Fast Forward

“Hello?” you answered the phone dryly.

“Eric, why do you answer the phone?”

“Because it irritates your soul,” you snapped at my sister.

“I don’t wanna talk to you. Where’s Hannah?”

“Hold on…Hannah!” you hollered for me.

“You son of a b***h!” I flew at him.

“What the?! Have you lost your mind?” he dropped the phone.

“Hannah?!” Deenie called from the dangling receiver.

“Why didn’t you tell me that you went to Dulcey’s day care?!”

“Because I’m her father and I can!” he leaned in on me.

“Hannah?!” Deenie called again.

“What the f**k were you thinking? Not telling me? And now you wanna pull the father card? You’ve never changed a diaper, never held her hair back when she got sick, nothing!” I jammed my finger into your chest.

“She’s mine Hannah! And there isn’t a damn thing you can do about it!” you threw a balled fist in my direction.

“Goddamn you Eric! She will never be yours!” I was amazed when I swung back.

“Hannah!?” Deenie screamed into the phone for the third time.

You swung again and busted my lip.

“Mommy?” Dulcey watched mortified.

“Go back to your room and play Sweetie,” my eyes watered as I tried to remain calm and catch the blood from my busted lip, “Daddy and I are just talking.” Now I was lying to my child.

You hung up the phone and waited for her to leave before we finished our talking.

It wasn’t easy trying to find a pair of sunglasses big enough to cover our talking. But at least this time you had a few marks.

Although I looked like hell I took Dulcey to the park for her play date.

“What the hell happened to you?” Leo looked at my bug-eyed sunglasses strangely.

“Go play with Tyler, Honey,” I pointed him out on the slide.

“You gonna answer me?” He moved my glasses. I didn’t know if his look was disappointment or disbelief.

“It was nothing,” I pushed them back up. I hated lying, but I’d already entered into that world last night starting with Dulcey.

“Can you give me something other than a half a*s answer?” he wanted to get mad at me but couldn’t bring himself to do so.

“I don’t think I owe you or anyone else for that matter an explanation for anything,” I snapped. I hadn’t meant to do that, “We were just talking.”

“Is that so?” he crossed his arms to challenge me, “Then what are you gonna tell Dulcey when she gets older and asks why Mommy always had marks from just talking.” He hit close to home with that comment.

“That’s not fair,” He was even concerned with Dulcey’s wellbeing.

“Move out Hannah.”

“And where am I suppose to go, Leo?” my eyes watered.

“With me,” he was serious.

“He’ll just find me and I’ll just go thru this all over again. Why leave and make it worse?”

“You know what,” he tried yet again to get angry with me, “You do what ever it is that you feel you need to do.”

They played at the park for an hour and a half before we decided on our next destination.

We’d taken his car because it was bigger and it just made more sense to contain all of that silence in one big SUV.

The day was fun for both Dulcey and I. It was a chance for me to get away from you and that house I was once so excited about. You remember, the one were we were to be the nuclear family and actually be happy. But that didn’t happen because you wouldn’t let that happen.

He dropped us off at the park and walked Dulcey and I to our car.

“Call me if you two ever have words again.”

“I remember to do that,” he kissed my forehead and I smiled softly.

“Bye Princess Dulcey,” She laughed and waved at him from her car seat.

“Bye Tyler,” I hugged him and he got into his car seat. We loaded into our cars and drove home

Reviews

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I'm going to die; I love Leo SO FREAKING MUCH! I'm serious. This chapter made me so happy. Leo is perfect, and fantastical

And smart...and...well, you get the point. They're so cute - Hannah and Leo, I mean. Wlel, Tyler and Dulcey are adorable, too, of course. You're characters are so well rounded and well thought out and I LOVE them. Reading onwards, again! (: