“Shit. Jason’s here, again.”
“Jason, like your ex Jason?”
“Yeah.” I breathed out, trying to stay steady on my feet.
“That’s weird. Why is he here? To see you?” Stevie frowned, her brow crinkling in confusion.
When I turned to her, I realized how much in the dark I’d left her. “Sorry, Stevie, but it’s a long story. I’ll tell you sometime, but right now, I just want to hide away, ok? Get through the day.”
“Ok…” she said slowly. “But I expect a story sometime. You can’t hold out on me forever.”
“I promise,” I said, putting a hand over my heart, and that seemed to appease her.
Inside, we scuttled past Brad’s closed office door and went to work again. It wasn’t until a few hours later, that Doug, my research partner entered the lab, and he leaned down to pick up a piece of paper off the floor.
“Hey Cassie, this is for you.” He shrugged, handing it to me. “Just found it on the floor. Got your name on the outside.”
“Weird.” I unfolded it, and I saw that someone had scrawled a quick note.Meet me in the empty lab in twenty minutes. -Brad.
I crumpled it up, blushing in front of an expectant Doug, hoping he hadn’t read it. “Oh, it’s nothing. Thanks!”
I looked up at the clock. I had twenty minutes to decide if I was going to go.
* * *
BRAD
It was Monday, and shockingly, Jason came to visit me again, bringing some takeout lunch. He passed me a sandwich over my desk, and I grinned.
“Wow, didn’t expect this,” I said. “Thanks. So glad I was here when you came.”
“Yeah, me too.” Jason looked happy about something, but I didn’t ask right away. “So, how’s it going?”
“Fine. Just the usual.” I hesitated. “Saw your Mom on Friday.”
“Yeah, she told me. I heard it didn’t go well.”
Letting out a morbid laugh, I sighed. “No, but it never really did, unfortunately. It’s all good. She just was saying a few things that weren’t true, having been misinformed. That’s all.”
Jason stopped eating, and he leaned forward. “I know it’s lunch on a Monday, and maybe this isn’t a super great idea, but I want to hear about the past, Dad. I know Mom tells me things, and I never really gave you a chance, but I want to hear your side.”
I put down my food and looked at my son. Finally, he was asking for the truth instead of just shutting me out. Would I let him in, tell him everything? I only waited for a second before I plunged in.
“Jason, I don’t want to disparage your Mom because she’s your Mom, and she raised you. But it was sad for me that you stopped talking to me because what she said wasn’t true. I believe she told you I was a cheater and a liar.” I shook my head. “But unfortunately, she was the one who cheated on me. More than once.”
Jason nodded, taking in the information. “It is true that I gave up on the relationship before then, knowing it wasn’t right. I didn’t try as I should have done. I didn’t treat her as well as I should have done, but I didn’t cheat. She found someone else and then someone else, and when I confronted her about it, she claimed I had done the same thing with an old colleague of mine. So, we parted ways, and you got stuck in the middle. I’m so sorry. I never meant it to be like that. And I didn’t fight you when you yelled at me all those years ago because I still wanted you to have one parent you thought of well. You know?”
Jason was looking down at his hands, and I could tell he was processing. After a few seconds of silence, he said, “Thanks, Dad, for telling me. It’s really good to hear the other side of it all. And yes, I agree that you could’ve tried harder and been more present instead of getting wrapped up in work. But Mom always denied cheating, and I was busy with my own life to really push anything at the time. I just believed her. I’m sorry.”
“Hey, Jason, it’s all good now. You’re back.” I smiled at him, a weight suddenly lifted off my shoulders. “You’re here again, and we can be a family. Camilla’s so excited to have an older brother.”
He cracked a smile. “And I’m happy to have a sister.”
“Good.”
“So, now that that’s settled, I wanted to ask you something else.”
“Ok…” I said, unsure of what look he had in his eyes.