Page 4 of The Regrettable Mistake

“Dad’s never too busy for me.” Den’s insistence of that fact was true enough. Normally, Ollie would at least call and say good night to his son on the rare occasions when he had to go on an out-of-town trip. Though, those rare occasions had turned into more of an all-the-time thing these past few months.

“I think maybe his work is extra hard this time, Denny-Boy. You know your father loves you, no matter what.”

“I know. I miss him, though,” he pouted. It broke my heart to see that lip poke out and little tears form in his eyes. He was at an age where he was trying to be ‘a man’ and not show emotion too much. I rolled my eyes at the thought, but it made his father proud of him.

“Eat up and then I’ll let you play an hour of Minecraft.”

“A whole hour?” Den’s eyes grew comically wide. Ollie wasn’t a fan of the game and didn’t like for his son to play it too much, as he deemed it was a waste. Once in a while, I had to remind the man that his son was still a child and needed creative play time, not just organized sports, as an outlet.

“I promise.”

“What if Dad comes home?”

“I’ll handle him,” I offered with a wink that made the little boy smile as he tucked into his soup and sandwich.

I had planned to make a full meal again tonight, but when I didn’t hear from my husband, everything remained in limbo. Dinner. My marriage. Our family and the future I once thought we would have together. It was all just sitting on the sidelines waiting for him to notice that there wasn’t much left to salvage.

CHAPTER 2

Ollie

“What are you waiting for?”

Julianna held out her hand and smiled back at me over her shoulder. Her silky, black hair that held the slightest hint of blue in the tresses, swished around her shoulders with the movement. Those unreal, azure eyes of hers sparkled like jewels as she teased me with that look that made her puffy lips tip up ever so slightly at the corner.

Even with the new addition of the scars on her face, she was still one of the most physically beautiful woman I’d ever seen. There was really only one woman who outdid her and I happened to be married to that one. The accident that earned Julia those scars was the only reason she had come back into my life. It wasn’t for me. It certainly wasn’t for our son. Still, I couldn’t shake the wild feeling of anticipation every time she was around.

That was how it had been at first. She had spent the past three months trying to convince me to give her the money to fix her face. There was a plastic surgeon who could do it, but the procedures involved were costly and Julianna, despite the claims her ego made before she left town, had not become the A-list actress she expected to when she ran away from her family to chase her dream.

“Jules,” I called to her.

“Don’t Jules me!” She huffed when it became obvious I didn’t want to play along with her latest game. A sour expression quickly replaced the elated one she wore just moments ago. “How many times do I have to tell you? It’s Jia now. Gee-ah!” She over-annunciated it, as if that would help me learn how to say her stage name. Then, she glanced around, as if someone might be listening in and moved closer to whisper. “I need you to use the right name, so if we’re spotted, they know who to report on.”

That made me cringe. “We better not be spotted, Jules.” I refused to use her stupid stage name. “I’m supposed to be in Vancouver on business, not in Vegas to consult with a plastic surgeon with my ex-girlfriend.”

“So.” She huffed again. “Who is going to care? Why are you lying anyway?”

“Um, my wife would definitely care,” I managed to choke out.

“Wife, pfft,” she spluttered. “You mean the glorified nanny you conned into taking care of your kid?”

“Our kid. Our son, Jules.”

She rolled her eyes at me and that sick feeling that I had well and truly fucked my life all to hell came clawing back into the pit of my stomach where the nausea built. I knew Jules’ game now. The woman I’d always loved and placed on a pedestal – even after she left me to raise our son alone while she chased her dream – had made certain to screw me over to the best of her ability. Now, I was nothing more than her lapdog doing her bidding and this latest three-day venture to Vegas was just another yank on my very short leash.

I’d fucked up.

The bitch of it was, that in fucking up in the worst way, I realized exactly what I stood to lose as opposed to the nothing that would be gained from my involvement with my ex. I would lose my wife over this – eventually. I might even lose my son. I had already been missing out on the close relationship we once had. It had been almost three days since I’d spoken to him and that was unheard of. I’d never gone so long without at least saying goodnight to my boy before.

I couldn’t call home because I was afraid that Jules would purposely say something in the background that Den might hear. He didn’t need to ask questions about how I was with or what he might overhear her saying. Worse, I worried that Steph would overhear her, or Den would say something to his stepmom about what he heard and then this farce would all have been for nothing.

Truthfully, at this point, my son would be far better off being raised by his stepmother than either of his biological parents. His biological mother and I have both made our fair share of selfish decisions that would end up impacting his life, and for my part, not in the better way it had when Jules left and I later found Steph. Even though I knew there wasn’t a judge out there who would give Steph custody of a non-biological child whom she hadn’t adopted, I knew that I’d lose my son anyway.

His heart would be broken when Steph divorced me – and she would. Everything would come out if someone got wind of what I’d been up to with my ex. That much was certain because nothing ever stayed secret long, especially if Jules was hell-bent on trying to be noticed.

Steph would be the one destroyed by the fallout eventually. That meant shit would also roll downhill and cover my son in the mistakes I’d made. My boy had grown so close to my wife that he called her Momma. I insisted on Momma Steph, to keep a line drawn, but that line I pushed didn’t matter to his heart. She was his person – more so than I was these days, since I was rarely home anymore.

The woman standing in front of me, staring me down with that hateful gaze of hers, was the reason I’d lost all that time with him. The same reason I’d lose my marriage. At the rate we were going, my business – which I’d been neglecting while humoring her endless searches for the “right doctor” – had also been neglected and the effects of that wouldn’t take long to be felt.

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