Chapter 2

I stared at Milo, unable to believe what I'd just heard.

The color drained from my face. His words hurt far more than I expected.

Without stopping to think, I caught him by the arm and smacked him. "Do you even know who your mother is?"

Milo burst into tears. "You're a terrible mommy! I don't want you anymore! All you ever do is make me study. I like Aunt Vivie. I want her to be my mommy!"

I froze. I'd never imagined hearing those words from my own child.

Something in me seemed to break beyond repair.

Nathan hurried over, pulled Milo away from me, and glared as though I were the one who had done something unforgivable.

"He's just a little boy. How can you take what he says so seriously?"

"It's only a train ride. Why are you turning it into such a huge fight?"

With Nathan defending him, Milo grew bolder.

"You're a bad mommy! I don't want to ride in the car with you."

"Aunt Vivie promised she'd buy me lots of snacks for the trip."

"You're just a housewife. You should be the one taking the train."

Nathan realized too late that Milo had said far more than he should have.

He tried to smooth things over. "He's a child, Nora. He doesn't know what he's saying."

Milo might have been young, but he could hear, see, and speak. He repeated the things he heard from the people around him.

Children learned how to treat others by watching the adults they trusted.

At last, I understood.

Nathan, his beloved Vivian, and even the son I'd raised had all come to see me the same way.

I wasn't their wife or mother in any meaningful sense. I was the housewife they took for granted, the person expected to handle every chore without complaint.

I looked at Nathan and Milo standing side by side, their expressions so alike.

Vivian, the woman they both adored, fit right in with them.

If this was all I meant to them, then I was done.

Even a hired nanny got paid. Why should I keep looking after people who treated me like an inconvenience, and do it for free?

Seeing that I'd gone quiet, Nathan tried a gentler approach.

"Don't be angry, Nora. Please try to be reasonable for once. Mom and Dad aren't young, and Milo's still a child. You're the one who should take the train."

"Remember that coat you liked online? I'll buy it for you on Black Friday."

I gave him a cold, disbelieving smile.

Nathan never apologized when we argued. Instead, he offered to buy me something I'd mentioned wanting, then chose the cheapest version he could find and acted as if that settled everything.

For years, I'd told myself he was simply careful with money. I thought he was trying to save for our family, just as I did.

Then came Vivian's birthday. I learned that Nathan had secretly spent an entire month's salary on a luxury handbag for her.

That was when I finally understood the difference.

It wasn't that he couldn't spend money. It was that he didn't think I was worth spending it on.

I got into an argument with him over the bag. His response was the same as always: "You're making a fuss over nothing."

After that, the cracks in our marriage only widened.

I kept trying to hold us together for Milo's sake, swallowing one disappointment after another. But now Nathan was promising me a coat only if I waited for Black Friday.

It brought every year of our marriage rushing back: him coming home from work and settling in front of his computer to play games, Milo resenting me for making him study, and me spending every spare moment taking care of them both.

What was I still fighting for?

Building my entire life around Nathan and Milo had left no room for myself. Between work and looking after them, I barely had a moment to breathe.

I was finished with this family.

Nathan watched as I pulled out my phone and booked a train ticket.

Satisfied that I'd finally agreed, he left with Milo, both of them in noticeably better spirits.

He had no idea that I'd booked a ticket to my own hometown.