“I love you and Alex more than anything. Please let me come home and explain.”
I ended the call and slid down the wall.
For once, I did not try to hide my crying.
A few minutes later, Alex’s bedroom door opened.
He walked toward me in his dinosaur pajamas, holding a fork like a tiny sword.
“Mommy, why are you sad?”
“I’m okay. Go back to bed.”
Instead, he sat beside me and placed the fork in my lap.
“You can have one.”
“I don’t need it, sweetheart.”
“Yes, you do. Daddy said the forks are so you won’t be alone if he has to go away.”
I stared at him.
“What did Daddy tell you?”
“He said every fork was a promise. If he couldn’t come home for a long time, the forks would remind us that he was still trying to come back.”
Alex lowered his head.
“He said you were supposed to have some too, but I forgot to give them to you.”
I pulled him into my arms.
Whatever Brandon was hiding, it was not the affair I had imagined.
I sent him another message.
“Come home Sunday. We will talk.”
For the next two days, my mind moved between anger, fear, and confusion.
Why would Brandon believe he might have to leave us?
Why had he rented an apartment?
And why had he asked our son to build a collection of promises beneath his mattress?
Brandon returned on Sunday evening.
I met him at the door holding the folder.
The moment he saw it, his shoulders fell.
“Sit down,” I said.
“I can explain.”
“Then explain everything.”
He placed his bag on the floor. His eyes were already red.
“I lost my job six weeks ago.”
For a moment, I could not speak.
“I couldn’t tell you,” he continued. “You left your career to raise Alex. I promised I would take care of this family.”
“So every morning, you put on work clothes and pretended to go to the construction site?”
“I went to the library and applied for jobs. I accepted temporary warehouse shifts, day labor, and anything else I could find.”
“And the second phone?”
“It was for recruiters and temporary employers. They called at strange hours, and I didn’t want you seeing the messages.”
I held up the apartment agreement.
“What about this?”
His face crumpled.
“It was a backup plan. If I couldn’t keep paying the mortgage, I planned to move into the studio. You and Alex would remain here.”
“You were planning to leave us without discussing it with me?”
“I wasn’t leaving the marriage. I thought you would be better off without another person consuming food and electricity.”
