1089 He Planned a Cross-Country Trip With His Single Coworker to Escape Fatherhood—Until His Wallet Left Him Stranded and His Wife Went Into Labor Alone

By Wednesday evening, the atmosphere in the house had calcified into a polite, icy estrangement.

Jake slept in the guest room, and I stayed in our bedroom, listening to the muffled sound of him packing his duffel bag through the thin drywall. We spoke only when necessary, exchanging short, utilitarian sentences about grocery pickups and dog walking.

When I confronted him about the hotel bookings at dinner—revealing that he had planned the trip long before our conversation in the nursery—he hadn't even looked surprised. He had simply muttered that he wanted to secure a spot before prices went up, as if a secret vacation reservation was a routine household expense like paying the electric bill.

The betrayal wasn't just that he was leaving; it was the meticulousness of the deception. He had looked into my eyes every night, kissed my forehead, and pretended to care about whether we chose the crib with the sliding rail or the stationary one, all while mapping out an escape route to the coast with his single friends.

Around 9:00 PM, my phone buzzed on the nightstand. It wasn’t Jake. It was a text from Nora, my sister-in-law—Cody’s wife.

Are you guys doing okay? Cody mentioned something about a road trip this weekend, and he’s been acting super weird whenever I ask about the budget for it.

My fingers hovered over the screen. Nora and I had always been close, bonding over the shared chaos of marrying men who still thought they were twenty-one. But Cody keeping secrets from Nora added a completely different layer to the puzzle.

What do you mean, weird about the budget? I texted back.

He told me the guys are renting an RV and splitting it four ways, Nora replied within seconds, three typing dots appearing and disappearing. Then I found a receipt for a deposit on a beachside rental house in La Jolla. For four people. Totaling nearly three thousand dollars. When I asked who else was going, he changed the subject.

I sat up straight in bed, resting a hand on my swollen belly. Four people.

Jake, Cody, Mason... and who was the fourth?

Did he say who else is on the trip? I typed, my heart suddenly beating a frantic rhythm against my ribs.

No. He just said "the usual crew," but Eric’s wife told me Eric isn't going because of his dad’s surgery. So who’s the fourth person, Liv?

The screen went dark. I stared at my reflection in the black glass.

If Eric wasn't going, and there were four people booked for a beachside rental house, Jake, Cody, and Mason made three. Who was the mystery fourth member of the Freedom Run? And why would Cody lie to Nora about the composition of the group?

Before I could reply, the front door downstairs clicked open and shut. Heavy footsteps echoed in the hallway. Jake wasn't supposed to be home until late; he had said he was meeting Mason after work to finalize route planning.

Instead of going to the kitchen, Jake walked straight up the stairs. His footsteps stopped outside my bedroom door.

Two soft raps sounded against the wood.