Total pages in book: 98
Estimated words: 91149 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 456(@200wpm)___ 365(@250wpm)___ 304(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 91149 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 456(@200wpm)___ 365(@250wpm)___ 304(@300wpm)
Sandra’s eyes fill with tears and she lifts her face to Chet. “Do something.”
Chet’s gaze reluctantly moves to mine and I can tell he’s afraid to talk because he knows he’s in danger of losing his teeth. My stare is hard, unyielding, with an underlying level of promise that I will hurt him.
It falters and drops momentarily to the floor before returning to Sandra. “Let’s play this cool, babe. The law and facts are on our side. We’ll fight this out in the courts.”
Sandra collapses into his arms and wails against his chest. He wraps her up in a tight hug and coos baby words to her that turn my stomach when she wails harder in response. More ridiculous words like “I’m here for you, baby boo” and “Daddy will make it better,” all spoken in an infantile tone as if she were a child. They’re absolutely feeding off each other.
Jesus fuck, what has happened to her and how has this man changed her so much?
I shake my head, turn my back on them and hightail it up the stairs, taking them two at a time.
My heart squeezes hard when I find Bowie Jane standing at the side of her bed. Her open suitcase has nothing in it, but she holds her favorite teddy bear in her hands, as if contemplating whether to put him inside.
I move to her, gently take the bear and set it on the bed. “We’re taking him but he goes on the plane in your backpack. What else do you want to take?”
She lifts her face to mine, completely lost.
“We don’t have to take all your clothes. In fact, we can go on an amazing shopping trip back in Pittsburgh and buy you all new clothes. Maybe we focus on favorite toys, jewelry, stuffed animals?”
Bowie Jane’s face crumbles and tears fill her eyes. “Why is Mom acting like this?”
“I don’t know, honey. It’s definitely out of character.”
“It’s Chet. She changed when she started dating him.”
I know she’s not wrong about that so I try my best to put it into a perspective she can accept that might salvage her relationship with her mom. I squat in front of her. “Sometimes people do weird things, and sometimes that can get super weird when they care for another person. But that doesn’t mean she’s stopped loving you or loves you in a different way. No matter what’s going on with your mom right now, I know without a doubt she loves you as much as she ever did.”
“I don’t believe it,” Bowie Jane says, her little face screwing up in anger.
“Well, I do, and trust me… I’ve got more reason than you to doubt your mom. But I know one million percent she loves you. I think she’s just having a hard time right now and actually might be a little lost.”
“Because of Chet,” she says bitterly.
“Most likely. I promise I’ll continue to try to talk to your mom to figure out what’s going on with her.”
At this point, I think I’m doing pretty good with being fair to Sandra, attempting to reinforce the bond between her and Bowie Jane, as well as building an undefinable time frame to give her mom time to figure her shit out. I’m trying to have patience which is not easy for me under these circumstances. I’d still like to wring Sandra’s neck and punch Chet in his perfectly white teeth.
“Going to be my strong, brave girl when we walk out of here?”
Bowie Jane nods but I can tell she’s not quite sure what that even means. Hell, I don’t know what it means. Once we leave, I have no clue how Sandra will react. Will she be partially absent the way she was over the summer, only reaching out a handful of times a week? Will living on the other side of the world impede even more on her ability to be a mom?
It’s confusing how one man can have such an influence over a woman who I felt was a rock-solid individual and mother. Sandra was always the nurturer, the one kissing booboos and soothing tantrums. Granted, she could get really angry but those times were rare.
Like today.
But seeing Sandra in this form reminds me why we’re divorced. Two very young, foolish kids who got pregnant when she was just eighteen and I was nineteen, and I married her because I thought it was the right thing to do. As we grew, developed, matured, sadly our love did not thrive. In fact, not sure it was ever true love to begin with but rather lust turned into duty and obligation.
I know my career hurt our chances of cementing a marital bond. I was gone too much and living the youthful glory days of fame. Sandra took to the lifestyle as well, developing close friendships with hockey wives and partying with them as much as I did with my teammates.