“I gave it to him.” That’s when I discovered Ethan had overheard me hiring Clark.
Instead of exposing me, he’d secretly contacted him. Together, they’d changed the plan.
Clark wasn’t there merely to make Jordan jealous. He was there to make him remember.
Under the photograph was a stack of messages our children had saved over the years.
Dad, are you coming to my game? Busy. Next one, sweetheart. Can you help with my science project?
Ask Mom. Can we go fishing this weekend? Maybe next month. Page after page.
Later. Next time. Too busy. Jordan tossed them aside. “So what? I worked.
Somebody had to pay for everything.” Then Clark removed one final piece of paper.
Ethan’s school assignment. At the top: THE PERSON WHO RAISED ME. Jordan began reading.
“The person who raised me is my mom.” Ethan wrote about the lunches I packed, the parent-teacher conferences I attended, the nights I sat outside his bedroom waiting until he was ready to talk.
Then came the line that silenced the entire party: “My dad lived in our house too.
But sometimes there is a difference between living somewhere and being there.”
:contentReference[oaicite:1]{index=1} Jordan’s hands started shaking. “Why didn’t I ever see this?”
Ethan swallowed. “You were supposed to come to the school presentation.”
I remembered that night. Jordan claimed he had an emergency meeting. Later, I discovered he’d actually been with Percy.
“I kept looking at the door anyway,” Ethan whispered. Suddenly my little revenge plan felt meaningless.
Then Percy sneered that I’d obviously hired Clark because I still wasn’t over Jordan.
Clark calmly took my hand. “She’s right about one thing. I was hired.”
