Chapter 6
Jay left three messages in two days.
He said he was sorry. He said Laura wouldn’t answer him. In the last one, he asked whether he could give Owen the Christmas gift he had bought.
I saved the messages and did not call back.
Laura and I spoke to Dr. Morgan. She suggested that if Jay kept contacting us after being told to stop, we should document it and decide together how to respond. Owen should not become the messenger.
Jay’s gift stayed with Jay.
I thought that would settle it. Then he came to my workplace near the end of an overnight shift.
I saw him through the glass doors of the hospital lobby. He was sitting in a chair beside the entrance, holding a paper bag.
My first instinct was to walk over and demand that he leave. Instead, I called Laura.
“He’s here.”
“I told him not to contact you.”
“I know.”
“I’ll call him.”
“Please don’t. He keeps trying to make you answer. I’ll handle this with security.”
I told the officer at the desk that Jay had been asked to stop contacting my family and that I did not want to meet him. The officer spoke to him. Jay left the bag at the desk and walked out.
It contained a wrapped box labeled for Owen. I asked the officer to keep it with the incident report until I could arrange to return it.
When I got to Sam’s house, I was shaking.
Sam made coffee while I told him.
“Do you think he’ll go to Owen’s school?” he asked.
“I don’t know.”
I called Laura. Together, we told the school that Jay was not authorized to pick Owen up or visit him. I felt foolish for not doing it earlier. Laura said she had thought he would respect her message.
At pickup, Owen ran to me carrying a paper snowflake.
“Mr. Ellis taught us to fold it,” he said.
I laughed at the name. There were so many Mr. Ellises in the world. This one was his art teacher.
I did not tell Owen about Jay appearing at the hospital. He had enough to manage.
That weekend, Laura came to the park. Owen saw her from halfway down the path and pedaled toward her so fast I shouted for him to slow down.
She caught the handlebars and kissed his forehead.
“Show me your good stop,” she said.
He did it twice.
For an hour, we focused on him. When he wanted a drink, Laura held the bicycle while I opened his water bottle. When he fell lightly against the grass, we both checked his knee. He waved us away and climbed back on.
As we walked to the cars, Laura said, “I’ve asked Jay’s sister to collect the gift from the hospital. He agreed not to come near you again.”
“Did he agree not to come near Owen?”
“Yes. She heard him say it.”
“I’m glad.”
Laura looked at me. “You don’t believe me.”
“I believe what you’re telling me. I’ll feel better when he keeps his word.”
She nodded. She had lied to me for months; it would take time before I stopped checking every answer.
One evening, after Owen was asleep at my brother’s, I sat with Laura at the kitchen table in our house. We had agreed to discuss our marriage without Owen nearby.
“I’ve started seeing a counselor on my own,” she told me.
“I’m glad.”
“She asked why I waited so long to admit I wanted us to change. I told her I was afraid you’d choose your work over me again.”
I listened.
“I should have told you anyway,” she said. “I let the fear become an excuse.”
“I wish you had told me.”
“I know.”
For the first time, she asked what the last year had felt like for me.
I told her about driving home after overnight shifts and sitting in the car because I was too tired to walk inside. I told her I had known she was lonely but believed we could make it through the holiday rush and talk properly after New Year’s.
“We kept waiting for later,” I said.
“Yes.”
“Jay didn’t happen because I worked nights.”
“No,” she said. “I chose that.”
I needed to hear her say it.
We talked until midnight. We didn’t decide whether to stay married. When I left, Laura walked me to the door.
“I miss you,” she said.
“I miss who we were.”
She closed her eyes briefly. “I do too.”
At Sam’s, Owen woke when I came in. He asked if I had been at work.
“No. Mom and I were talking.”
“Did you talk about me?”
“A little. We talked about how much we love you.”
He pulled the blanket over his shoulders.
“Did Mom tell you I can ride fast now?”
“She did.”
“Good.”
He fell asleep before I left the room.
A week later, the school called. Jay had come to the front office asking to leave the Christmas gift for Owen.
The staff had refused it and told him to leave.
May you like
I stood at work with the phone against my ear, looking at the wall.
Jay had promised to stay away. Owen was behind that school’s doors. I needed to know what had happened before I picked him up.
