Tuesday Tales and What About Life

Ahoy Fellow Fathomers! It's time for Tuesday Tales.

A group of writers gather together and give our interpretation of a specific word prompt each week. Once per month, we even write to an image.  You never know what you might encounter when you get inside our minds. This week our group writes to the word- life.  This will be an excerpt from my new WIP for a new romance contemporary, What the Storm Didn't Take.

Enjoy!~

“I’m embarrassed even admitting to you I don’t see mom enough.”

“We all let life get in the way. I’m not judging you, only offering a small reminder.” I saw my husband every day before he died. I was always thankful I took a local job close to home that didn’t monopolize my day the way some careers would have.

Standing, he placed the little plastic characters on my table. “I’m gonna leave these with you. I thought they might bring a little smile, if anything. I’ve got my normal rounds, but, I’ll check in this evening, okay?”

My broken heart accepted the small comfort from his gesture. In a world full of pain, I’d take any brightness. “Thanks, I appreciate it.”

He gave a small nod as he walked out the door.

I finished my breakfast, spurred on by the unexpected gift. Although hitting my stomach like a brick, my body didn’t threaten to eject the nourishment. Memories gathered, pushing their way to my recognition. It’s funny how I never thought before about every little detail of things we’d done before.  I thought of Garrett and our last shopping trip to the toy store. He couldn’t stop talking about all the cool toys, sports gear, and such he was going to buy.

“I don’t care if I gotta work three jobs, this kid’s gonna be spoiled.”

“Now, now, this kid needs you more than possessions.”

“Aww, you know what I mean. I wasn’t serious.”

For some reason, I knew he wasn’t serious, but, he was close. He’d give this kid the world if he had the funds. I teased him about the boy versus girl scenario. “Will you really spend as much money on dolls as baseball gloves.”

“There’s always softball gloves for girls, you know?” Winking, he covered his bases, so to speak.

I knew he’d buy girl toys just as easily as ones for a boy. He was just excited to return to his own childhood days and how much fun he had growing up. That day we’d purchased two small ball gloves- one for baseball and one for softball. He’d shown no preference. We got them home and he rubbed linseed oil on them carefully.

I wondered about the urgent urgency aloud. “This baby won’t be ready to play ball for a few years, dad. Aren’t you getting ahead of the game here?”

“I’m gonna rub luck into these things as often as I can. Our ball player will have the best advantage of any kid out on that field.” Lovingly, he rubbed success into the leather.

All I did was shake my head and walk away laughing at the fanaticism he showed in the superstition. “Okay, dad.”

Please visit us at our main site for more interpretations of life  Tuesday Tales Main Page