Chapter 1

My daughter, Elise parked her brand new car in the parking lot, entered the restaurant, and sat in front of me. I had to ruefully agree that she looked great in her new fancy clothes.

She looked around, spotted me and walked to my table, kissed me on the cheek, and sat down in front of me.

“Hi, Dad,” she said, her hands fidgeting with her new iPhone.

I instantly knew that something was very wrong.

The waitress took our orders and I waited in silence to see what she had to say.

Things had been very awkward between us after my divorce. She had started to cut her visits short and didn’t want to stay overnight. Most of the time she was paying more attention to her phone than I.

The waitress brought our orders and I sipped my tea without saying a word.

She kept stirring her coffee till she finally found the courage she was looking for to say what was on her mind.

“Dad, this is not easy for me to say, but the thing is I don’t want to visit you anymore. Not every other weekend as I am doing now. I’m 16 and I can choose if I see you or not. And I decided not.”

I felt my heart breaking.

A year ago, a wealthy surgeon asshole, doctor Richard Cavanaugh, had chased Louise, my ex-wife, relentlessly with gifts and lunches till she fell in love with him and left me. The whore had dated him all through high school till he went away to college putting an end to their relationship.

My parents couldn’t pay for my education so I went to community college and worked part-time jobs. Louise and I meet during a frat party and we were instantly attracted to each other. If I had known what had transpired between her and Richard, I would have figured that I was her rebound man. However, after dating her for months, I thought Louise was sincerely in love with me. Louise’s family didn’t come from money either. However, Louise was a beautiful girl who could open doors with nothing but a smile. We dated casually for a few months, even when her family strongly disapproved of me. Her mother was always saying that a gorgeous girl like her could do better.

The last semester had started, when Louise dropped the bomb on me, telling me she was pregnant. I was too shocked to be happy but I did the right thing. We both dropped out of college during the last months of her pregnancy and I switched from college to a welding training program. Eight months later I had a welding diploma and I got a job as a welder that allowed me to earn enough money to support my family. It wasn’t the best-paid job around but they had a good health plan.

I never got back to college because I knew I wouldn’t be able to keep up the pace of my classes, work, and family. There just wasn’t enough money or hours in the day to do it.

Three years later, my wife finished college and became a nurse.

She went to work part-time when our daughter Elise was in Junior-High, and full-time when she started high school.

Money was tight and I worked long hours to make ends meet.

I was happy. I loved my wife and I adored my daughter. Sex was good. We didn’t have a lot of things but we were managing.

I was completely unaware that our relationship had soured. I thought life was good. We had each other and I supposed we were a happy family.

Then I discovered that Louise’s long-lost high-school sweetheart was back in town. He was a surgeon and had started to work at the same hospital as Louise. She never said a word about him to me.

My wife also failed to tell me about the long lunches they shared. She never shared her doubts with me when she started to develop feelings for him again.

Of course, I wasn’t informed that my wife was having sex with doctor Dick three or four times a week.

In other words, I was a trusting idiot who believed that my wife would never cheat on me

One night, I came home from work and found my wife waiting for me dressed to kill and wearing an expensive matching set of diamond necklace and earrings.

“Louise, are we going out? Where did you get this dress and the jewelry?”

She looked me straight in the eye and said, “Paul, I’m leaving you. You are not earning enough money and you never will. We are not making sufficient progress. I’m tired of not being able to enjoy what life has to offer. I’m tired of not having money to go out to fancy places, have dinner at a nice restaurant or not being able to travel to all the wonderful places we always dreamed to visit. This is not the life I want. I’m tired of driving an old car and not having any jewelry, or classy dresses to wear. I deserve better. I want out.”

I was stunned.

“What?”

Not a brilliant comeback, but my brain was still processing the news.

“I’m divorcing you. I left the papers on the kitchen counter. I’m not asking for anything except child support. I took only 30% of our savings. I already canceled our credits cards. You can keep the house. I never liked it. I’m not asking for alimony or going after your 401k. None of them are worth fighting for. You can waste money on a lawyer if you want, but you’ll find out it’s a good deal. I’m sorry our relationship didn’t work.”

Her voice didn’t match her last words. She sounded cold, distant, emotionless. Sorry, my ass. She could barely hide a smile.

“Where is Elise?” I asked looking around.

“She’s staying with my folks. I’m asking for full custody and giving you liberal visitation rights.”

I still couldn’t believe this was happening. Louise gave me absolutely no hint that our marriage was in trouble. I felt my heart was being ripped out of my chest. This morning when I went to work I had a wife and daughter. Now apparently I had none.

“Does Elise know about this?”

“Yes, she does and she expressed that she wanted to live with me. If you have more questions you can contact my lawyer. I left his card with the divorce papers. Goodbye, Paul. I wish you well.”

“Eat shit and die, bitch.”

She strutted out of the house shutting the door behind her.

I sat there unable to move. I felt like I got hit by a train.

“What the fuck just happened here?” I thought.

I called my daughter and asked her if she knew about her mother wanting to divorce me.

“Yes, Dad, I am aware of the situation. Mom and I had been talking about her feelings for weeks.”

“You knew about this and you didn’t say anything to me?”

“I’m sorry, Dad. Mom asked me not to say anything.”

Elise did sound sad. I felt her silence was a new betrayal.

“I’m going to find a lawyer and fight for shared custody, Eli.”

“Dad ... Next year I’ll be 16 and I can choose with which parent I want to live. You’ll be wasting your time.”

My heart stopped.

“Dad? Dad? Are you still there?”

“Yes, Eli, I’m still here I just can’t believe my ears. Are you saying that you don’t want to live with me?”

“It doesn’t mean I don’t love you. I’ll see you every other weekend.”

Wow! Here I was, dying, and my daughter was happily informing me that she was okay seeing me only every other weekend. I ended the call without saying anything else.

During the next days, I did my best to put the pieces of my life back together. I took the necessary steps to protect myself even when apparently I had no need. I read the divorce papers and confirmed that Louise wasn’t asking for anything except child support. A quick check-up online told me that she hadn’t taken anything from our meager savings except what she’d informed me of. I moved the remaining money to an account in my name only and asked for a new credit card.

I cried myself to sleep at night. All my dreams had been shattered.

The whole situation didn’t make sense to me unless Louise had someone who was supporting her and my daughter.