AllFreeNovel
Share Us
That’s the deal she and I did when we got divorced… like our son was a bargaining chip to be passed back and forth between us. It shouldn’t have been that way, but that’s how it became, and I hated every second.
I drop some bottled water into the backpack and zip it up, leaving it in the living room before I head upstairs to change my shoes. As I sit on the edge of the bed to tie my laces, I look around the room. I like it in here… or I do since I redecorated, and I glance at the corner, picturing the bathroom I keep thinking about putting in. It would be so much more convenient than having to go downstairs all the time, and this room is certainly big enough. The problem is money… or a lack of it, and I sigh, getting to my feet and trotting down the stairs again.
“We’ve gotta leave soon, Nash, or we’ll run out of time.”
He comes flying out of his bedroom and throws himself into my arms. I catch him, laughing, and swing him around before he reaches up and hugs me.
“Thanks for my new room, Dad.”
“Hey… you’re welcome. It was long overdue.”
At eight, he’d seriously outgrown the furniture and decor in his room. I took advantage of his mom’s sudden need for a last-minute vacation in Mexico and used his absence to repaint the walls and fix his new bed. I left the choice of closet and writing desk to Nash, though. He chose well, and didn’t mind in the slightest that the budget had to be limited, or that they’d need constructing. In fact, he’s enjoyed helping me with it, and the end result looks great.
“Is it time to go?” he says as I lower him to the floor, and I nod my head.
“We’ll have our picnic at the creek and then I’ll take you back to your mom’s.”
“Okay.”
He keeps hold of my hand as I pick up the backpack, throwing it over my shoulder, and then check my pockets, making sure I’ve got my keys and phone before we head off.
The creek is only a short walk from my apartment and once we’re there, Nash pulls his hand from mine, kicking off his shoes.
“It’s okay if I go in, isn’t it?” he says, with a sparkle in his bright blue eyes, even as he starts down the bank.
“Sure, but don’t expect me to come with you.”
He giggles and leaps into the water, oblivious to the stones beneath his feet as he splashes around. He looks just like me, and nothing like his mother, and I’m grateful for that. It’s one small mercy that I don’t have to face her likeness every time I look at him. I sit on the grass, the backpack beside me, laughing as he soaks himself. I’m relieved I remembered to bring a towel, and I smile down at my beloved son, remembering how it used to be when all three of us came here as a family. That was before it all went wrong… before I realized I was the only one trying to keep us together, and that having my heart crushed wasn’t helping. It was just hurting more and more.
Naturally, it would have been better if we’d been able to split up amicably, and I tried. I really did. It was Sabrina who made things tough, right from the beginning.
To be honest, that’s never made sense to me. After all, she was the one who cheated. She was the one who walked away from our marriage, straight into the arms of another man.
A man called Reuben.
I know that because she dropped his name into our last big fight. That’s to say it was the last big fight while we were still living together… the one where I told her I knew she was screwing around again, that I’d seen them together, I’d had enough and wanted out. We found more than enough to yell about once the divorce proceedings started, but that moment sticks in the memory.
“Reuben told me you’d react like this,” she said with a smug grin on her face.
“Like what?”
I wasn’t sure how I was supposed to react. I’d just found her having sex with another man. She’d admitted it wasn’t a one-off, but a long-term affair. What did she expect? Was I meant to hang out the flags?
I didn’t feel like flags. I felt like punching someone. Reuben, probably.
The thing was, he wasn’t the first. I was pretty damn sure he wouldn’t be the last, either. Only I’d stopped caring about things like that by then. I’d stopped caring about Sabrina. Period.
I’d never spent a moment of my adult life without her at least somewhere in the vicinity, even if it transpired she hadn’t been by my side for some time. That meant it took me a long while to adjust to being single again.
I’m there now, though. She’s history.
My weekdays are defined by the bookstore I own on Main Street, and my weekends are dictated by Nash, and whatever he wants to do. As for seeing someone else, I haven’t gotten around to that yet. I’m not writing it off and I certainly don’t plan to spend the rest of my life alone, but I’m taking my time, because I don’t want to get it wrong again. I didn’t think I had with Sabrina… but I did, and that’s not a mistake I’ll be making twice.
I don’t think it took Sabrina long to get used to the single life. Let’s face it, she was living like a single woman, even when we were married. Her personal life is just as much of a mystery to me now as it was then, and I’m happy for it to stay that way. I know Reuben didn’t last. Once he realized Nash was a permanent part of the deal, he lost interest. As for what she did after that? Who knows?
I’m pretty sure there’s someone on the scene. There usually is. Not that I care, but why else would she have been so adamant she didn’t want me to collect Nash from her place on Friday evening?
“I’ll drop him off,” she said, when I started talking about times. I get fed up negotiating with her every week, but it’s been that way throughout the entire summer. When Nash is at school, it’s a lot easier. I collect him from the schoolyard on a Friday afternoon, he spends the weekend with me, and I and take him back to his mom’s place on Sunday evening. She and I barely have to see each other. During the school recess, things are different, and she likes to move the goalposts as often as possible. Like that vacation in Mexico… although I don’t want to think about that. It still makes me mad that she took Nash away with just a few days’ notice, and that she expected me to pay for their flights and hotel. But that’s just typical of Sabrina. She has to have everything her way. Kinda like the arrangements for this weekend.
