Just as I was finishing up at work, my phone rang. It was my ex-husband. I could hear something in his voice — tension, worry — and then, in the background, the unmistakable sound of our son crying.
“What’s wrong?” I asked, already fearing the worst.
There was a long pause before my ex said quietly, “He’s upset because… he thought you weren’t coming tonight.”
I froze. “What do you mean? Of course, I was coming.”
It turned out that his stepmother, trying to be kind, had told him she could go to the dinner if I was too busy. And somewhere in that conversation, my son — sensitive and thoughtful as he is — decided that maybe I didn’t want to come at all.
When I finally got him on the phone, his voice was trembling. “I just thought you had work, Mom. I didn’t want to bother you.”
Those words broke something inside me. I had never missed a moment by choice — and yet, somehow, my silence had made him feel forgotten.
The Morning After
The next morning, the air between us felt heavy with unspoken emotion. At breakfast, I made his favorite pancakes, hoping food could bridge what words couldn’t.
