The Family Next Door(60)

“Erin used to jog in the park next to my studio. We became friends.”

“I don’t need to know details.” Ange pressed her fingers into her temples. “God, at least spare me that.”

“Okay. Well … our relationship only lasted about six months. We’d already ended things when she found out she was pregnant. All she wanted was for me to be a part of the child’s life. And I agreed, as long as it didn’t affect my relationship with you.”

In a grotesque way, Ange was impressed. All these women prepared to hide Lucas’s secrets, just to keep some part of him. All these women protecting him from facing the truth.

“Were you at Charlie’s birth?”

“No,” he said.

“Regular visitation?”

“We work it out on an informal basis.”

“Do you pay her money for … child support?”

All at once, the logistics seemed vitally important. There must have been illicit visitation, hushed phone calls, birthday presents purchased and squirreled away. Years of deception on a daily basis.

“I pay her out of my own money from the studio. I have never used a cent of your money to support Charlie.”

The martyrdom was back. It incensed Ange. “You understand that your money is our money, don’t you? That everything you didn’t bring home to me and the boys was coming out of our pockets? Unless you think that the money I earned was mine and mine alone?”

“I guess. I just … I felt better that way.”

“Well. As long as you felt better.” A thought suddenly occurred to her. “Does she call you Daddy?”

“She calls me Lucas. She thinks I’m a friend of the family.”

“Do Erin’s friends and family know you’re her dad?”

“Her mum and her sister do. No one else.”

“What was the plan for when she got older? When Charlie asked who her dad was? When she wanted her dad to come to ballet concerts and graduation ceremonies?”

Lucas sat on the coffee table, his face pressed to his palms. With each question, he sank a little lower. He was ashamed, obviously. Or maybe he was just annoyed? Annoyed that he was found out and that he had to have this conversation. “Erin said she’d make something up.”

“How very accommodating of Erin,” Ange said cattily, aware that she’d been just as accommodating when, for all these years, she’d closed her eyes and ears and focused on what she had instead of what she didn’t.

When she was younger, Ange had always been so clear about what she would and wouldn’t put up with in a relationship. At the top of the list was the Holy Grail—if he cheats, kick him to the curb. Back then everything had been so clear, so simple. Now, despite everything Lucas had done, nothing was clear.

He was a good father, that was the problem. Women were prepared to overlook just about anything for a man who was a good father. The opposite was equally true. There was no amount of love in the world that would have made her stay with Lucas if he wasn’t good to her kids. Erin obviously felt the same. The irony was, she and Erin had a lot in common.

“Right,” she said now, standing up decisively. “We’re going on an adventure.”

Both Will and Ollie looked up at her skeptically.

“Where’s Dad?” Ollie said.

“Not here. This is an adventure for just the three of us. A Mum adventure.”

They looked back at the Xbox.

“Come on, boys,” she said. “It’ll be great.”

Will at least had the decency not to turn away. “What were you thinking?”

She had no idea. A meal in town, probably. Not the most adventurous adventure in the world, but it was all in the attitude. Wasn’t that what Lucas always said?

“It’s a surprise.”

“Is Dad meeting us there?”

It was Will who asked, but Ollie turned around at this. They hadn’t mentioned Lucas’s absence last night but now Ange wondered if it had been on their minds. She looked at their gorgeous expectant faces. They were nearly young men. And they were babies.

“No,” she admitted.

They both turned back to the Xbox.

“But we can have an adventure without him! It will be even better than one of Dad’s adventures. And, there will most likely be pizza.”

Ollie’s body stilled, and Ange found herself holding her breath. He was thinking it over. Pizza was a big draw card. Even Lucas didn’t often let them have pizza—he was too busy being sanctimonious, saying things like “Our bodies are our temples.” Often, they’d all come home from an adventure sucking down green smoothies. Cop that, Lucas, she thought. Mum’s playing the pizza card. Just try and compete with that!

“Can we order in?” Ollie said after a moment. “Then we can keep playing Xbox.”

Will glanced over his shoulder, gauging Ange’s reaction. He liked Ollie’s idea, no doubt, but if she dug her heels in, Will would go along with her adventure. He might even pretend to have a good time. Sweet boy.

“Maybe when Dad gets back, we can go on the pizza adventure?” Will suggested, ever the diplomat. “That will be even more fun, don’t you think?”

He smiled at Ange and she realized he was trying to spare her feelings. Was this how it would be when he came home from a weekend with his father? (“It was okay, but not that great,” he’d say, while Ollie would unapologetically proclaim it “the BEST weekend EVER!!!!”) She had a sudden urge to hug Will, cry, then hug him some more.