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“Come on, you guys. Come on!” I shout, grabbing my bag and phone as I hustle them out the door.
“Mommy,” says Henry. “Where’s the car?”
I exhale heavily, fumbling for the keys in my purse. “Henry, I don’t have time for games, okay?” It’s at times like this that I can almost understand why my mother lost her shit with me so often. Because I want to have a tantrum, and children are so easy to rage against. It’s not like they can talk back, or at leastthey couldn’t in my mother’s household—Sophie seems to manage it just fine in mine.
I find the keys and sling the bag over my shoulder as I walk outside. Henry and Sophie are standing on the walkway, staring at me.
I look beyond them to the driveway and blink repeatedly at the empty space where the car should be. The alarm would have triggered if someone had tried to steal it. It takes me another long second to realize it must have been removed by someone with a key—a key only one other person has.
“Did somebody steal our car, Mommy?” asks Sophie tearfully.
I am not going to fall apart. I am not going to fall apart. I am not going to fall apart.
“No. Nobody stole our car.” My voice trembles with both sadness and rage. “I think Daddy might have borrowed it.”
Why did Jeremy have to do this now? It’s like he knew how important today was, but he couldn’t have. He just happened to choose to fuck me over at a time when I really needed everything to go perfectly.
And what the hell am I going to do? I still need to get the kids to school, pick up the food, and set up the smart board and mic. I could ask Molly, but she’s got a big project of her own today and isn’t anywhere near us.
I can really only think of one other person to ask.
“I’ll be back in a minute, guys.” I grab my phone from my bag and hit dial as I step into the house. “I need some help,” I tell Caleb, struggling to get my voice under control. He’s already at work, of course, and has probably been there for hours.
“What’s going on?” There’s something so certain and assured about him, and that makes the desire to cry even worse. Caleb’s like a blanket I want to wrap myself in, except...he isn’tmyblanket.
“Jeremy took my car,” I whisper. “I’m going to call Uber so I can get the kids to school, but I was supposed to pick up all the bagels for the meeting. They’re already paid for—” That last word cracks and I swallow once more. “I don’t know what to do. I’m not going to be able to get them in time.”
“What do you mean, hetook your car?”
“He’s punishing me for something. He had the keys and the car is in his name, so I don’t think I can even call the police—” My voice breaks again. It’s not sadness so much as it is frustration.
Jeremy can get away with anything he wants, and I have no recourse—ever. Is it always going to be like this? The twins are only six. I’m not sure I can deal with a decade or more spent waiting for him to lash out at me, of being unable to get away from him and his endless rage.
There’s a moment of tense silence. Caleb is, undoubtedly, regretting everything: not firing me, agreeing to this meeting, the fact that my baggage has suddenly become his.
“Where are the bagels,” he asks, the words clipped, “and what do you need done to the room?”
I start giving him a list, and he stops me. “Send it to me as a text. And don’t call Uber. I’m coming to get you.”
TEN MINUTES LATER, he swerves into the driveway, and I usher the kids into the back of his truck.
“You don’t have car seats,” Sophie announces.
Caleb glances at me. “Do they stillneedcar seats?”
“Until our eighth birthday or when we are over sixty pounds,” replies Sophie primly.
“Booster seats,” I tell him. “It’ll be fine. Just try not to wreck.”
“I generally try not to wreck.”
I laugh, despite the situation. “They go to St. Ignatius, over in Elmdale. I’m really sorry about this.”
“It’s fine.” He glances over his shoulder. “But once we’re done at the school, we need to have a little talk. And what were you thinking, planning to pick up all the shit for the staff meeting yourself?”
“I was trying to keep costs down,” I protest.
He sighs. “Lucie, never do that again. I’m cheap, but I’m not that cheap.”
