Page 65 of Succeeding Love

“Hello?”

It was him. Why the hell did he have my wife’s phone?

“Hello? Hey, is this Nick?” he snickered loudly on the other end of the line.

Just when I thought I couldn’t feel any worse, another familiar voice came through.

“It’s my dad? Let me have it. Go help mom. She’s going to fall in, trying to feed the ducks.”

He was with Preston…

“Hey, dad. Sorry. Mom left her bag here on the patio of the restaurant while she ran off to feed duck french fries. Do you need something?”

I was stunned for a moment, but then found my voice. “Um, yeah. Hi, Pres. I just…. I just wanted to let your mom know we got back safe.”

“Okay. Cool. I’ll tell her.”

“Thanks,” I muttered, holding my hand over my eyes like I could hold in my tears. “Um, Preston?”

“Yeah, dad?” He sounded distracted.

I took a shuddering breath, then said, “I… I love you, son. See you tomorrow.”

“Yeah. I love you too, dad. Bye.”

CLICK

My hand fell to the floor as the line went dead.

My wife and my son. That man… He was winning over everything I had lost in this divorce. I have never felt more defeated in my entire life.

I Got You

Vin

“That was fun.” Lynn twirled in a circle on the less crowded trail leading to the hotel. “Preston has good friends.”

“Preston’s a good kid,” I smiled. “You did a good job with him.”

“Eh, he’s more of a parent than me most of the time.”

I chuckled, knowing what she meant. I saw endless examples of his maturity and how he looked out for his mother in so many ways tonight. As a man that also grew up with a single mother, I was impressed.

“She’s a natural drunk. No alcohol needed,” Preston had said to me after getting off the phone with his dad. I had barely grabbed his mom in time before she fell face first into the hoard of hungry ducks. “If she’s near water, she’s going to fall in if you don’t watch her.” He then warned me about her distracted driving, and not to let her listen to her books while she drives.

I took mental notes throughout dinner about how he treated his mom. He seemed like the parent most of the time.

“He likes you, you know,” Lynn bumped her shoulder against mine, looking all cute and smug.

I wrapped an arm around her shoulders, feeling pretty smug myself. “What’s not to like?”

“I don’t know. I have no complaints yet,” she giggled.

“That’s good to hear. Please let me know if you ever do.” I kissed the top of her head.

Dinner was fun, even with that bump-on-a-log assistant coach glaring at me the entire time. Lynn was the life of the party, getting most of the kids to play some type of charades game on her phone while we waited for the food. Even the staff couldn’t be jerks to her. It was in their job description, but not one of them was a dick to my girl after the drinks came.

“It’s so pretty out here at night,” she said, looking up at all the hanging lights. “There’s not as many people as earlier, either.”

---