…”Daddy.” I stared at her. “Daddy’s friend is Daddy?” Mia nodded seriously. “He’s hiding so you don’t see him on the TV,” she said, pointing to the camera. “He said it’s a surprise game. I’m not supposed to tell.” I sat down on her floor. The nanny cam couldn’t see into the closet. It never could.
I texted my husband: “Come home. Now. Please.” He was home in twenty minutes. Which meant he hadn’t been at work. Not even close. He walked into Mia’s room, saw my face, saw Mia holding the rabbit, and sat down on the floor next to me.
“I got laid off in August,” he said quietly. “I let Rosa go, the nanny. I couldn’t afford her anymore. I’ve been watching Mia every day while you’re at work. When you check the camera, I go sit in the closet so you won’t see me.” He covered his face. “I was going to find something before you noticed. Three months. I’ve applied to ninety-one jobs.”
I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry, so I did both. “You’ve been hiding in a closet for three months,” I said. “With our daughter. Instead of telling me.” He nodded. “I didn’t want you to think I’d failed you.”
Mia climbed into his lap. “Daddy reads me stories in the closet,” she announced. “It’s a cave. We have snacks.” She looked at me. “Are you mad, Mommy?”
I wasn’t. Not really. I was relieved, and sad, and a little heartbroken that he’d been carrying it alone. We sat on the floor of her room, the three of us, and I told him what I should have told him every day: that I didn’t marry his job.
He found a new position in January. Better than the last one. We took the nanny cam down the same week. Mia was upset about it until she realized the closet “cave” was staying. Last Saturday, I found the two of them in there with a flashlight and a picture book. They let me in. It’s a tight fit for three. We stayed anyway.
