But I needed a fresh start.
Weneeded a fresh start.
So with Jake clean and ready to leave, I put him on the floor so he could shuffle around as I stocked my diaper bag up for a day.
With that packed, I reached for my phone, and I reserved a hotel room for us before I picked Jake up again. That done, I walked into the hall with him, where I called downstairs through the intercom.
“John?”
It took a second for someone to answer. “It’s Braden, Aoife.”
“Oh. I need to go out. I have a spa appointment,” I lied, knowing full well they’d never let me out of the apartment if they suspected my intentions. And the second they did, they’d call Finn, and he’d make me stay here.
He wouldn’t understand what I was doing.
So I had to show him.
“Sure. I’ll get John to head downstairs and warm up the car.”
“Thank you. You can ride with us. You don’t have to pretend to be in another car.”
He was silent a second. “Okay. Thank you.”
I cut the line, then I waited for Braden to come up to tell me I could descend to the garage.
As I stared around the space, I told Jake and I meant it, “I hope I never see this place again.”