My Son Learned To Say Goodbye Before I Did Chapter 04

My Son Learned To Say Goodbye Before I Did Chapter 04

It was midnight by the time I finished packing. I collapsed onto the bed, exhausted.

My phone lit up with a message from Grant.

[Milo loved that set. I stayed up building it with him all night. Sabrina wanted me to thank you.]

At twelve in the morning, my husband was still helping another woman thank me.

I let out a quiet laugh from sheer disbelief.

But truth was, I couldn’t even be bothered to get angry anymore. The outcome was already set.

I opened the chat window and casually replied.

[No need to thank me. It wasn’t mine to give.]

[And that set was Eli’s favorite birthday present, by the way.]

[He’d been waiting for you to build it with him.]

After sending the message, I turned off my phone and closed my eyes.

I didn’t care how Grant’s expression changed when he read it.

The next morning at eight, Grant came home unusually early.

He stepped inside, slipped off his coat—and stopped cold.

His eyes landed on the suitcases, all lined up neatly in the living room.

“Why all this luggage just for a trip?”

Coat still in hand, he hurried toward the bedroom, looking oddly rattled.

I was helping Eli get dressed and didn’t bother turning around.

“It’s a long trip.”

Grant immediately looked at Eli. When Eli nodded, Grant finally seemed to relax.

Then he finally set his coat aside and pulled out three tickets to Adventure Kingdom.

“Weren’t you upset that I never took Eli to Adventure Kingdom?”

“I bought tickets for today. The three of us can go together as a family.”

He laid the tickets out in front of us like a prize, his face full of self-satisfied affection.

For a second, I honestly thought I had misheard him.

It had been almost a month since that incident. And only now he suddenly remembered?

Then I remembered the flood of unread messages on my phone this morning.

Oh. So this was guilt money.

I stayed silent and continued buttoning Eli’s clothes carefully.

But Eli couldn’t contain his excitement. His eyes kept darting toward me, bright and pleading.

“Mom, I wanna go!”

A smile touched my lips.

Then Grant spoke up again, his voice suddenly awkward.

“But… if you guys still want to go, there’s one thing.”

“Sabrina found out we were supposed to take the family portrait today, and she’s worried Milo might get upset.”

“So… maybe we should do the family portrait another time.”

His face was practically screaming guilt as he said it.

Eli froze. The light in his eyes dimmed little by little.

“Oh… okay.” He lowered his head, saying nothing more. His eyes were already rimmed red.

But Grant didn’t notice at all.

He went on, “It’s just one small thing Sabrina asked. I thought about it—it’s not a big deal.”

“We’re just skipping it this once. There’ll be other chances. Right, Eli?”

What he didn’t know was that Eli and I were leaving tomorrow. This was his last chance.

But neither of us said anything.

We just nodded. “Okay. Sure.”

Grant’s whole body relaxed. Relief washed over his face.

“Great. I’ll go let Sabrina know. Three o’clock. Adventure Kingdom.”

He got up to leave. Just before the door, he turned back.

“You two are the best, you know that?”

Neither of us said a word.

After he left, Eli climbed off the bed and pulled out the backpack he had already packed from the closet.

“Mom.” He held the backpack tight against his chest.

“I don’t want to see him ever again. Can we just leave now?”