Page 37 of After Him, There Was You
“I know where I am, Tara. I had to go through loops and give my id to Pam who already knew who I was, just so she could buzz me back here, and don’t think for a second that I missed her snide tone when she told you it was a personal visit. What have you been telling her?”
“I haven’t been telling her anything, but she is well aware that you are myex-husband.”
“You love to throw around how I’m your ex-husband, but you’re still carrying my last name. Tara, you love being associated with me and you know it. I’m the best thing to ever happen to you, Mrs. Morgan.”
“Jason, give it a rest. To set the record straight, Jaedan and Raegan are the best things to happen to me and the only good things to come from you. You and I both know you only want me because it looks like I’m moving on—”
“Well, are you?”
“Am I what, Jason?”
“Are you moving on with someone else?”
“What I do with my time and who I share my body with is none of your concern. It stopped being your concern the moment you broke our vows. I can only pray you give your wife as much attention as you’re giving me.”
“Amber doesn’t have anything to do with this,” he declared, attempting to pull me into him.
Shoving him away from me, he wore a look of utter surprise as if he was expecting me to allow him to invade my space.
“And that’s the problem, Jason, because she should. Amber should be at the top of your mind right now because she is your wife,” I sassed in contempt, giving him a piece of my mind which was long overdue. “You thought the grass was so much greener on the other side, and you broke our vows to find out it wasn’t. I can take ownership of making you think there could be something between the two of us again, but there can’t. We aren’t together for a reason, and I should have never blurred the lines of separation, or in our case divorce.”
“But you did, and we can only move forward from that. I know you still love me, Tara. No matter what little love affair you have going on with Zane, it will always be me for you.”
“Jason, you are downright delusional!”
“No, Tara! What I am is a man who wants his family back. I want to be home with you and my children.”
“You sound like a sick and condescending bastard,” I stated, shocked that I was bold enough in the moment to unapologetically state how I genuinely felt about him.
I had had enough of him and his shenanigans. “You have a wife and a child outside of the relationship wehad.You should be at home with them.”
“What has gotten into you, Tara? You should be happy that I want to come back home to you. I know you never wanted to get the divorce in the first place, so here’s your chance to have me back.”
“Jason, for the sake of our children, please let this be the last time we have this conversation,” I pleaded. “Us having sex was a massive mistake which should have never happened. As awoman, I felt the need to get back at Amber. You moved on well before I did, so there shouldn’t be a problem. For the sake of not backsliding in our coparenting relationship, I think it’s best for us to act as if it never happened.”
“Tara, I know you don’t mean what you’re saying right now. You’re just confused.”
“Ironically, I’ve never been more sure of anything in my life. I don’t want you, Jason. I wanted revenge. Nothing more and nothing less. I don’t want to have anything to do with you aside from a healthy friendship that allows us to be the best parents we can be.”
“Is this because Zane is back in town?”
“No, Zane honestly doesn’t have anything to do with this,” I admitted. “Do you know that our son doesn’t respect the way you treated me when you were my husband?”
“Jaedan is a child. When he gets a wife of his own and has a household to run, then and only then can he talk to me about how I treated you.”
“Jason, you honestly can’t see fault in what you’re saying can you?” I asked as my anger turned into sympathy in an instant.
To an extent, I could understand his warped perception of ownership when it came to me because we were in a relationship for so long, but when it came to his understanding of the roles he should’ve played in relationship to our children, I couldn’t understand his logic.
“How could you be okay with our son not respecting you on any level, especially the level of how he views the way you treat his mother?”
“He doesn’t know anything, Tara, he’s a child!” Jason barked as spit flew from his mouth, barely missing me. “I could care less about his opinion to be honest.”
“Really? Wow… Just wow! Jason, I don’t want a man who can speak about his own son like that. You don’t have respect for anyone outside of yourself, and ironically, you’re the person who isn’t deserving of anything other than a slap in the face, or a kick in the ass because poignantly you’ve already been hit in the face.”
“Let’s take a breather because I think we’re getting off on the wrong foot.”
“No, we’re not. I’m just finally seeing you for the sorry excuse of a man you’ve always been. Now, please leave my classroom before I call security and ask them to remove you. I know you could care less, but I would hate for our children to witness their father being drug out of their school kicking and screaming like the fool he is.”
