He Guaranteed Her Loan, I Filed for Divorce the Same Day Chapter 15

He Guaranteed Her Loan, I Filed for Divorce the Same Day Chapter 15

I offered no response.

After a long pause, he hung up the phone himself.

A full year passed. I settled down in a new city.

I switched employers, got a new cell-phone number, and moved out of my old studio. I rented a bright one-bedroom apartment with a balcony. It sat close to the river. At night you could hear boat horns drifting over the water.

Kai texted me from time to time.

He told me Darien had quit drinking. He had a new job loading cargo at a logistics warehouse.

Darien woke up at four-thirty every morning and got home at ten at night. He was much thinner, but he no longer struck Kai.

Kai kept up with his schoolwork.

Once, he sent over a photo of an award certificate. Printed across it: First Place-Grade Level.

I texted back: [Keep pushing forward.]

He called right away.

“Mom!” His voice shook, afraid I would end the call quickly.

“Parent-teacher conference is next Wednesday. Are are you coming?”

I pulled up my calendar.

“I’m free Wednesday. Send me the school address ahead of time.”

I could hear him crying over the phone.

“Mom, I was so scared you’d say no.”

I didn’t speak.

He sniffled and read the full address to me-twice.

Parent-teacher conference. I drove to the public elementary school. The building looked older Than I expected. Exterior paint was faded, and cracks split the rubber surface of the playground

track.

I found the third-grade classroom and slipped in through the back door.

Darien sat in the very last row.

When he caught sight of me, he froze completely.

He had lost so much weight. His cheekbones stuck out. His eye-sockets were sunken. He wore a

faded-blue warehouse work uniform, collar thread-bare. He clutched a plastic water bottle so

hard the container crumpled in his grip.

I did not go over to him. I took a seat against the wall near the front.

Kai sat in the second row. His back was straight as a board.

He glanced backward and spotted me. His whole face lit up, as if all the classroom light had

fallen into his eyes.

The teacher called his name.

“Kai Hale, first in grade. Come receive your award.”

He sprinted up to the podium, held his certificate high above his head, and smiled out toward

the audience.

After climbing back down, he walked straight over to me and held out his award.

“Mom. This is for you.”

I took it and glanced over the paper.

“You did really well.”

He turned toward the back of the room.

“Dad! Mom’s here!”

Darien stood up.

His lips moved. So many things wanted to spill out. In the end, only a short sentence came out.

“You came.”

I nodded.

When the event ended, Kai followed me for a long time. We walked past classrooms, across the playground, all the way to the big maple tree out by the school parking-lot entrance.

He did not speak the whole time, and I did not rush him.

Finally he stopped on the sidewalk. He tilted his head up to look at me.

“Mom. I know I was wrong.”

His voice was soft, as if speaking too loud might make me vanish.

“I don’t deserve to live with you. But I’m going to study hard and get into a college near where you live.”

I looked down at him.

He was skinnier than I remembered, and he had grown a little taller. His uniform pants were too short, exposing his thin ankles.

“Eat well. Sleep well.”

He nodded hard.

I opened the car door and climbed inside.

The taxi pulled away. In my rear-view mirror, father and son stood under the streetlamp. One tall, one small. Neither of them moved,

The car rounded a corner. Their figures shrank smaller and smaller until they dissolved into

the dark night,

My phone lit up with a court-system notification.

Lorelei’s overseas criminal associates had been apprehended. Some of the stolen funds had been recovered, and would be distributed proportionally to victims.

I turned off my screen and closed my eyes.

We drove across the river bridge. Cool wind streamed in through the partially-rolled-down window, carrying the sharp, briny smell of river water.

The taxi driver glanced at me in the rear-view mirror.

“That boy back there your son?”

I said, “Yeah.”

“Good kid. He’s gonna go far someday.”

I did not reply.

Streetlights along the bridge streaked past in long glowing lines.

I opened my eyes and watched the shimmering reflections dancing on the river’s surface. I swallowed the words I hadn’t said.

My phone buzzed once more. A text message from Kai popped up.

[Mom. I got home safe. Today was the best day of my whole life. I’m gonna get first place again

next time.]

I typed my reply.

[I’ll be waiting for you.]