For the next decade, I raised Liam alone.
I should have ignored the wedding invitation.
I should have refused and blocked her number.
Instead, I made the mistake of picturing the day. Monica greeting us in front of her fiancé’s relatives. Looking me over. Noticing my old truck. Seeing the suit I only wore to funerals and interviews. Seeing Liam beside me while pretending she had always been his mother.
I could survive Monica making me feel small again.
I could not survive Liam watching it happen.
That evening, after Liam had gone to bed, I sat alone in the living room and did something I never imagined I would ever do.
I hired an actress to pretend to be my wife.
Two days later, Susan arrived at my house.
“So,” she said as she placed her bag down, “tell me about the ex-wife.”
“What is her full name?” she asked.
“Monica.”
Her pen paused.
She lifted her eyes.
“Monica? Is this her last name?”
“Yeah. Why?”
She tapped her pen against the paper once.
“I think I’ve heard that name before.”
Then Liam walked in.
He stopped when he saw her.
Susan stood and extended her hand.
“I’m Susan.”
He studied her hand, then looked at me.
“Is she the fake wife?”
Susan never blinked.
“Temporary role,” she said. “Low budget. Emotionally demanding.”
Liam stared another moment before shaking her hand.
“Okay.”
Susan sat again.
“You want to ask me anything?” she said.
He shrugged.
“Can you act like you like my dad?”
She smiled.
“I don’t think that part will be hard.”
Ten years earlier, Monica had told me I could never fix being myself.
Susan had somehow made it sound as though there was never anything broken.
She watched Liam walk away.
“He’s protective of you.”
“He shouldn’t have to be.”
“But he is,” she said softly.
The wedding took place at a country club outside the city, the kind with white stone columns, manicured hedges, and people who decided your worth within five seconds of meeting you.
I nearly turned the truck around in the parking lot.
Susan touched my arm.
“If you leave now, you’ll think about it for years.”
Liam leaned between the front seats.
“Let’s just get it over with.”
So we went inside.
Monica noticed us before we reached the main hall.
She stood near the entrance beside her fiancé and several relatives, already dressed for the ceremony, already wearing that polished smile she used whenever she wanted something. Then she noticed Susan.
Her smile changed.
She approached us, kissed the air near Liam’s head without actually touching him, then looked directly at Susan.
