My Ex-Husband Mocked Me for Bringing a Date to His Halloween Party, Saying ‘No Man Would Ever Date Someone Like…
As they got closer, Daniel’s hand went rigid around mine. Just for a second. I assumed he was reacting to Jason’s expression, which was the look of a man who’d found a stranger sitting in his favorite chair.
Jason looked me over from my hat to my boots. “Well. That’s unexpected.”
“Happy Halloween, Jason.”
Christy’s smile pulled tight at the corners. “Nice dress, Sarah. Very brave.”
She only ever said my name like that when she wanted an audience. And she had one. A couple dressed as Bonnie and Clyde had drifted closer with their drinks, and a man in a gorilla suit had stopped mid-sip.
Jason’s eyes dropped to my hand in Daniel’s. “Wait. What is this?” He laughed. “Your boyfriend?”
I nodded. It came out smaller than I wanted.
He laughed again, louder, so more heads turned. “Oh, please. You expect me to believe that? No man would ever date someone like you.” He tipped his glass toward Daniel. “What, did you pay him?”
Heat climbed from my collar all the way up under the brim of my hat. I felt the old reflex rising, the one I’d lived inside for fifteen years: shrink, smile, apologize, make everyone comfortable again.
Daniel squeezed my hand.
“That’s an interesting way to greet the mother of your children,” he said.
Jason frowned. “And who exactly are you?”
Daniel smiled faintly. He let go of my hand, reached up with both gloved hands, and lifted the silver mask.
“Well, hello, Jason.”
The laughter drained out of Jason’s face all at once. His eyes jumped from Daniel to Christy, then to me, then back to Daniel, and he stepped backward so fast he bumped the punch table. Red punch sloshed over the rim of the glass bowl.
Christy had gone white beneath her painted whiskers. The plastic cup slipped from her fingers and bounced across the hardwood.
“No… No, this can’t be happening!” she said. “Not you!”
For one delicious second, I almost smiled. Jason was speechless. I’d waited years to see that.
Then I looked at Daniel, at his calm face and his clenched jaw, and the smile died before it reached my mouth.
They both knew him.
And I had no idea why.
For illustration purposes only
Part 3: The Little Astronaut
Christy grabbed Jason’s sleeve. “You need to leave,” she hissed at Daniel.
Daniel met her eyes. “I didn’t know you’d be here, Christy.”
Jason was still staring at him like he’d seen a real ghost among all the plastic ones. “What are you doing with Sarah?”
“I came with her.” Daniel’s gaze drifted past them toward the den, where a crowd of kids was shrieking over a game. “Oliver’s here tonight, isn’t he?”
Christy’s eyes flashed. “Don’t you dare bring him into this.”
Before I could ask what any of it meant, a boy in a white astronaut suit came racing around the corner, his helmet bouncing on its strap.
“Dad!”
He threw himself at Daniel so hard they nearly toppled over. Daniel caught him, laughing, one hand cupping the back of the boy’s head.
“Hey, buddy.”
“You came! Mom said you were working!”
Christy stepped forward. “Oliver, go play with your friends.”
“But Dad’s here!”
“I can see that.”
Daniel crouched to his son’s eye level. “Great costume. NASA’s lucky to have you. Go play, okay? We’ll talk soon.”
Oliver ran off toward a classmate dressed as a vampire, whose mother stood by the dessert table holding a plate of deviled eggs. I watched him go. Then I looked at Christy, who was watching him too, and the pieces fell into place one after another, like tumblers in a lock.
Oliver’s mother.
Daniel’s ex-wife.
Christy.
The woman who’d suggested fillers so someone might notice me had once been married to the one man who actually had. I’d never put it together because Daniel never mentioned his ex had moved on, and I’d never said Christy’s name. We’d been so careful not to talk about them that we’d walked straight into this.
Daniel leaned close to my ear. “I recognized her while she was walking over,” he said quietly. “I should’ve warned you right then. But Jason started in on you, and I wasn’t going to stand there hiding behind a mask while he did it.”
“You didn’t know she was with Jason?”
“Not until I saw them together. She and Oliver are still living near his school. I’ve never been inside this house. I didn’t know the address until you gave it to me.” He exhaled. “I swear, Sarah.”
I looked at him and believed him. He seemed every bit as stunned as I felt.
Jason found his voice. “Christy showed me pictures of you. With Oliver.” It came out like an accusation. “She told me you walked out on them.”
Daniel was silent for a beat. Then he said, “I didn’t abandon my son.”
“Don’t start telling lies in front of my friends,” Christy snapped.
Daniel glanced toward the den, where Oliver’s helmet bobbed above the other children. “I’m not discussing this where he can hear.”
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