Chapter 4

It seems they’d been in touch with her, Sara that is, right along. She’d given them the same bullshit she’d told me about finding herself and seeing if she could make it on her own. It still made no sense to me: her career was all on her own, and that was going great guns. Besides, weren’t married people supposed to do things together? I still thought the real reason was she wanted to try out somebody else or more than one somebody else, before we started having kids. That was the only reason that made any sense to me, and I said so.

“I don’t think that’s it,” Mom said. “I know what she said is off the wall crazy, but I think she was really sincere. She thought you’d just live apart for a few months, and then she’d move back in. She had every intention of being faithful to you, and as far as we know, she was, until the divorce was final.”

“You mean you two bought that bunch of hooey?”

“No, son, we didn’t,” Dad said. “We told her that was about the stupidest thing we’d ever heard of anyone doing. When she came to us in tears because you’d left, we asked her what she expected after pulling a stunt like that. Do you know, she actually said she expected that you’d be upset for a while, but would settle down and wait for her to come back? By the time we finished talking with her, she knew she’d screwed up royally, but none of us knew what to do to fix it. We didn’t even know where you were.”

“We hadn’t the heart to tell her to go away,” Mom took up the tale. “We tried to help her get her head on straight; I’m not sure how much success we had. Then she told us she was pregnant. She swore the baby was yours, but we didn’t quite believe her. Still, we tried to help her prepare to be a responsible mom. She’s really done well, John. She’s changed from an entitled, flighty princess who would act on any stupid idea that came into her head, to a responsible adult capable of raising a child. Did you know she cut back to half time on the radio, and cut out almost all of her outside appearances, when Sareen was born?”

I hadn’t known that.

“John, I know how much you loved Sara, so I know how much it hurt when she left. I don’t blame you for what you did,” Dad put in. “Sara was totally selfish and unbelievably stupid when she left you, but she isn’t the same girl any more. Your mom and I see a lot of good in her, especially when she’s with Sareen. I think it would be in your best interest to give her a chance to show you how she’s changed. If you don’t, and she decides you’re never going to, she won’t be on the market long.”

I didn’t think it was worthwhile to point out to my parents that Sara is, by her own admission, a performer. She’s good at fooling people. On the other hand, my parents were pretty good judges of people. Stupid is one thing; lying is another, and they were convinced she’d just been stupid. At least she was consistent: she’d told them the same things she told me. I had a few things to think about, so I took Friday off to go fishing.

I’ve always found the process of finding the perfect spot for a fly to land cathartic. I’m alone in my head, just the sound of running water, the motions of the rod and line working together to make the perfect cast. I caught two big rainbows and a brown and I felt much better. Maybe, I was even confident enough to face Sara and Sareen. I stopped by and picked up some shrimp and the ingredients to make a shrimp Alfredo Linguini. I steamed some vegetables, tossed a salad and opened a bottle of wine. I had apple juice for Sareen and I hoped she liked it.

I hated the thought of exposing myself to Sara again. I still felt the pain and rage from the last time, and now I was letting her open up the cracks again. I almost threw dinner away. I had the pot of pasta in my hands, but I set it back on the stove. I thought about just leaving and not being there when they showed up. On the other hand, maybe my parents were right, and I did have the wrong idea about what she’d done.

I saw Tomy lift his head and those little ears swivel back and forth. He got up with a groan and went into the living room. That usually means he hears a car outside, so I combined the Alfredo sauce, pasta and shrimp and stirred it all together. I needed to add the Parmesan cheese, but I’d do that just before putting it on the table. The doorbell rang and I went to answer it.

There they stood. Sareen was hiding behind Sara again, but when she saw Tomy, she danced forward and hugged him. He’s never liked me hugging him, but he didn’t seem to mind her doing it. In fact, he wiggled all over. She was even more breathtaking than the last time I saw her. She had on a pretty little red dress and all that curly hair framed her face like a halo.

Sara, well she was just Sara. She had on a dark green dress, and she was stunning. She’s tall and slender, but she has curves in all the right places. Her waist is long, slender and supple. Her hips flare dramatically, and she has the roundest firmest ass imaginable. My eyes slid up across the heart-stopping swell of her breasts. They were showcased and showing a bit of cleavage. There was a gold chain plunging into that valley with the tiny jade dagger I’d given her for her eighteenth birthday attached to it. My eyes slid up to that face. It’s heart shaped, high cheekbones, a slender patrician nose with a sprinkling of freckles on it, those huge emerald eyes and her puffy red lips had curled into a smile. She had a cream pie in her hands. “Hi, John, do we pass inspection?” She laughed, and I felt that old thrill sweep through me.

“Um…” I cleared my throat. “Yes, you two would stop a train. Come in.” I stood aside and she went into the kitchen and put her pie in the refrigerator. She seemed right at home. I knelt in the floor in front of Sareen.

“Hi, Honey,” I said. I tried to make my voice as gentle as possible. “Did you have a good day?” I asked.

She stopped hugging Tomy, took a step toward me and threw her arms around my neck. I could feel her soft little cheek against mine. She pulled back and looked into my face. “Hi, John,” she said. “Yes, I went to daycare and they took us to a thing. What was it called, Mamma?” she called to Sara.

“The science center,” Sara said, walking back into the living room so she could see us.

“Yes, they took us there,” Sareen said. “I liked it. What did you do?”

“I went fishing,” I told her. “Do you like fishing?”

“Don’t know,” she said, shrugging her shoulders. “Mamma never took me fishing.”

“Well, we’ll have to fix that,” I said. “Would you like to go fishing with Tomy and me?”

“Yes,” she said. “When will we go?”

“We’ll have to work that out with your mother,” I said. “Are you hungry?”

“Yes, starving,” she said. “Mamma made a pie.”

“I saw,” I said. I scooped her up and carried her into the dining room. There was a problem. My chairs were too low. I went and got some cushions for her to sit on and we were good.

“Anything I can do?” Sara asked.

“Pour drinks,” I said. “We’re ready.” I put the cheese in and stirred it until it melted, took everything to the table, and by the time I finished, Sara had drinks and we sat down to dinner.

Sareen chattered happily the whole time and kept it from being awkward as we engaged her. She seemed to love my cooking efforts and asked for more of the pasta. She ate everything, even the veggies, and we all had a piece of pie. It was chocolate, and very good. Sara had picked up some new skills. She burned toast when we were married, so I did most of the cooking.