Chapetr 2 - The Truth Creeps In
1301 Words
Calla
Later That Evening – Home
The door clicked softly behind me as I slipped off my heels, letting the quiet hum of home wrap around me like a warm blanket.
“Mommy!” a small voice yelled from the living room, followed by the thudding patter of bare feet.
I barely had time to kneel before Lucas threw himself into my arms.
There he was. My little sun.
All thoughts of boardrooms, high-rise tension, and impossible pasts melted the second I held him.
“I drew a dinosaur,” he declared proudly, pulling back just enough to show me a paper covered in bold green scribbles and oddly shaped legs. “It’s eating broccoli!”
I laughed. “That’s the most ferocious herbivore I’ve ever seen.”
He beamed. “Miss Carla said I have imagination.”
“She’s absolutely right.”
I scooped him up and carried him to the kitchen, where dinner waited. It wasn’t much—just pasta and leftover chicken—but it was warm. Familiar. Safe.
Lucas chatted about his day at pre-school, about a kid who tried to eat a crayon, and how he saved a beetle from being squashed. I smiled, nodding, responding—but my mind drifted more than I wanted it to.
To him.
To the boardroom.
To the look in Eli William’s eyes.
To the way my breath caught when he said he remembered me.
It shouldn’t have mattered. One night. One memory. That’s all it was supposed to be.
But I had never been able to forget the way he looked at me like I was worth holding onto.
And now… I was lying by omission.
Lucas didn’t know who his father was.
And Eli didn’t know he had a son.
It wasn’t that I wanted to keep them apart forever.
I was just afraid. Of how much would change. Of how fragile this life I’d built could suddenly become.
I watched Lucas stab at a meatball with his fork, his tongue peeking out from the corner of his mouth in focus—just like Eli had done when studying floor plans earlier that day.
My stomach twisted.
I shook the thought away.
Now wasn’t the time. He didn’t need to know. Not yet.
Maybe not ever.
Eli
That Night – Williams Enterprises
The office was quiet now, but I stayed.
Not because of unfinished work—but because I couldn’t shake her.
Calla Reyes.
Three years. Just like that. And she walks into my boardroom with the same storm in her eyes she had the night we met.
And just like back then—I was drawn in before I could stop it.
She was different now. Polished. Confident. Beautiful in a way that had matured. But the softness in her voice… the fire in her spine… that was the same.
I hadn’t even known her name that night. But I remembered the feel of her fingertips in mine, the curve of her laughter, the way we never stopped talking until we were tangled in each other like gravity had pulled us close.
She’d vanished before I could even say goodbye.
And for years, I’d told myself it meant nothing. Just one night. A beautiful ghost in a storm.
Now she was standing in front of me. And it didn’t feel like nothing.
It felt like a beginning I never got to finish.
I leaned back in my chair, staring up at the ceiling.
She said she was here for work. That it was a coincidence. And maybe it was.
But something about her silence when I asked if that was all—something about the way her eyes dipped away—
It wasn’t suspicion. Not yet.
Just… a question.
One, I suddenly couldn’t stop wanting the answer to.
Calla
It was past nine when I finally got Lucas into bed. He always asked for one more story, one more song, one more hug—and I always gave in. Tonight, though, he was quieter. Restless, almost.
“Mom?” he said softly as I brushed his hair back from his forehead.
“Hmm?”
“Why don’t I have a dad like Matteo does?”
My hand froze mid-stroke.
The question landed like a pebble dropped in still water—quiet, but with deep ripples I couldn’t ignore.
“I mean,” he went on, “he has one of those big ones with muscles who helps fix their bunk bed. Miss Carla said he looks like a superhero.”
I swallowed. “You have a superhero, too.”
“I do?” His eyes lit up with hope.
“Yes,” I said gently. “You have me.”
He frowned. “But you’re a girl.”
I laughed despite the lump forming in my throat. “Girls can be superheroes too, you know.”
“But Matteo’s dad makes pancakes that look like dinosaurs,” Lucas whispered, his voice small. “Can we make those too?”
“Of course,” I said, kissing his cheek. “We’ll make a whole dinosaur family this weekend.”
He nodded and yawned, eyes fluttering shut.
But mine stayed wide open.
That question—so simple, so innocent—ripped something open inside me. I’d rehearsed a hundred ways to answer it. A thousand excuses. I’d told myself Lucas was too young. That when the time came, I’d know exactly what to say.
But I didn’t.
I left his room quietly and walked into the living room, sitting on the edge of the couch like it might dissolve beneath me. I stared at the bookshelf where a photo of Lucas as a baby smiled out from a yellow frame. No father in the picture. Just me.
Always just me.
I picked up my phone. My thumb hovered over an old contact—Tessa, my college roommate, one of the few who knew the full story.
I hadn’t talked to her in almost a year. Not since she moved to Boston and started a life that didn’t include secrets and strollers.
But I needed to talk to someone who remembered what that night did to me. Someone who wouldn’t judge.
I sent her a message:
"You were right. I saw him today. He doesn’t know. And I don’t know if I can keep it that way anymore."
I stared at the screen, heart thudding.
The truth had always felt like something distant. A door I kept locked for everyone's protection.
But Lucas had knocked on it tonight.
And I didn’t know how many more knocks I could ignore. How long could I keep the truth from him? How long could I hide from the truth?
My mind is racing as my heart is. Should I continue with this project and pretend there was nothing between us? Or should I just ask my boss to give the project to someone else?
Should I run and hide again? But then, go where? I have tried hiding for three years, but fate has a funny way of reminding me who's in charge.
I kept glancing at my silent phone, waiting for Tess to answer. I need someone to distract me, or I might lose it. I'm struggling to cope with the stress and the dilemma that's starting to creep in.
But I had to admit. My heart skipped when I looked into his eyes. All those sleepless nights and the longing came back, and now I didn't know if I could hold back.
Yes, it was just one night, but that one night is etched in my mind, in my heart, and my soul forever. How could I forget? I have Lucas.
Every time I looked at my son, it was as if I were looking at him.
- Writer
