Episode 239: Long Time Gone

Catching his jean jacket by the sleeve a second before he walloped Jesse on the sofa with it, he ruffled the six year old’s hair and the boy leaned his head back with a big smile. "Hi dad, you look sad."

"He always looks that way baby, he probably won on a scratch ticket and somehow still looks like his dog died," Lila giggled painting her toenails gold.

"You have a dog dad?" Jesse’s slim brown eyes grew wide.

Bowie glared at his fiancee. He did that too much lately, but he could feel their unraveling as easily as the denim at his fingertips, and like the other times felt powerless to stop it. "No kiddo I don’t have a dog."

Settling next to the boy, he gave him his kindest most assuring smile he could muster. "I guess your mom forgot that today I stopped owning the market. Mr. Gable gets to do whatever he wants with it now, bulldoze it for a parking lot most likely."

"I didn’t forget. I just don’t see why it has to be the end of the world that’s all. The place has been in the toilet for years-"

"It’s been in my family forever. I grew up there. I wanted Jess to do the same." Bowie heard his voice rise and attempted to taper it for the boy’s sake. But Jesse’s shoulders tensed. Bowie closed his eyes and a pair of six-year-old arms wrapped around him, just what he needed.

"Sorry dad, do you want to play Snakes and Ladders maybe?"

"Sure, set up the board, I’ll be right in." Bowie watched Jess scramble into his room and then looked at Lila. Loved her as much as ever, they just seemed to fall through the cracks sometimes. She was a hard person to like sometimes, to get up the nerve to fight for because she always wanted something bigger, something better and he didn’t know that he’d ever be enough for her, not just financially, either. On his way to the boy’s room, the boy he considered his son, he paused long enough for a deep, nail polish spilling kiss. Their first in a month or more he realized.

Episode 240: All I Wanna Do