Page 17 of A Convenient Secret

I reach out and snatch the stapler from him. “Do you think she’s after money again?”

It wouldn’t be the first time my ex-wife tried to extort money from me, but her recent nuptials removed her financial desperation. Though I guess there may be no limits to her greed and selfishness.

“I think you can find out easily.”

“Yeah, I’m meeting my lawyer on Friday to discuss our options.”

“Is that what put you in the mood today? If you need time off to sort things out—”

“I don’t need time off,” I snap.

This work is the only part of my life I’m not failing at. I failed as a husband. Or rather at choosing a partner. God knows I’m failing daily as a father, no matter how hard I try.

“So what’s up your ass?”

“Just a shitty morning. The new nanny was late, and I had to scramble to get shit done.”

Corm stands up and walks to the door. “Jesus, I hope she sticks around.”

That’s not happening.“Funny enough, the agency sent one of Saar’s friends. The short one with glasses.”As if I didn’t know her name.

He frowns. “Lily? I thought she worked at Summit Solutions.” He leaves, closing the door behind him.

Me too. Me too.

I leave my office with a sense of dread mixed with something akin to excitement. They turn into shock when I step into my home.

It’s the screams and laughter that make me pause first as I exit the elevator. My kids can be loud, but never this loud. The sounds are coming from my living room.

What the hell?

They are usually in their rooms upstairs when I arrive. But it’s the melody of laughter that isn’t familiar in my home that makes me breathe faster.

I drop my keys on the console table and step forward. What the actual fuck?

The entire four thousand square feet of my living room is littered with confetti. It’s like a rainbow died and dissolved all over my floors and furniture.

Zach and Zoya run around, spreading more little sparkly messes while Lily is chasing them.

I stay rooted to my spot, unsure how I feel. My kids are wild—it will be a nightmare to put them to sleep—and so happy that my chest squeezes, the reprimand for the mess and the raucous noise dying on my lips.

Zoya cackles like crazy, throwing around party ribbons. Zach, who is always serious, has jumped on the sofa and is now bouncing and tossing colorful shredded paper and yelling, “Let’s get in trouble!”

Lily grabs him, tackling him to the sofa and tickling him. They both giggle like they’re possessed.

“Me too, me too.” Zoya launches at them, and they roll off the sofa in a heap of laughter.

I jerk forward. In my mind’s eye, I’m already seeing one of them hitting the corner of the coffee table. But I realized it’s just the carpet. Or rather, my rug is somewhere under the colorful mess.

“Have you moved my furniture around?” I bark. Really? That’s what I focus on?

The three of them freeze. Zach’s eyes widen, and he scrambles to his feet, wiping the confetti from his clothes.

Zoya smiles at me with that beautiful, innocent smile that has no boundaries. “Daddy!”

She sprints to me, running over the sofa and almost tripping. I squat to catch her as she wraps her little arms around my neck and gives me a kiss. “You awe home.”

The uncensored honesty of her joy is like a kick at my solar plexus. Every. Single. Time. I’m pretty sure most of the time I’m disappointing my kids, and Zoya still accepts me with such enthusiasm.