His Minimalism Threw Away My Daughter's Heart

I bought a play mat for the living room. It was bright and patterned all over with little animals.

Coco bounced on it, laughing, and watching her I suddenly felt how much I'd let slip away over these years.

But it wasn't too late. As long as I started, no moment was too late to start walking toward a better life.

I opened the job app and sent out another résumé.

That night, a little past nine, Coco was already asleep and I was mopping the living room.

Peter pushed the door open and came in.

He stood at the entryway changing his shoes, his eyes landing on the play mat, and his brow furrowed.

"It's in the way."

"It's not. Takes two seconds to roll up."

His frown deepened. I didn't want to hear another one of his lectures, so I got there first. "Besides, all you do at home now is sleep. How is it in your way?"

He looked at me, and in the end said nothing, just turned and went to the bathroom.

When the water started running, I dug a food delivery receipt out of his coat pocket.

The address was an upscale neighborhood.

A can of imported formula, two sets of kids' pajamas, and a scatter of other children's things.

He'd never put that much care into Coco.

Without a word, I slipped the receipt back where it had been.

The next day, I took Coco and went to Julia Fox's door.

Julia was thinner than in college, but her face hadn't changed much. When she saw it was me she smiled, as if she'd known I would come.

"You're here."

I didn't say anything. Facing the woman I'd thought of as my "rival," I didn't know what I was supposed to feel.

"I came because of Peter."

"Come in first."

Julia waved me inside and carried the two children off to the kids' room to play on their own.

I looked around the apartment.

It was warm, cozy. Nothing like Peter's hand.

Had I never understood him? Or was this side of him something he'd simply never shown me?

"You came at a good time." Julia poured me a cup of tea. "I'd been meaning to go find you, actually."

"Peter told me back then that the two of you had been separated for a long time, that you just hadn't filed the paperwork, and you lived your own lives."

Even though I'd braced myself for it, hearing the words out of someone's mouth still felt like a needle going in.

"I didn't believe him," she went on. "But I'd just gotten back from overseas, I was buried at work, my child had just been weaned, and the few nannies I tried weren't right. Peter said he could help, so I didn't turn him down."

She said it so openly that I was the one left not knowing what to do.

"Sheila." She said my name softly, her tone turning more serious. "I'm telling you all this today, but I'm not trying to take your man."

"I dated Peter back in college. You know what kind of person he is. So do I."

"Then what do you want?"

I was genuinely confused. If she didn't even like Peter, why was she doing any of this?

Julia took a sip of tea. "I just made partner last month. The firm has a stack of cases lined up for me, and I'm lucky to get five hours of sleep a night."

"I hired two nannies. One fed my child scalding oatmeal just to skimp on formula money, and the second sat there on her phone while the baby cried beside her."

"Sheila, you're a mother too. You know a child needs care, and needs someone there with them."

"But I don't have the time. I put in this much effort and these many years to get where I am. I'm not about to throw away my career for a man or a child."

"So that's why you came to me?" My throat was a little dry.

She pushed a contract across the table toward me.