I looked over my shoulder.
“That’s the problem. You didn’t mean for me to find out at all.”
Then I left.
That evening, Tyler called seventeen times.
I didn’t answer.
He sent messages explaining that his relationship with Vanessa had started during a difficult period in our marriage. He said he had been confused. He said he had intended to tell me eventually.
Eventually.
As if the truth were a package he could leave on the porch until he found the time to deal with it.
The next morning, he finally sent a different message.
Tyler: Please let me come see Mason. He deserves an explanation.
I stared at the screen for a long time.
Mason was sitting at the hotel desk, drawing another airplane. This time, there were no people beneath it.
I walked over and sat beside him.
“Do you want to see Dad today?” I asked.
He continued coloring the wings.
“Will he be with Vanessa?”
“I don’t know.”
“Will he tell her that she’s more important than us?”
My heart ached.
“I don’t know that either, sweetheart.”
Mason set down his pencil.
“Then I don’t want to see him yet.”
I nodded.
“That’s okay.”
He looked up at me.
“Are you mad at him?”
“Yes,” I admitted. “I’m hurt, too.”
“Are you going to stop loving him?”
I took his little hands in mine.
“Your dad and I have grown-up problems to figure out. But you never have to earn my love, Mason. And none of this is your fault.”
He leaned into me, and I held him until his breathing settled.
That afternoon, I made two phone calls.
