Chapter3 Mommy Doesn’t Want You Any
Chapter3: Mommy Doesn’t Want You Anymore.
Caleb’s request
for Scotch eggs was a calculated move, a subtle attempt to get Evelyn to contact him. He was giving her an opening.
“Mrs. Reed said she was not coming back, Davis answered.
“Cough… cough… cough!” Caleb choked on his coffee.
Davis sensed something was amiss.“Sir, did you and Mrs. Reed have a fight?” Mind your own business!”
Caleb’s low growl chilled the air in the dining room. Davis shrank back, silenced.
Caleb clenched his mug. Evelyn wasn’t really leaving them. She should be preparing his lunch, the lovingly made bento he was accustomed to receiving at work. Whenever she upset him, she’d deliver him lunch personally as a gesture of making peace.
Lily’s eyes lit up at the sight of her breakfast. “Wow! Chicken congee with preserved egg!” Lily loved the congee, but Tommy hated preserved eggs. Evelyn rarely made congee at the Reed Residence, as neither Caleb nor Tommy liked it. Caleb’s mother had declared it “poor people’s food, implying that only families struggling to make ends meet would resort to such simple food. In the Reed family, meals were meticulously planned based on nutritional science. Even though Evelyn believed her congee was nutritious and easy for the children to digest, her addition of chicken, preserved egg, and vegetables had always been met with derision, deemed unappetizing and slop–like by the Reeds. Once she specially made Tommy a congee without the preserved egg, still, he threw it away, and she’d never made it again. She’d even lectured Tommy on not wasting food. Tommy’s angry retort still echoed in her memory.“Why are you giving me this?! It’s for pigs! Mommy, you really are from the country!”
Evelyn’s heart ached. When she came back to her senses, she found that Lily had already finished her congee. She had even licked the bowl clean.
“Is this chicken and preserved egg congee only available at Grandma’s house?” Lily asked. Evelyn smiled.“From now on, we’ll eat whatever we want, without worrying about others.” “Oh, then you don’t have to cook tomorrow, Mommy! Take a rest. We can eat outside!” Lily chirped. Evelyn was stunned. She was so used to fulfilling her maternal duties that she’d forgotten she should prioritize herself.
“Okay,” Evelyn said, her smile as warm as the rising sun.
Driving Lily to preschool, Evelyn spotted Caleb’s luxury SUV. Tommy hopped out, carrying a paper bag.
“Look! Sav got me these wax bottle candies!: He pulled out a little bear–shaped candy. “It’s pistachio raspberry flavor!”
Lily remained unmoved.“Mommy said too much sugar would cause cavities, and those candies aren’t healthy.”
Tommy stuck out his tongue.“I have a new mommy! My old mommy can’t tell me what to do!” He smirked. “Sav said I should share the candies with the other kids, except for you, fatty!”
Lily developed early and seemed even larger compared to Tommy. Tommy, once taught by Evelyn not to tease Lily, was now completely unrestrained. Lily clutched her backpack straps, her eyes, welling up.
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< Chapter3 Mommy Doesn’t Want You Any
Tommy, if
you keep this up, Mommy will really abandon you!”
“I don’t want her, either! Who needs a hillbilly mom?!” Tommy dashed into the school, waving
his candy bag.
Lily, in a fit of rage, picked up a small stone, glaring at Tommy’s back. Eventually, she put it down. She patted her chest, telling herself, “Girls don’t do that. Be kind!”
Back in the office, Caleb found an elegant three–tiered bento box on his desk. He smirked. He knew it! No matter how badly they fought, Evelyn would still make him lunch. His phone rang. It was Savannah.
Caleb, are you eating lunch? How’s s my bento? Savannah sounded happy. “You made this?” A flicker of displeasure, imperceptible even to himself, crossed his face. “Yep! Surprise! It’s my first time cooking for you. I even cut my fingers a few times! Cooking is so… girly! It’s not for me!” She complained, then added, “So, appreciate this lunch, because I’ll never do it again!”
Caleb’s voice was flat.“Got it. I have to go.”
“Hahaha! Just a reminder, dude, don’t get so swept up in work that you forget to go to the bathroom. I don’t want you to get kidney problems!”
Caleb hung up, his appetite completely gone. He summoned his secretary.“Did my wife send me lunch?
“Mrs. Reed hasn’t been to the office today, Mr. Reed.”
A cold frost settled over Caleb’s handsome face. Take it. If my wife comes by with lunch, tell her I’ve already eaten and ask her to take it back.”
The secretary, a bit taken aback, simply nodded and took the bento.
Caleb waited from noon until afternoon, but Evelyn didn’t appear.
His phone buzzed; it was Evelyn, calling for the third time. He ignored it, refusing to answer her calls. He didn’t like her calling him at work, but she was doing it again.
Finally, she called again and he answered. His voice was icy.“I’ve already eaten. I don’t need your lunch.”
“Caleb, I’m at the courthouse.Where are you?”
Caleb froze, remembering what she said yesterday: Three o’clock at the courthouse, don’t be late. Was she serious?
A sudden, inexplicable irritation washed over him.
“Evelyn! Enough! Stop bringing up divorce!”
The woman on the other end was resolute. “I’ll wait until they close.”
He was enraged.“What are i without me? After going off the grid for 18 years, think your parents would welcome you home?”
do
you really
The conference room fell silent. Evelyn’s voice was calm and composed, like still water.“Caleb, without you, I’m not Mrs. Reed. I just want to be Evelyn again. If my family doesn’t want me, I’ll be on my own. Being with is too exhausting. I’m the only one trying my best to love you, to love our children…” She laughed
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you
Chapter3 Mommy Doesn’t Want You Any.
softly.“I
believe
there’s
Menu
nothing
more difficult than being
your wife!”
Γ
