The Broken Ones

CHAPTER 4

TWO MONTHS AGO

July

At bedtime, Emma whispers, "Why's Daddy always working?"

"It's his job, pumpkin. Daddy's a very busy man," I churn out the answer so fast I even surprise myself. I've been saying it so many times I don't even need to think anymore.

Her head drops. I should be used to it by now. But it still hurts to see my daughter hurting.

"How about a bedtime story? The Magic Porridge Pot? Or The Gingerbread Man? Or both?"

"Don't want to read. Want Daddy." Muffled. Face turned away from me.

Car headlights beam into the room.

Emma scrambles off the bed, runs to the window, shouting, "It's Daddy! Daddy's home!"

Seconds later, my heart breaks as I watch that tiny body sag.

It's not Noah. It's never him.

I swoop her up in my arms and hold her close. She clings onto me like she used to as a baby.

"He'll be home soon, pumpkin. Let's read a story, shall we? Any story you like."

"No. I don't want a story. I want Daddy." She starts to cry.

"Let's have a TV night, shall we? We'll sit on the sofa and watch Frozen and wait for Daddy to come home. How about that?"

"Yayy!" Her tiny wet face splits into a wide smile. My heart breaks all over again. Is this what Emma is going to remember of her childhood years down the line? Waiting in vain for a father who never shows up? Mummy compensating with extra TV time?

Forty minutes into Frozen, and Noah's still not home. No call from him, either, to say he'll be late. He used to call in the early days. Now? Never.

Another thirty minutes pass, and it's the unshed tears in my daughter's eyes that makes me pick up my phone and go to the kitchen.

I call Noah on his mobile phone.

A breathy female voice answers.

"Hello?"

"Isn't this Noah's phone?"

"Noah's busy right now. Could you call back later?"

"Who is this?" I ask coldly.

"Natalie. And you are?"

"Noah's wife."

"Oh, of course. We're at a meeting, and Noah's --- oh, here he is --- "

Noah's voice comes on.

"I'm at a meeting. I can't talk right now." Curt. Annoyed.

"Emma's waiting up for you."

"I told you I'm at a meeting. It could drag on --- " his voice shrivels and then comes back on. "I've got to go."

"Noah --- "

The phone goes dead.

Noah's ended the call.

I walk out to the living room, and Emma has fallen asleep. I carry her up to her bed, and then lie down beside her. I'm not sure what time Noah comes home. His car is in the drive when I wake in the morning.

"Sorry," he says, when I come downstairs. "I had another meeting after the first one, so..."

"Is this going to be your life from now on? Meetings at the office that last all night?"