Into the Future: A Callahan Novel by Celya Bowers Read Free Book Online Page B

next soccer game.”
    “I had promised him, but after everything that happened, I didn’t think it would have been a good idea.  You might have thought I was stalking you.”
    She actually laughed.  “No, I wouldn’t have thought that.  That’s not your style.  You’re not sneaky, or underhanded.  Your face trouble head-on.”
    “And that’s what we’re going to do with Paul.”  He cleared his throat before he began.  “Tonight, Cam and I looked up your divorce decree.”
    “Why?”
    “We thought we’d find the answer to Paul’s harassing you.”
    “Did you?”
    “Not really.  You drew up a good settlement.  I can’t believe he didn’t contest anything.  He probably thought he was getting the deal of the century when you didn’t require him to pay health insurance, school tuition, and minimal child support.”
    She chuckled.  “Yeah,” she said proudly.  “He was probably bragging to his buddies about how he got over on me.  He didn’t read the small print as they say.”
    He could hear her sharp brain working on something so smooth, Paul wouldn’t see it coming. That was one of the reasons she was lead attorney for his office.  “What’s in the small print?”
    “It’s in the custody agreement.  Each year, his visitation time is cut in half.  Like this year, he’s supposed to get them once during the week, and every other weekend.  Needless to say, he hardly ever gets them as it is.  He doesn’t get them for vacation, summers, etc.  He’s too irresponsible.  His mother is the one keeping them.”
    He couldn’t resist.  “So what happens next year?”
    “He gets them for one weekend in January, February, April, August, September, and October.  The next year he gets them four times a year.”
    “You think he realized it and that’s why he’s trying to trump up charges against you?”  Tristan could see a plan forming.  Perhaps Paul wasn’t such an idiot.  “Maybe he’s decided that if he had custody, then the courts would revisit the custodial arrangement.”
    “For any other man, I would say yes.  For Paul, this has little to do with the kids.  He didn’t spend time with them when we were married, so they’re not focus of his hatred.  He’s still mad that I divorced him.  He thought I loved him too much to let him go.  You see when we first met, I was a different person.”
    He didn’t want to hear the story of Paul but knew he had no choice.  “Why don’t you tell me about when you guys met?”
    “Another time.  It’s too long and boring.  In a nutshell, my marriage made me stronger.  I had to for the kids.  I grew emotionally, mentally, financially, and Paul seemed to be stuck in some gear for the last eight years.  He thought he should still be able to hang with the guys all the time, clubbing, taking trips.  In short, I divorced a child stuck in a man’s body.  Paul didn’t want any responsibilities.  After too many fights to count, and just as many broken promises, I had had all I could take.  So I figured if I was doing it all by myself, then I needed to be by myself.”
    “I wished I had your courage when my marriage tanked,” Tristan said.
    “Since you brought it up,” she said, “What happened?  I mean you were married for fifteen years.”
    “I asked myself the same question almost daily.  During the course of our marriage, we were both into our careers, and were workaholics.  Months turned to years, and before I knew it, we hardly saw each other, and I didn’t care. The divorce wasn’t a surprise.  I didn’t love her, probably never did.”
    “Oh, Tristan.”
    “Hey don’t feel sorry for me.  Like you, I’ve grown since then.” And I found you, he mused.  He couldn’t imagine one day without this crafty attorney in his life.
    “We’ve both grown,” Lizzy said.  “I’m so glad.”

SEVEN
     
    Two days later, Lizzy was still floating on cloud Tristan.  After their confessions about their previous