My Son Learned To Say Goodbye Before I Did Chapter 06

My Son Learned To Say Goodbye Before I Did Chapter 06

One hour earlier.

Sabrina cried so hard her makeup was nearly ruined. Her fingers clutched tightly at Grant’s sleeve.

“Grant, what are we gonna do? Milo fell down the stairs—there was so much blood. I’m so scared.”

A wad of tissues was pressed against Milo’s forehead while the little boy sobbed so hard he could barely breathe.

Grant was white as a sheet the whole drive to the hospital.

While carrying the child in his arms, he called me.

The second it connected, he started talking before I could even get a word in.

“Celeste, tell Eli I’m sorry, okay?”

“Milo got hurt. I need to take him to the hospital.”

“I don’t know if I can make it by three. If I’m running late, just go home without me.”

“Just tell Eli I’m sorry, alright?”

Then he hung up. Just like every other time.

He dumped the explanations onto me and left the disappointment for Eli to bear.

He assumed we would still wait for him. He also assumed that one simple apology could make things up.

The doctor examined Milo quickly.

Milo had only scraped his knees and elbows. The bump on his forehead was minor too. There were no signs of a concussion.

By the time the nurse finished cleaning his wounds, Milo had already stopped—just a couple sniffles and he was done.

The doctor handed the paperwork to Grant.

“It’s nothing serious. Just apply some ointment and keep an eye on him tonight. He can go home soon.”

Grant let out a breath he didn’t know he’d been holding.

He glanced at his phone. 2:27 PM. Thirty-three minutes until three.

If he left now, he could still make it.

The moment he turned around, Sabrina grabbed him immediately.

“Grant, where are you going?”

Grant frowned. “I promised Celeste and Eli I’d take them to Adventure Kingdom today.”

Sabrina’s eyes instantly reddened. “But Milo’s still crying.”

“The doctor already said he’s fine.”

“Just because the doctor said he’s fine doesn’t mean he is.”

“What if he spikes a fever tonight? What if there’s, like, bleeding in his brain or something?”

Dramatic tears rolled down her face as she spoke, “Grant, I’m just a single woman all alone. I really can’t handle this.”

Before, whenever Sabrina cried like this, Grant’s heart would melt without fail. He’d push Eli and me aside in a heartbeat.

And he’d say to me, “They’ve had it so hard. You have me—she has no one.”

“Celeste, just be the bigger person.”

But that day, maybe because Eli’s soft little “Uncle” had finally pierced straight through his heart, Grant didn’t agree immediately for the first time.

He looked down at Sabrina’s hand clutching his sleeve.

When he spoke, his voice was deeper. Weighed down.

“Sabrina, I really can’t let them down again. Not today.”

Sabrina froze. She clearly hadn’t expected that.

The next second, she turned toward Milo on the hospital bed.

While Grant glanced down at his phone, she secretly pinched the boy hard on his injured arm.

Milo let out a sharp, piercing wail. “Daddy, don’t go! It hurts! I’m scared!”

Grant looked up. And just like that, his steps halted again.

Sabrina immediately hugged Milo and cried even harder.

“Grant, do you see that? He can’t bear to be without you.”

“His own father divorced me and left him behind. He finally started seeing you as his dad.”

“If you leave now, aren’t you abandoning him all over again?”

Grant’s frown deepened. He looked at Milo, face red and tear-streaked from crying.

And then he saw Eli—the way he’d lowered his head that morning, so quiet, so resigned.

Eli cried too. But he never cried like this—loud, demanding.

Eli just took it. Silently. Until in the end, he quietly started calling him “Uncle.”

Something tightened in Grant’s chest, heavy and suffocating.

He gently removed Sabrina’s hand from his sleeve.

“Sabrina, Milo has you.”

“But Eli’s waiting for me today too.”

The tears on Sabrina’s face paused for a brief second. She stared at him in disbelief.

“Grant, you were never like this before.”

“Celeste has waited for you more times than I can count, and it was never a big deal.”

“She loves you so much, and she’s always been so understanding. What’s one more time?”

Grant’s expression changed instantly.

For the first time, those words sounded unbearably harsh to him.

So that was how Sabrina saw it.

Our waiting—it was just expected.

If I didn’t cry or throw a fit, then I wasn’t hurting.

If Eli didn’t scream and kick, then he didn’t matter.

Grant stayed silent for a beat. Then he said quietly, “I made a promise. I have to go. This time.”

Sabrina tried to stop him again. But he had already picked up his car keys.

Before leaving, he crouched beside Milo and gently patted the boy’s head.

“Be good. Listen to your mom, okay? I’ll come see you tomorrow.”

Milo reached out crying, wanting Grant to hold him.

Sabrina called after him too, her eyes red. “Grant!”

But for the first time, Grant didn’t look back. He strode out of the hospital—and didn’t stop.

Behind him, Sabrina’s face went cold.