Chapter 3

ZELENE’S POV

I can’t stop thinking about Kevin, even after we leave The Plaza, he’s still there in my head.

“Mom.” Casey’s voice cuts through my thoughts. “What?” He leans between the seats dramatically. “Can we pleeease get pretzels?”

“No.” His mouth falls open. “Wow, you answered way too fast.”

“We already ate.”

“That wasn’t pretzels.” Cedric sighs quietly without looking up from his tablet. “Food is food.” Casey gasps. “What the heck? No, it’s not.”

“It is.”

“It’s not.”

“Guys.” My voice comes out sharper than I mean it to. “Please…… not tonight.” That quiets them immediately.

Beside the window, Cynthia watches the lights outside flash across the glass quietly. Then softly, “Mom?”

“Yes, baby?”

“That man knew you.” I stare ahead for a second too long before answering. “Yeah.” Casey leans forward immediately. “Was he your friend?”

“Something like that.” Silence settles over the car for a moment before Casey speaks again. “He kept looking at us.”

My grip tightens slightly around my purse. Cedric finally looks up from his tablet. “He looked confused.” Casey frowns. “No, not confused.”

“Then what?” Casey shrugs. “I don’t know…… weird.”

The car goes quiet again then Cynthia turns toward me slowly, her voice small and sleepy. “Are we gonna see him again?”

My stomach twists painfully. “No.” But even to me, the answer doesn’t sound believable. I turn toward the window before any of them can ask another question.

Outside, Manhattan keeps moving like nothing happened tonight. Meanwhile my entire life feels one step away from falling apart.

Because Kevin looked at those children and saw something, I know he did. He has never been the kind of man who lets things go once they get stuck in his head, especially not me.

By the time we get home, exhaustion sits so heavily in my body it almost hurts to move.

Casey kicks his shoes off the second we walk into the apartment. “I’m starving again.”

“You were starving thirty minutes ago,” I mutter, dropping my keys onto the counter. “That was old starving.” Cedric snorts quietly while heading toward the hallway.

A tiny smile almost pulls at my mouth before disappearing again. I watch them move around the apartment and something tightens painfully inside my chest.

Homework scattered across the dining table. Casey talking too loudly. Cedric pretending not to care about anything.

Cynthia carrying that stuffed rabbit everywhere like it’s emotionally supporting the entire family.

This is my life. The life I built after everything collapsed. “Pajamas,” I tell them tiredly. Casey groans immediately. “Do I have to?”

“You ask me that every night.”

“One day you might say no.”

“That day will never come.” He sighs like I personally ruined his future. Cynthia smiles sleepily before disappearing into her room. Cedric lingers beside me for a second longer. “Mom?”

“Mhm?” His eyes stay on my face carefully. “You okay?” The question catches me off guard. “Yeah.” He keeps staring at me like he doesn’t fully believe that. Then quietly, “Okay.”

Sometimes being seen too clearly feels unbearable. A little later, Casey sits cross-legged on the couch eating cereal he absolutely does not need while talking nonstop about school.

I nod at the right moments, but honestly, I barely hear half of it. Because every time my mind goes quiet Kevin comes back.

I help Cynthia brush her hair after her shower while she fights sleep so hard her eyes keep drifting closed halfway through sentences. “Mom?”

“Mhm?”

“You’re sad tonight.” The words hit softly. I stop brushing her hair for a second. “No, baby.” She blinks up at me sleepily. I lean down and kiss the top of her head gently. “Go to sleep, Cynthia.” She doesn’t argue.

Hours later, the apartment finally goes quiet. I sit alone at the kitchen counter with only the stove light on while the city glows faintly through the windows.

And for the first time all night I let myself think about him. Kevin standing outside my office years ago holding coffee because he knew I forgot to eat again.

Pulling me into his lap while I pretended to work because he hated when I ignored him for too long.

I loved him so much, I remember one rainy night when the power went out in his apartment and we ended up sitting on the kitchen floor eating cold pizza by candlelight.

I laughed so hard I cried. Kevin stared at me quietly afterward before brushing my hair behind my ear. “There you are.” I frowned at him. “What does that mean?”

“That laugh,” he said softly. “You hide it from everybody else.”

My chest aches remembering that. Kevin saw parts of me nobody else ever did, maybe that’s why leaving destroyed me the way it did.

I still remember the night I left, my suitcase shaking in my hand and tears blurring my vision so badly I could barely see the road.

Deleting his number then memorizing it again anyway because some part of me knew I’d never really let him go.

A broken laugh slips out before I cover my mouth quickly. What the hell was I supposed to do back then? Stay and let everything destroy him too?

I couldn’t, even now, after all these years, I know one thing for sure. Leaving Kevin destroyed me but staying would’ve destroyed him too.

Soft footsteps pull me from my thoughts. A second later, Casey appears at my bedroom door rubbing his eyes. “Mom?” I straighten slightly. “Why are you awake?”

He walks closer slowly. “Can I ask you something?” Something in his voice makes my chest tighten immediately. “Okay.”

Casey hesitates before asking quietly, “Do we have a dad?”

My entire body freezes. Behind him, Cedric appears silently near the doorway while Cynthia clutches her rabbit against her chest beside him.

I swallow hard. “Why are you asking that?” Casey shrugs nervously. “That man earlier……He looked at us like dads look at kids in movies.”

My pulse starts pounding immediately. “You already have me,” I say softly. “I know.” Casey looks down briefly before meeting my eyes again. “But that’s not what I asked.”

Silence fills the room, for one terrifying second, I don’t know what to say. Because the truth is standing right there between all of us.