Once Written, Twice Shy (The Broken Men Chronicles) by Carey Decevito Page A

appreciate it but the only person I wanted to inform was no longer around.
    I knew that it would take Alissa a few hours if
she’d managed to get on a direct flight but I had no clue if she had managed just
that or if she’d ended up with a lay-over.  Doing the math in my head, I
grabbed the phone and decided to chance it.
    A knock on my door tore me away from my plan.
    I pocketed my phone and answered it.  I groaned at
my disruption.
    “How could you?” Julie asked with tears streaming
down her face.
    “I’ll see you in court on Wednesday.  Anything you
have to say you can say to my lawyer.  We’re done here unless your visit
concerns our son.”
    I looked around to see that Jasper wasn’t anywhere
to be seen.  With that, I slammed the door in her face.

Chapter 11
    I spent the better part of the weekend hanging out
with Jasper after Julie had dropped him off on Saturday afternoon, but not
without searching my place high and low for the woman she despised.  By Sunday
morning, my little man was going on and on about Alissa and her blueberry
pancakes.  With how things were left, I hadn’t gotten her recipe and so I
indulged him and his wants by purchasing a box of the instant stuff and grabbed
some fresh blueberries to mix in with them.
    He shook his head as he stared down at the plate. 
“Those’ll taste like poo, Daddy,” he said.
    “I promise you that I’ll get Allie’s special
recipe for next time, buddy, but you have to eat something.”
    “Can I have toast?”
    I grabbed his plate.  “Sure.”
    I sat down in front of him and attempted to eat my
portion of pancakes to prove to him that they weren’t that bad.  One bite was
all it took for me to realize that Jasper had been right.  My culinary skills
gone to waste, I gagged at the consistency of sawdust rolling about in my
mouth.
    “I told you,” he said.
    I grumbled.  “So you’ve said.”
    ***
    Over the course of the next few days since her
departure, I found myself missing Alissa’s presence, haunted with visions of
her in every nook and cranny, the subtle scent of her perfume that still
lingered in my car and on my pillow, and the dreams—I’d wake up feeling her all
over me until I realized that she was no longer there.  I had tried calling, sent
her a few emails.  I even logged on to the writing site we met off of and
still, there had been no sign of life from her aside from one thing—she had
posted a new story which I had read right away, leaving my thoughts on the
comment board.
    Despite the story however, Tuesday had arrived,
four days since her departure, and I ached to know what she was up to and how
she was doing.  I needed to let her know that I was okay with her decision and hear
her voice on the other end of the line, and not that pesky voice mail system of
hers.  For more than ten months, she had been by my side despite our
geographical positioning, and now, when I was looking for her, I couldn’t seem
to be able to reach her.
    More like she’s not reaching back.   I
grumbled for what must have been the tenth time that day.
    I was snapped out of my reverie by Jasper tugging
on my hand.  “Daddy?”
    “Yeah, buddy?”  I ruffled his hair as we started
to walk home from the park.  Spending the day outside hadn’t done much to
lighten my mood.
    My son looked up at me and said, “Why are you
sad?”
    “What do you mean?” I forced a smile.
    “Well, you look sad.  Is it because Allie’s gone?”
    “It’s complicated, Jasp,” I said.  I didn’t want to
overcrowd that tiny yet too-smart-for-his-own-good brain of his with complex adult
issues.
    “Why’d she have to go?” he asked.
    “She doesn’t live here, son,” I said, “she had to
go back to work.”
    “So she can come back and see us?” he asked with
an air of hope.  His expression garnered a short laugh on my part.
    “Sure thing,” I said.  It seemed to put his mind
at ease and I wish it did the same to mine.  Would I ever see her