A phone on the table | Source: Pexels
“Hey, babe,” Sophia said, and I could hear the stress in her voice. “Can you do me a huge favor? I can’t pick up Lizzy today. There’s this meeting with the executive team that I absolutely cannot miss. Can you get her instead?”
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I checked the time. 3:15 p.m. If I left now, I could make it.
“Yeah, sure. No problem!”
“Thank you so much. You’re a lifesaver.”
A woman talking on the phone | Source: Pexels
A woman talking on the phone | Source: Pexels
I told my boss I had a family emergency and drove straight to the kindergarten. When I walked through those doors, Lizzy’s face lit up like a firework. God, I missed these moments. I got so caught up in work that I forgot how good it felt just to see my daughter smile.
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“Daddy!” She ran to me, her little sneakers squeaking on the floor.
I crouched down and pulled her into a hug. “Hey, sweetheart. Ready to go home?”
“Uh-huh!”
I grabbed her pink jacket off the hook — the one with the cartoon bears on the sleeves — and started helping her into it. She was chattering about something her friend Emma said during snack time, and I was smiling, just soaking it all in.
Then she tilted her head and said, “Daddy, why didn’t the new daddy pick me up like he usually does?”
My hands froze mid-zipper.
A little girl standing on the road | Source: Midjourney
A little girl standing on the road | Source: Midjourney
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“What do you mean, sweetheart? What new daddy?”
She looked at me as if I’d just asked the silliest question in the world.
“Well, the new daddy. He always takes me to Mommy’s office, and then we go home. Sometimes we go for walks too! We went to the zoo last week and saw the elephants. And he comes over to our house when you’re not home. He’s really nice. He brings me cookies sometimes.”
The floor felt like it dropped out from under me. I kept my face neutral, kept my voice calm even though my heart was pounding so hard I could hear it in my ears.
“Oh. I see. Well, he couldn’t make it today, so I came instead. Aren’t you happy I came?”
“Of course, I am!” She giggled, completely oblivious. “I don’t like calling him Daddy anyway, even though he keeps asking me to. It feels weird. So I just call him the new daddy instead.”
I swallowed hard. “Alright, alright. That makes sense.”
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A man driving a car | Source: Unsplash
A man driving a car | Source: Unsplash
She talked the entire drive home. About her teacher, Miss Rodriguez. About the sandbox and how Tommy pushed her, but then said sorry. Lizzy went on and on about the picture she drew of a giraffe.
I made the appropriate sounds like, “Uh-huh, wow, that’s great!”
But I didn’t hear a word. My brain was stuck on one thought, looping over and over. Who the hell was the new daddy?
And since when did Sophia start taking Lizzy to her office? She’d never mentioned it. Not once.
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When we got home, I made Lizzy dinner. Her favorite chicken nuggets and mac-and-cheese. Then, I helped her with a puzzle while my mind raced.
That night, I lay in bed next to my wife, staring at the ceiling while she slept. I wanted to wake her up and demand answers. But something stopped me. Maybe it was the fear of what she’d say. Maybe it was the need to know for sure before I accused her of anything.
Either way, I didn’t sleep.
A distressed man | Source: Midjourney
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