“Oh. I left to get something to eat,” I said indifferently.
Just then, Jill and Neil approached. She said, “Neil just said that he wants to have pizza, Jolene. We can eat together if you don’t mind. Take it as my apology to you.”
“I don’t like—” Before I could finish, Shawn agreed on my behalf. He even ordered me to take the car around.
I didn’t want to argue with him since I’d already made up my mind about leaving, so I went to the garage without argument. When I brought the car around, he got into the backseat with Jill and Neil as if it were the most natural thing to do.
He only realized the problem after I started driving. He said uneasily, “Neil is still young, and he clings to me. That’s why I—”
I looked in the rearview mirror and saw them sitting there like a happy family of three. I interjected impatiently, “It’s good that you’re all sitting together. It’s dangerous in the front passenger seat, after all.”
My words took Shawn aback—he’d told me something similar in the past. I’d quarreled with him over the front passenger seat before, and he’d said impatiently, “What’s there to argue about? It’s not safe riding shotgun.”
The rest of the journey passed with me driving and listening to the joy and cheer in the backseat. I was like an outsider.
…
Shawn, Jill, and Neil headed inside the pizzeria when we arrived. When I entered after parking the car, I found that there were only three sets of cutlery at the table.
Shawn looked at me awkwardly. He was about to summon the server to add another set when Neil suddenly cried, “I don’t want to eat with the nasty woman! Mommy said she’ll take Daddy away! I don’t want her!”
Jill hurriedly clamped a hand over his mouth and looked at me apologetically. “He’s just a child; he doesn’t mean it. Don’t mind him, Jolene.”
Meanwhile, Shawn pulled Neil into his arms and soothed him. He shot me a look, telling me that I was at fault for this.
I chuckled and said to Neil, “He’ll always be your Daddy, kiddo. I won’t take him away.”
That made the look in Shawn’s eyes change. Before he could say anything, I turned and headed to a table in the corner. I had pizza by myself.
