His face is ashen, eyes wide and unblinking as he just stares at me where I’m trembling with remorse at the entrance to the room.

I take in a deep breath. “If you want to go hang out with your friend, who am I to stop you? You’re an adult, after all. I shouldn’t have reacted that way… I don’t know why—”

“You don’t?” He hums. I can see his chest moving with unsteady breaths. It trips me up.

“No… I…” My chin dips, and I swallow hard. “You should go… see…” I was about to utter the kid’s name, but it catches in my throat, and I clear it roughly. “Your friend. Go have fun. And we’ll just put this whole bullshit day behind us.”

I catch a look of anguish on his face, but I ignore it and stomp across the room, going for a plate. I busy myself with scooping food, all the while feeling his gaze on me, like spatters of liquid heat.

Pushing it all away, I take a seat across from him and immediately dig into the food. It’s…

“Delicious,” I tell him, glancing up for just a moment.

His lips part, but nothing comes out for many heavy moments, before he finally mutters, “Thanks.”

“I’m just gonna eat and hit the sack,” I go on, gaze set on my food. “It’s been… a long day.”

The silence stretches over the room like a giant tarp, covering us and holding in all the tension. It’s just shy of unbearable, but I fight it as best I can, because what else can I do?

Nothing. We have to just… move on. It’s the only option.

When I’m done eating, and Jesse’s plate is still full, untouched, I bring mine to the sink. “Don’t worry about cleaning up. I’ll do it tomorrow.”

Glancing at all the containers of cookies and cupcakes everywhere, I sigh, wandering away. But his voice catches me once more before I can flee.

“James…”

Pausing with my back to him, I wait for him to say whatever it is he’s been simmering with this whole time. But nothing comes out.

His silence speaks volumes.

I fucked up royally. I broke us.

He’s never called me Dad before. And I always respected that decision. He knows I’m not his real father, despite the fact that I raised him, and paperwork would tell a different story. I’m his guardian, meant to do just that… Guard him from the pain of the world, not create it.

And yet right now, when he says my name, it sits differently in my chest.

I have no idea what changed between us, how or why I’m now hearing my name from his lips as some sort of plea…

But I can’t keep harping on it, and as much as I want to, I can’t force the normal back. I have to accept that I might have destroyed it forever.

So I leave the room and head back upstairs. To my dungeon.