Page 2 of Moose

Tessa laughed, and I stormed over to her. She stood up and pushed me out of the way.

“Rob was right. I don’t need this. I’m a fucking free woman.”

I stood there in shock as she walked into our bedroom and packed her things. She walked right past our two crying children without a second glance.

As Tessa packed, I held Nova and tried to calm her down. Maddox was now up and crying as well because Tess wouldn’t pick him up.

“You are not a free woman, Tessa. You are a mother. You are a girlfriend. Or did that end tonight when that shitbag offered you some drugs? Did you fuck him, Tessa?”

“Yup. I’m over being this domestic housewife. I want to live, Jacob. I’m only twenty-one. I never asked to be settled down with two kids.”

Storming into the kitchen, I dumped all the cans of formula into a bowl, trying to get at least something for the baby.

Using the scraps of the empty cans, I made a bottle in hopes it filled Nova’s tiny belly until the morning. Grabbing Maddox in my other arm, I carried him back to his bed.

“Let’s get little bear and lay back down, buddy.”

I grabbed his stuffed bear and placed it next to his head while drying his tears. Nova finished her bottle, and I carefully laid her down in her crib.

Walking back to Tessa, I grabbed her bag and threw it across the room.

“Stop fucking packing for two seconds so we can talk!”

She pushed past me and picked the bag up, stuffing the loose clothing back in.

“There’s nothing to talk about. I haven’t loved you for a long time now. I thought maybe the second baby would fix us, but it hasn’t. We had a baby too young, Jacob. I thought I wanted this life, but I just didn’t. I’m not cut out for this domestic shit.”

I shook my head as she packed around me.

“Where is this coming from, Tess? You said it yourself. You loved me and the kids. That we were more important than partying.”

She just sighed and continued to pack.

“Well, I changed my mind. I want to be free, to travel, to see and do whatever I want.”

“You mean do as many drugs and men as you want? I really don’t even know what to fucking say to you. How can you just abandon your kids, Tess? Doesn’t your family mean anything to you?”

Tessa flipped her long blonde hair and turned to me.

“Stop trying to guilt trip me, Jacob. I’ve made my mind up. I’ve been thinking this for a long time and seeing Rob just made this choice easier. Don’t contact me.”

She picked up her bags and walked toward the front door. When she opened it, I could see an old truck waiting out in the parking lot.

Tessa walked over and threw her bags in the back. Turning back to me, she frowned and shook her head.

“This is for the best, Jacob. I’m really not made out to be a mom. Maddox was an accident and Nova was a hope and a prayer to fix this broken relationship. This was never meant to be.”

With those last words, she hopped into the truck and drove away. I walked back inside and sat on the couch, my face in my hands.

I was now a single father to two babies. I lost my best friend, my girlfriend, the mother of my child.

Afewmonthshadgone by and things were getting harder and harder. Any type of paperwork I tried to send to Tessa got sent back. She moved too much to get an accurate address and the friends she stayed with lied and said she was never there.

I was working two jobs to support my babies while she was off partying. I had no family to turn to and relied on the sweet old lady who lived next door. She watched my kids while I worked and never accepted a dime from me. I still tried to make sure her fridge was full as well as ours.

Even with the two jobs, bills piled up. I was drowning in them, along with my inadequate feelings about being a single father. I stopped by the bar on my way home from my jobs and would sit until I could barely walk.

A few weeks had gone by when one of the regulars at the bar sat down next to me. He offered me a job up in bumfuck Montana. They were looking for hard working guys to log. I accepted the job as it offered twice as much as I was making at two different jobs combined.

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