Chapter 9: The Park

The next Saturday, Neil left for Lancaster at eight.

Shannon dropped Cody off at nine, in sunglasses, with a rushed kiss and a story about an urgent client.

Kristen did not come at all.

She let Ian take his son, and the text she sent me afterward was one line.

I'm sorry about Monday. Can we talk?

I left it unanswered.

The park was a ten-minute walk from my house.

It had a splash pad, a rusted jungle gym and a row of green benches along the fence.

Ian was already there, in jeans and a gray T-shirt, pushing his son on the swings.

"Maggie!" The boy waved both arms.

Cody ran straight for the sandbox without a word.

I sat on the bench beside the swings, and Ian came over with two paper cups.

"I didn't know how you take it," he said. "So it's black."

"Black is fine."

I took it. Our fingers touched on the cardboard, and neither of us made anything of it.

He sat down on the other end of the bench.

For a while we watched the boys.

"I owe you an apology," he said. "About the school."

"You already gave one."

"I gave a speech. That's not the same."

Keep reading free with an account. Start While I Watched Their Kids, He Lived a Secret Life from Chapter 1, then sign up free to read the rest of this chapter.