The Child I Never Had

My name is Ryan and I work for a pharmaceutical company. I've been with the company for a little over 8 years now working in a cubicle and I've been telling the same lie every year. It started off small to get out of company retreats, parties etc. I told them I had a 2-year-old daughter named Rebecca, that was 6 years ago. At first no one gave it a second thought, but over the years it's been harder and harder to maintain that little white lie I told. When she turned five in imaginary land, my coworkers starting asking how Kindergarten and the rest of school was going for her.

I had to be quick on my feet and start doing some research in my spare time. I even printed out one of those stock photos I found off of the internet. I had it framed on my work station so if anyone came by to make small talk there, she was for all to see. I told them the mother was no longer in the picture lie and that I had sole custody. When I was at work, my mother was watching her. It was all very believable. In time I too started believing my own lie.

At work I had an exemplary record and work ethic which gained the interest of the superiors on my floor. They started giving me larger caseloads, more responsibility and more scrutinized focus. The boss of my floor Mr. Jacobs came to visit me one day and noticed my picture of Rebecca.

“Lovely daughter you have there, how old is she?”, he asked. I panicked to try and remember her age and responded “Shes 5 now sir”. He laughed and said “call me Larry son”. Then he proceeded to talk about his daughter who was 6 years old and what a handful she was. I did what anyone caught in a lie would do, I lied even more to further the lie. God forbid I get caught in this intricate white lie I've built up over the years. No, I had to be committed.

“We should get our families together at the upcoming company picnic. I'd love to meet Rebecca and have my little girl make a new friend”. I felt a single droplet of sweat pour down my brow and quickly wiped it away. “That sounds like a great idea Larry, Rebecca could use some new friends”. Ugg, I thought to myself, now I wasn’t only a liar but even worse I was being a kissass.

Now the real pressure was on for me to show up with a real human child or the jig was up. I reached out to family and friends with daughters around Rebecca's age and told them I was in a real pickle. Eventually a good college friend of mine responded with a laugh and said if you are willing to pay and babysit her for a day be my guest. Her mother was Nicole, and we had remained good friends over the years.

She was a single mother and busy woman. Her daughter Jessica knew who I was and I had spent time with her before. Of course, Nicole was more than willing to tag along as my new girlfriend to make it all believable. Afterall who doesn’t love free food?

I coached Jessica for the weeks leading up to the company picnic and I thought we were all set to go. To make things easier I referred to her as princess which she loved. Nicole was a god-send and made my life much easier with it all. We would laugh at how far I was willing to go to keep this white lie going. It amazed me the lengths I went to all to stay out of company events, but here I was being forced to go to a picnic.

Finally, the day of the picnic had come and we walked in together as a make-shift family. Larry was there waving in his visor-cap and short shorts with tongs hanging out of his pocket. He had on the most God-awful Hawaiian shirt I've ever seen but all I could say was “hey nice shirt Larry” and laugh. He shook my hand and turned to Jessica and said “Is this her”? I replied “This is my princess Rebecca”. She managed a cute smile and shook his hand.

“Come on over and meet the family”, Larry said with joy in his pitch. We walked over to his table and introduced ourselves and Jessica ran off with Larry’s little girl Cindy. “See they are already getting along”, we both laughed and I could feel myself begin to ease up. I turned to Nicole and said “I can't believe this is actually working”, “Neither can I”, she replied.

It was funny I had spent the last few weeks in my free time with Nicole and Jessica and had an abundance of fun with them. I looked over at Nicole during the picnic and saw she was smiling; enjoying herself in my company. I had poured so much energy into furthering this white lie of mine rather than face the truth. I knew I needed to come clean, but I didn’t know how.

Jessica ran up to me and grabbed my hand to say “Come play with me Daddy”, and I obliged. After all today was her day to shine. I enjoyed every minute I spent with her and I glanced over at Nicole; she was radiating and beautiful today. Something I had been noticing more often lately. After the food had been cooked, eaten and cleaned up I walked over to Larry with my tail between my legs. I told him “Larry I need to come clean about something”, to which he responded “What do you mean Ryan?”

I explained to him how Rebecca was actually Jessica and was not in fact my child, but Nicole’s daughter. He laughed and put his arm around my shoulder and leaned in to say this. “Anyone here could tell just by looking at the three of you that you are a family. The way you laugh, the smiles you give one another and the pure joy I see in Jessica’s eyes”. “Because I see it in my daughters' eyes, son, I can see how much you care for them. It doesn’t matter if she isn't your child, I see the way you love her and the relationship you have with her mother. That’s a real family, the kind of family I aspire for my company”.

He shook my hand and thanked me for coming clean and said see you at work Monday bright and early with a big ‘ol grin. It was the strangest feeling I had in that moment and I realized he was right. Back in college me and Nicole had dated but nothing ever came out of it. We remained good friends though and those past few weeks were some of the happiest moments of my life. I returned to my seat at the table and told Nicole everything.

During the fireworks display I asked Nicole if I could do this more often with her and Jessica. I wanted to be around them more often. She smiled and said “I’d love that and I know Jessica would too”. She laid her head on my shoulder and we watched as Jessica stared bright-eyed at the fireworks with her new friend.

I returned to work and threw out that old fake picture I had of Rebecca and put my own photo of Jessica that Nicole had given me. What started out as a white lie and grew into a whole mess was the best thing that ever happened to me. How strange that it became my truth at the end of it all. Now I look forward to going home to see Jessica and Nicole after work rather than make up excuses for why I can't attend social events. I don’t have to because I get to use the truth; that I have a family waiting for me at home.

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https://blog.reedsy.com/short-story/j956we/ - link to story on Reedsy

Prompt- Write a story about a white lie which spirals out of control.