I shoved my phone in my pocket and walked back over to the bench. Now, Lucy and Piper were both standing in front of Zach, showing him the leaves they’d collected.
He smiled and held up a yellow leaf as I sat down. “They gave me this one.”
Lucy shoved a red leaf in my lap. “Hold that one, Mom. It’s for Brody.”
“Come on! Let’s go get more!” Piper yelled as the scurried away.
We sat in silence for a minute, both of us watching Lucy and Piper collecting leaves under the tree, not wanting to address the white elephant that flew innocently out of Lucy’s mouth and stomped right through our playdate.
Zach cleared his throat. “So none of your business’s name is really Brody?”
“Yep,” I said softly.
“How long have you guys been together?”
“A few months.”
“Is he really a professional hockey player?”
“Yes.”
“What team?”
“The Wild. He’s the goalie.”
“Brody Murphy?” he exclaimed, sitting up straight.
I sighed. “Yep.”
“Wow.”
I didn’t bother asking if that was a good wow or a bad wow. Honestly, I didn’t care. It was really awkward sitting on a bench with your children’s estranged father, whom you’ve spent the last five years despising, discussing your new boyfriend, who just happens to be the star goalie of your state’s professional hockey team. I felt like I was living in the Twilight Zone. All other Mondays would be forever easy compared to this one.
“Do you love him?”
Zach’s question bounced around my brain like a pinball for so long, he thought I didn’t hear him and he repeated it.
“Do you love him?”
I lifted my head and looked him straight in the eye. “With everything I have.”
Zach smiled and nodded. “Good, I’m glad. You deserve to be happy, Kacie. Always have. As long as he’s good to the girls, I don’t have a problem with it.”
What?
“What?” I glared at him.
He held his hands up in front of him. “I didn’t mean anything bad by it.”
“You said, ‘As long as he’s good to the girls, I don’t have a problem with it.’”
I jumped up and spun around to face him. “Where the hell do you get off thinking you have any sort of say in what I do with my life? Or the girls’ for that matter?”
He stood up and put his hand on my arm. “Kacie, relax.”
“No!” I snatched my arm away from him. “You disappear for FIVE years. Then, by some insane twist of fate, we end up working in the same place. You tell me your reasons for leaving and I get it. I’ll never fully forget it, but I can forgive it.”
“Kacie—”
“But don’t think for one second you have any right to tell me what I should and shouldn’t do with my life. Nor do you have any say in what I do with the girls. They have been my daughters for all that time and they’re staying my girls.”
“I wasn’t trying to tell you what to do—” He stopped talking and looked past me.
I turned to see Lucy and Piper running toward us with their little arms full of leaves. “Look!” they both squealed.
“Wow. That’s amazing, girls. You can take them with you if you want, but we have to get going. Mommy has to work in awhile.” I tried to make my tone as normal as possible.
They both stuck their bottom lips out and pouted.
“Sorry, guys. Come on.” I held my hand out and took a step toward the parking lot.
“Bye, Zach.” Piper waved as they followed me.
A sad smile crossed his face and he waved one hand at them.
I buckled the girls in their booster seats and climbed into the driver’s seat of my Jeep. The engine roared as I turned the key and started backing out of the parking space. Zach and I made eye contact, the tight smile still plastered to his face. He waved once more as I turned the wheel. I turned right onto the little road that passed the park and couldn’t stop myself from looking over at him one more time. He sat back down on the bench and played with the yellow leaf from the girls. My heart broke just a little.
Zach was standing at the counter, filling out some paperwork when I walked into work several hours later. I walked up and leaned on the counter next to him. He looked over at me but didn’t say anything as I stared straight ahead.
“When I came home and saw the note… I can’t even explain how I felt. Words like crushed, gutted, and destroyed come to mind, but they still don’t describe how I truly felt. I ran to the bathroom and threw up. That was just one of many times over the next few days.”