sitting at the top of the stairs listening. Mommy and Daddy are in the kitchen, and their sounds are getting louder.
"You brought her to my office!" Mommy's crying. I can hear it in her words. "On our anniversary! With our son!"
"She's my helper. She was helping with Liam's future."
"Your helper who you bought a twenty-thousand-dollar bracelet for? Your assistant who you had a 'great night' with?"
Silence. Long and scary.
"Elena, you're being dramatic."
"I'm being dramatic? Adrian, I'm pregnant with your baby and you called it a problem!"
"Because it is! We never agreed to another child. You should have asked me first!"
"Asked your permission to have our baby?"
"You know what I mean."
More quiet. Then Mommy's voice, but different now. Quiet. Cold.
"Does Vivian know? About us trying to have a baby all these years?"
"That's none of her business."
"Does. She. Know?"
Daddy sighs. "She knows we've had... problems. She's been helpful."
"Supportive." Mommy smiles, but it sounds like crying. "Your assistant knows more about our marriage than I do."
"Elena—" "Liam said something today. In your office. Before I dropped the cake. " My body goes rigid. She heard that? " He said the three of you look more like a family than with me. " No. No no no. I didn't mean it like that. I didn't mean to hurt her.
Did I?
"He's six," Daddy says. "He doesn't understand what he's saying."
"He understands exactly. You've taught him well. You've told him that I'm the problem. The sad, boring mother who isn't fun like Miss Winters. The wife who isn't pretty or interesting enough. The woman who isn't worth remembering on her own date."
"You're twisting everything—"
"Am I? Tell me the truth, Adrian. Just once. Tell me the truth."
Long pause. Forever stop.
"Do you love me?"
I hold my breath. The whole house holds its breath.
"I care about you," Daddy finally says. "You're Liam's mother. You've been a good wife—"
"That's not what I asked."
More quiet.
"No," Daddy says. "I don't love you. I never did."
Something shatters. Glass, maybe. Or Mommy's heart. I can't tell the difference.
"Then I want a divorce," Mommy says, her voice steady now. Scary steady. "And you can have everything. The house. The money. Liam. All of it."
"What?"
"I'm done, Adrian. I'm done being invisible in my own life. You can have the family you want. The one with Miss Winters. The one where I don't exist."
Footsteps. Mommy's coming toward the stairs.
I run back to my room and dive under the covers, my heart pounding so hard it hurts.
Mommy's going. Because of what I said. Because I wished she would go away.
And now she is.
The tight thing in my chest bursts into something bigger, scarier.
What have I done?