{"id":16407,"date":"2026-08-09T00:53:09","date_gmt":"2026-08-09T00:53:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/xstorynews.com\/?p=16407"},"modified":"2026-08-09T00:53:09","modified_gmt":"2026-08-09T00:53:09","slug":"part-4-mommy-look-thats-the-lady-who-plays-in-your-bedroom-when-you-go-to-work","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/xstorynews.com\/?p=16407","title":{"rendered":"PART 4 “Mommy, look! That’s the lady who PLAYS IN YOUR BEDROOM when you go to work.””"},"content":{"rendered":"

Downstairs, I sat on the bottom step and silently rehearsed sentences I had never imagined saying.<\/strong><\/h1>\n

I want a separation.<\/p>\n

I think you should stay somewhere else tonight.<\/p>\n

Please do not lie to me. Not today. Not this week.<\/p>\n

Ten years.<\/p>\n

Our anniversary was Saturday.<\/p>\n

I had bought him a watch and had his name engraved on the back.<\/p>\n

Leo wandered in carrying his stuffed rabbit and climbed into my lap without saying anything.<\/p>\n

That was what finally broke me.<\/p>\n

More than the locked room.<\/p>\n

More than the mysterious woman in the green dress.<\/p>\n

He knew something was wrong and was trying to repair it with a stuffed rabbit.<\/p>\n

Then my phone vibrated against my leg.<\/p>\n

For a moment, I almost ignored it.<\/p>\n

When I finally looked, my hand turned cold.<\/p>\n

Mark had sent me a photograph.<\/p>\n

It showed the guest bedroom from the doorway.<\/p>\n

Half of one wall was covered in unfinished brushstrokes\u2014soft blues, warm browns, and the beginnings of a woman\u2019s face.<\/p>\n

A face with kind eyes I would have recognized anywhere.<\/p>\n

My mother\u2019s eyes.<\/p>\n

Beneath the photo were four lines.<\/p>\n

\u201cI took this yesterday.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI wasn\u2019t ready to show you yet.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cPlease go upstairs.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI love you.\u201d<\/p>\n

I opened the picture again.<\/p>\n

The blue paint.<\/p>\n

The silver stars.<\/p>\n

The smudge on Leo\u2019s thumb.<\/p>\n

The locked guest room.<\/p>\n

Nora\u2019s paint-stained hands.<\/p>\n

Every clue I had spent the past hour arranging into proof of betrayal suddenly reorganized itself into something entirely different.<\/p>\n

I pressed my hand against my mouth.<\/p>\n

\u201cOh, God.\u201d<\/p>\n

The words barely escaped.<\/p>\n

I had been wrong.<\/p>\n

Not slightly wrong.<\/p>\n

Completely wrong.<\/p>\n

I looked toward Leo.<\/p>\n

He was curled on the couch with his stuffed rabbit, watching me with anxious eyes.<\/p>\n

\u201cMommy?\u201d<\/p>\n

I swallowed the pressure in my throat.<\/p>\n

\u201cCome on, sweetheart,\u201d I said quietly. \u201cWe\u2019re going back to the store.\u201d<\/p>\n

He tilted his head.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo see the paint lady?\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

I nodded.<\/p>\n

\u201cYes. I think\u2026 I owe her an apology.\u201d<\/p>\n

Twenty minutes later, I found Nora in the supermarket parking lot, folding a paint-stained cloth into the trunk of a small blue car.<\/p>\n

My legs felt borrowed as I approached her.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m so sorry,\u201d I said before she had fully turned around. \u201cI said terrible things. I thought.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nora gave me a calm, gentle smile.<\/p>\n

\u201cMark found me four months ago,\u201d she said. \u201cHe brought me a shoebox of your mother\u2019s photographs. He asked if I could put her on a wall so you\u2019d see her every night.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tears filled my eyes.<\/p>\n

Leo pressed quietly against my leg.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe stars,\u201d Nora said, crouching to his height.<\/p>\n

She took a slender brush from her apron and placed it in his hand.<\/p>\n

\u201cYour daddy told this little man that Grandma loved stars. He\u2019s been sneaking upstairs to help me paint them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Leo held the brush as though it were something sacred.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wasn\u2019t supposed to tell,\u201d he whispered.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou didn\u2019t tell the important part,\u201d Nora said. \u201cYou saved that for tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n

My hands continued trembling on the steering wheel during the drive home.<\/strong><\/h1>\n

Mark was waiting on the porch, his face pale.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m sorry,\u201d he said. \u201cI should have\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cTake me upstairs,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n

He unlocked the guest room.<\/p>\n

My mother looked back at me from the wall.<\/p>\n

Her eyes were exactly as I remembered them when she stood at the kitchen window, and above her stretched a ceiling filled with half-finished silver stars.<\/p>\n

I lowered myself to the floor and finally cried the way I had refused to cry for three months.<\/p>\n

Mark knelt beside me.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t know how to reach you,\u201d he said. \u201cYou went so quiet.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI know,\u201d I whispered. \u201cI went quiet from myself too.\u201d<\/p>\n

Leo climbed onto the bed and dipped his brush into a small jar of silver paint.<\/p>\n

\u201cMommy,\u201d he said. \u201cCome finish the last one with me.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Downstairs, I sat on the bottom step and silently rehearsed sentences I had never imagined saying. I want a separation. I think you should stay somewhere else… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16407","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"a3_pvc":{"activated":false,"total_views":0,"today_views":0},"yoast_head":"\nPART 4 "Mommy, look! That's the lady who PLAYS IN YOUR BEDROOM when you go to work."" - X Story News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/xstorynews.com\/?p=16407\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"PART 4 "Mommy, look! That's the lady who PLAYS IN YOUR BEDROOM when you go to work."" - X Story News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Downstairs, I sat on the bottom step and silently rehearsed sentences I had never imagined saying. I want a separation. I think you should stay somewhere else...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/xstorynews.com\/?p=16407\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"X Story News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-08-09T00:53:09+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Chris Taylor\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Chris Taylor\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/xstorynews.com\\\/?p=16407#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/xstorynews.com\\\/?p=16407\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Chris Taylor\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/xstorynews.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/00c89e19f0494d049761577cf202bcf8\"},\"headline\":\"PART 4 “Mommy, look! That’s the lady who PLAYS IN YOUR BEDROOM when you go to work.””\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-08-09T00:53:09+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/xstorynews.com\\\/?p=16407\"},\"wordCount\":668,\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/xstorynews.com\\\/?p=16407\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/xstorynews.com\\\/?p=16407\",\"name\":\"PART 4 \\\"Mommy, look! That's the lady who PLAYS IN YOUR BEDROOM when you go to work.\\\"\\\" - X Story News\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/xstorynews.com\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2026-08-09T00:53:09+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/xstorynews.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/00c89e19f0494d049761577cf202bcf8\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/xstorynews.com\\\/?p=16407#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/xstorynews.com\\\/?p=16407\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/xstorynews.com\\\/?p=16407#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/xstorynews.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"PART 4 “Mommy, look! That’s the lady who PLAYS IN YOUR BEDROOM when you go to work.””\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/xstorynews.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/xstorynews.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"X Story News\",\"description\":\"Breaking News, X Story\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/xstorynews.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/xstorynews.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/00c89e19f0494d049761577cf202bcf8\",\"name\":\"Chris Taylor\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/dda2a64e347b05e808aeb904ce68f09f8e53ca718760587d1233160c1e54339e?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/dda2a64e347b05e808aeb904ce68f09f8e53ca718760587d1233160c1e54339e?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/dda2a64e347b05e808aeb904ce68f09f8e53ca718760587d1233160c1e54339e?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Chris Taylor\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/xstorynews.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/xstorynews.com\\\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"PART 4 \"Mommy, look! That's the lady who PLAYS IN YOUR BEDROOM when you go to work.\"\" - X Story News","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/xstorynews.com\/?p=16407","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"PART 4 \"Mommy, look! That's the lady who PLAYS IN YOUR BEDROOM when you go to work.\"\" - X Story News","og_description":"Downstairs, I sat on the bottom step and silently rehearsed sentences I had never imagined saying. I want a separation. I think you should stay somewhere else...","og_url":"https:\/\/xstorynews.com\/?p=16407","og_site_name":"X Story News","article_published_time":"2026-08-09T00:53:09+00:00","author":"Chris Taylor","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Chris Taylor"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/xstorynews.com\/?p=16407#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/xstorynews.com\/?p=16407"},"author":{"name":"Chris Taylor","@id":"https:\/\/xstorynews.com\/#\/schema\/person\/00c89e19f0494d049761577cf202bcf8"},"headline":"PART 4 “Mommy, look! That’s the lady who PLAYS IN YOUR BEDROOM when you go to work.””","datePublished":"2026-08-09T00:53:09+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/xstorynews.com\/?p=16407"},"wordCount":668,"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/xstorynews.com\/?p=16407","url":"https:\/\/xstorynews.com\/?p=16407","name":"PART 4 \"Mommy, look! That's the lady who PLAYS IN YOUR BEDROOM when you go to work.\"\" - X Story News","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/xstorynews.com\/#website"},"datePublished":"2026-08-09T00:53:09+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/xstorynews.com\/#\/schema\/person\/00c89e19f0494d049761577cf202bcf8"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/xstorynews.com\/?p=16407#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/xstorynews.com\/?p=16407"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/xstorynews.com\/?p=16407#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/xstorynews.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"PART 4 “Mommy, look! That’s the lady who PLAYS IN YOUR BEDROOM when you go to work.””"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/xstorynews.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/xstorynews.com\/","name":"X Story News","description":"Breaking News, X Story","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/xstorynews.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/xstorynews.com\/#\/schema\/person\/00c89e19f0494d049761577cf202bcf8","name":"Chris Taylor","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/dda2a64e347b05e808aeb904ce68f09f8e53ca718760587d1233160c1e54339e?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/dda2a64e347b05e808aeb904ce68f09f8e53ca718760587d1233160c1e54339e?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/dda2a64e347b05e808aeb904ce68f09f8e53ca718760587d1233160c1e54339e?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Chris Taylor"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/xstorynews.com"],"url":"https:\/\/xstorynews.com\/?author=1"}]}},"views":216,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/xstorynews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16407","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/xstorynews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/xstorynews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xstorynews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xstorynews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16407"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/xstorynews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16407\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16408,"href":"https:\/\/xstorynews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16407\/revisions\/16408"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/xstorynews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16407"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xstorynews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16407"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xstorynews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16407"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}