Forever Mine

“Daddy? You want Daddy?”

“Mammamm.” He jerks his body as if trying to get to Cal.

“He wants you, Daddy.”

Cal sighs, rubbing his forehead. “I told Jerry I’d send this email an hour ago. The client’s waiting, Steph. I can’t even find the file on the server.”

“What customer?”

“Some reiki shit. Just keep him busy for ten minutes while I try to sort this.”

“I started that job. Let me find it and send the email while you feed him.”

We swap seats, and I locate the file right away, remembering the guy and his third eye doing the Ago Doo dance. “Found it. Who am I emailing it to?”

“The sign company we use wants his logo. He’s having a sign made for his workshop.” Cal makes a train sound as he brings the spoon to Caleb’s mouth, making him giggle out loud. No wonder he likes him feeding him. He even makes me smile, watching the two of them.

I open his emails.[emailprotected]glares at me. “Who is An Cal Agon the Black?”

“Ancalagon the Black is the greatest dragon in the Middle-Earth.”

“That’s you?” Kelly was onto something. She said it was a character. I never thought to do the dragons. It makes sense now. It even included his name and the fact that he’s always in black. I shake my head with a smile as I click the compose button.

A new email pops on the screen with a ding from Emily.

Hi, Cal. Hope things are going well, and you got everything resolved with the DNA test. I can’t imagine what you must be going through.

There’s more, but I can’t read it as my vision blurs and everything turns red. “Who the heck is Emily?” It can't be the same Emily that he left me for all those years ago. My fingers prickle as they rest against the keyboard. Please, not again.

Cal scoops more food up from the bowl onto the spoon. “What?” He looks all nonchalant and continues to feed Caleb.

There are a load of emails back and forth in the thread, causing an uncomfortable itch all over my skin. “All these emails from Emily.”

He shrugs his shoulders. “She's a friend.”

I close the laptop before I spew up all over her name. “Cal, please, not her.”

“What the fuck are you talking about?” His lips twitch as he stares at me.

Tears sting my eyes as my body trembles. “Please Callum, please tell me it's not her.”

“We’re friends Steph. What’s the big deal?”

“How long have you two been emailing?”

“I’ve always emailed her. We stayed in touch when we broke up, and we email, so what?” He pinches his eyebrow where his silver ring used to be, reminding me of how he looked when he dumped me all those years ago, telling me he didn’t love me while fiddling with the metal in his eyebrow.

My entire body tenses at the thought of him with her. “I don't want you emailing her.”

He drops the bowl of baby food on the table with a clatter. “You can't tell me what to do.”

“I don't like it.” Every ounce of strength I have is being used to stop me from having a complete meltdown right now. I can’t deal with this. It’s such a trigger for me. “If you’re going to continue emailing her, I can’t do this with you. Whatever this is between us.”

“What the fuck is wrong with you? You email people all the time.”

“Not my ex-boyfriends, I don’t.” My neck pulses like my heart is in my throat, ready to explode. Can’t he see how much she irks me?

“No, you just fuck them behind your husband’s back.” He huffs and wipes Caleb’s mouth like he’s just made a joke.