The Ex-Wife He Can’t Have novel Chapter 49

"Connor, tell me something. Why did Sylvia come to your art festival today?"

"You mean Sylvia? Dad told her to come. Because you haven't been paying attention to me lately, and I was sad. So Dad brought her."

"Do you like her?"

"Yeah!" Connor nodded eagerly.

"Why?"

"Because she's really pretty, and she takes great care of me. She never yells at me or complains. She buys me whatever toys I want, and lets me eat all my favorite snacks."

Jillian's lips trembled. Every word out of her son's mouth felt like a knife twisting in her gut.

She desperately wanted to explain to him that spoiling a child wasn't real love.

True love required discipline and boundaries.

Sylvia could afford to spoil him rotten because he wasn't her flesh and blood. She didn't have to bear the burden of shaping the kind of man he would become.

But Jillian didn't have that luxury. She was his mother. She couldn't just give in to his every whim.

It was her job to teach him how to survive in the real world.

But Connor was far too young to grasp any of that.

In his mind, whoever bought him the most toys and candy loved him the most.

"Well, do you like Mom?"

"Of course I do! You're the best mom in the whole world."

A small measure of comfort washed over her.

She reminded herself that he was only four years old. He couldn't possibly comprehend the toxic adult dynamics at play.

Sylvia was a master manipulator, and buying a child's affection was child's play for someone like her.

And undeniably, Sylvia possessed beauty and poise. Connor had inherited everything from Killian, including his aesthetic tastes. It was natural he'd be drawn to a woman like that.

"What if Mom doesn't like Sylvia?"

Jillian froze as if she'd been struck by lightning. She prayed she had misheard him. "Why?"

"All my friends' parents are super cool. Lily's mom is on TV, Seraphina's mom is a huge movie star, and I don't know what Harrison's mom does, but she always looks so pretty. She brings the teachers flowers and gives all the kids presents. Everyone loves her so much."

Connor tilted his head, giving her a dead-serious explanation.

Jillian's mind went entirely blank.

It suddenly dawned on her that children this age were already learning to compare themselves to their peers. Vanity was already taking root.

Having a powerful father like Killian gave him immense pride, but having a drab, exhausted mother like her was an embarrassment when compared to the glamorous socialites parading through the school.

Without her even realizing it, he had started measuring her against those women, and the crushing disappointment was evident.

Crouching down to his eye level, Jillian stared at him with immense sorrow. There were a million things she wanted to say, but she couldn't find the words.

She wanted to tell him that looking down on his own mother broke her heart.

But deep down, she knew the miserable, defeated shell of a woman she had become over the years wasn't exactly easy to love.