Summer Love’s Second Chance

Chapter 3

When Charlie returned home, it was dark and still quiet. Kevin had apparently gone to bed, unbothered by the emotional damage he had dished out. Charlie went in and checked on each of her babies. Chase, her 5 year old, lay curled up in his big boy bed. He had his favorite stuffed cow and star blanket tangled in his arms. He smiled in his sleep and she tried to keep from crying watching his beautiful innocence. Next she checked on Marie. Her 2 year old baby angel looked like a baby doll in her sleep. Her mouth was slightly open and she cooed still in her sleep. She wanted to wake them up and hold them, but she knew that would confuse them. She needed to play nice for today as it was Christmas and then after today she would begin finding a way out of this horrifying situation.

It was now 5 am and the kids would probably be up in another 2 hours ready to open their presents. She would spend those two hours trying to sleep on the couch so she didn’t look too much like a mess when the kids woke up. She grabbed her favorite fluffy blanket from a basket where they kept the extras and curled into herself in the couch. She buried her face deep into the couch in case he came out and wanted to try to talk again. She needed rest. Her soul felt like it was bleeding. Finally, exhausted from the day and the night events, she drifted into a restless sleep.

Right on the dot, at 7 am, Marie’s pitter-patter of footsteps found her mother on the couch.

“Mama, mama, Chris, Chris!” Came Marie’s sweet voice. She was trying not to bee too loud to wake anyone else up just yet.

“Yes baby, it’s Christmas. Let’s get breakfast started and wake up bubby.” Charlie smiled at her baby girl, but it hurt knowing what was going to come in the near future.

Charlie had Marie help by putting the seasoning on top of the breakfast casserole before she placed I in the oven to bake for the next 45 minutes. They went into Chase’s room and gently woke him up. He was sleepy but then remembered what day it was and was wide awake and excited.

“We still have to wait for daddy to get up though guys,” Charlie reminded them. Chase and Marie raced into the room where their father was still sleeping and started to jump on the bed.

“Daddy, daddy! Wake up it’s Christmas!” Chase yelled, while Marie repeated her Chris, Chris, as she still struggled with saying Christmas.

Charlie sat out on the couch as she heard him get up and greet his children. “Morning guys. Are you ready to see what Santa brought you this year?” Kevin asked while yawning and stretching.

Charlie looked over at the presents. Most of these would be a surprise for him as well. He was rarely home so he had needed to ask her what the kids liked. She had already spent the entire year gathering these gifts any time they showed interest in something, so there wasn’t much for him to purchase for them. She was everything to her children. She was here for every boo-boo, every tantrum, every illness. She’s the one who dealt with doctor’s visits, school events, play dates, everything. He was their father but he knew nothing about his kids.

It was not really true to say he knew nothing, they talked every day. He would call as soon as he got off work but when he was in a state in another time zone, that made it difficult for the kids to speak to their dad and keep their daily and nightly routine. She talked to him for several hours every night too while making dinner and then just before bed so it was weird to think that somewhere in that time or on the weekends he was hooking up with random women.

She didn’t want to keep thinking about it because it brought a new wave of pain and sorrow every time she did. She chose to push past the thought and focus on the kids for today. “Chase, do you want to pass the presents out to be opened?” Charlie asked.

He smiled and grabbed the first present and handed it to Marie. As soon as he had them all organized, he began to open his own presents. Kevin had about 5 gifts. Charlie was a giver and knew what he liked, so she had let the kids each pick him out a present from them and then she bought him three things she knew he’d love.

Charlie on the other had had gotten 2 presents. He had taken the kids to pick out a single present from the both of them for her. They had gotten her a luxury bath set so she could give herself a spa day and then he had gotten her a gift card to buy clothes. In light of the events of last night, the fact that he put so little thought into her gift made it all worse. She refused to look anywhere in his direction. He had no shame either, sharing his excitement of opening each present and not feeling one ounce of guilt for how he had treated her and additionally put so little thought into anything when it came to her. He hadn’t even bought the kids a single present on his own. The whole situation was slowly causing her to fume again.

“Focus on the babies,” Charlie whispered to herself. Everything was already going to be so rough, she didn’t. Red to lose it right now and look like the bad guy in front of the kids. In this moment, to the kids, they were a happy family spending the holiday together. She didn’t want to dare ruin that for them. Making it through the rest of the day, over at his mother’s house was going to be hell. The woman was obsessed with her son to a sickening degree. He could never do any wrong and Charlie already knew that if she mentioned any of this to her mother-in-law, that it would somehow be Charlie’s fault that he had cheated on her.

Charlie had no family of her own to rely on or lean on through all this. That is why she immediately wanted a divorce. She was not going to be forced to live a life where she carried most of the physical and mental load of day to day life while her other half had freedom and ran around doing as he pleased without any consideration for the consequences. She deserved better or at least would feel better actually being alone instead of just feeling like she was alone. She had made her decision. No one was going to change her mind and she didn’t care what his family thought. She was going to fight for a better life, no matter the cost.