*Thank-you for the reviews on the last chapter. They were greatly appreciated. Thank-you all so much.
JOHN:
I just picked Angelina up from school and we are in the kitchen. She is sitting doing her homework while I'm looking for something to cook for dinner. I am not the best cook so this could be interesting. "Daddy, what are you making for dinner?" she asks me.
"I am not sure," I say as I look through the cupboards and spot some spaghetti. I can definitely pull off spaghetti. "I think we are having spaghetti," I say as I pull the box out of the cupboard.
"With sauce?" she asks.
"Of course," I answer.
"Well, I don't like sauce. Mommy always makes butter spaghetti without sauce for us," she says. I guess that would explain why there is no spaghetti sauce.
"Spaghetti without the sauce?" I ask.
"Yes," she says.
"That's not spaghetti," I say.
"It's spaghetti if it comes out of the spaghetti box sauce or no sauce," she says.
"Okay. Spaghetti without the sauce it is then," I say. "So how was school today?"
"Boring," she says, "and all this homework is ridiculous. 2nd grade is tougher than I thought," she says.
"What are you working on?" I ask.
"Double digit addition and then answering questions for our weekly Bible story. Then I have social studies and I have to go over my spelling words after writing them two times each. So much work to do."
"That is a lot of work," I say. I'm not used to this parenting thing but I realize a lot of homework when I see it. I hated homework as a kid. I probably wasn't the brightest bulb growing up but I always had my sports backing me up. Angelina has her mother's intelligence thank goodness because if she took after me we would be in a lot of trouble. "What's your Bible story for the week?"
"Joseph and his rainbow jacket," she says as my cell phone rings.
I look at my phone and let out a sigh when I see that it is Ashley. I probably shouldn't but I'm going to answer it anyway. "Hold on, Angelina," I say as I answer the phone before walking out of the room. "Ashley, why are you calling me?" I ask.
"Because I wanted to see how you are," she says, "so how are you?"
"I'm fine," I say. "You shouldn't be calling me. I don't want you calling me."
"But you're my husband," she says sending chills up my spine.
"No. I'm trying to divorce you. I don't want to be your husband," I say.
"Johnny, don't say things like that. So where is Natalie," she asks.
"In New York," I answer.
"What's she doing in New York? Did she leave you again?" she asks with a snarl.
"No she didn't leave me," I say. "She is on a job interview," I say.
"Oh," she says disappointed. "Can we make things work, John?"
"What do you mean make things work?"
"You know you and I. Can we make us work?"
I inhale deeply and say, "there is not an us. You know that Ashley and there never will be an us again."
"John, please," she says desperately. "I miss you. I want you to come back home."
"Ashley, I am home. My home is with Angelina and Natalie now."
"No, John, your home is here; in Florida," she says. I can hear her choke on a sob. I don't exactly feel bad but I don't feel great either.
"Ashley, I'm sorry but I am where I am supposed to be."
"Why because she has your child. I can have your child too," she says.
"No, Ashley because I love her. I have always loved her. I will never stop loving her."
"But you love me too," she says.
"Ashley, I did love you but I don't anymore," I say honestly. There is just nothing there between Ashley and me.
"John, I love you. Please come home."
"Ashley, I thought I made it clear we are over. I'm not coming back to Florida. I just want a divorce," I say.
"But I don't. I want to work things out," she says. I can hear the desperation in her voice. I can see her blue eyes filling up with tears as she chokes on her words.
"Ashley, we were trying to work things out for 4 years now. There is nothing to work out. We weren't meant to get married. We shouldn't have gotten married. All we ever do is fight that's not a marriage," I say. "I just want a divorce and be done with it."
"John, I don't want a divorce," she says.
"But I do and all you have to do is sign the papers and move on so that I can move on."
"No," she says. "I'm not signing the papers."
"Ashley, you need to sign the papers," I say. "Please just sign the papers."
"Why so that you can go marry her? I don't think so. I refuse to sign the papers."
"You're going to need to sign them at some point," I say. I'm starting to get frustrated with her. She is slowing everything down by not signing the papers. I just want her to sign the papers so that I can move on with my life.
"No, John, I'm not. I'm not signing papers."
"Ashley, why do you have to make this difficult?" I ask.
"Because you're my husband," she says, "you belong with me. Natalie is only going to break your heart again."
"Natalie isn't going to break my heart," I say. "Natalie and I are good. We would like to be better if you would just sign the papers."
"Too bad," she says. "I'm not signing anything."
"Ashley, please," I say. "Just sign the papers."
"No, John. If you think I'm going to let you go that easily you're wrong. You're going to need to fight me to let you go," she says.
"All right, Ashley, you want to play hardball play hardball with my attorney."
"Your attorney?" she asks.
"Yes, my attorney. From now on if you want to talk to me you will talk to him and he will give me the message. You are not going to contact me again. I'm not playing your games, Ashley. You don't want to sign the papers when I'm being a nice guy I'll let my attorney handle it."
"So you want to get attorneys involved?" she asks.
"Yes, I do," I say. "If you're smart you'll find a good attorney. I am done, Ashley. I'm done being the nice guy," I say.
"You're going to be sorry," she says.
"Goodbye, Ashley," I say before hanging up the phone. I refuse to play her games. I tried to be the nice guy but she wants to be difficult. I am done. I was in a good mood but now I'm just pissed off because of her.
I walk back into the kitchen and Angelina says, "who was on the phone, Daddy?"
"My biggest mistake," I answer.
"Ashley?" she asks. It amazes me that she knows exactly who I'm talking about.
"Yes," I say.
"Why did she call you?" she asks.
"Don't worry about it. She's not worth worrying about. Let's just forget about her," I say. I just hope that she doesn't tell Natalie about Ashley calling although Natalie never really gets upset over Ashley nor does she ever get jealous of her but I still don't want to discuss the fact my wife isn't willing to sign the divorce papers with her. "Angelina," I say.
"Yes, Daddy?"
"Please don't tell your mom that Ashley called. I don't want her to know."
"Okay," she says. "I won't tell her."
"Thanks," I say with a smile. "So let me get started on this spaghetti."
"Okay, Daddy," she says with a smile.
*A/N: So what did you think? Please review and thank-you for reading.