Gone Away
Damon and his brother Jeff sold the house and land their parents had left behind. Heather’s first ex-husband had given her a large sum of money and she had used most of it to move the boys and herself into their dream home. She remained grateful that Damon loved them enough to help them and thankful that her realtor, a family friend, agreed to a lease option. Heather had started believing things would be all right; at least until recent events.
She never understood why people threw away their failed relationships and she believed wholeheartedly in the power of her self-proclaimed “sliver system.” It was a concept she had worked out for herself and explained to Dr. Angel many years before. It was her rule book and her self-discipline in the shape of a pie. The slivers represented the men she placed in each slice. No slice was allowed to have more than one topping. She couldn’t cuddle her lover and she couldn’t have deep talks with the family man. The slivers were all segregated and allowed only one task. Should they try to cross over or demand more toppings, they would be immediately ejected from the pie.
Her doctor didn’t believe her system to be necessarily healthy and had tried to help her integrate her slivers. He tried to tell her she didn’t have to have sex with one and then wait to cuddle the next. He told her she could have both needs met in one man. Heather had to explain she was well aware she could have it all in one. It was that she didn’t want to have it. She knew what came of it. The cheating and the abuse and the pain wasn’t worth it in the end so she kept them all at a safe distance from one another, as well as from herself.
Because of her doctor’s interference, Heather no longer had a sliver system. She had systematically shut it down as she matured and grew and learned to nurture the healthy parts of herself but Heather missed her slivers. The only one she’d held onto was the lover and he was the first one she should have let go of.
Neither Joey nor Damon was meant to be her husband but she had always known they were intended to play significant roles in her life. The fact they fathered her sons told her they were meant to be a part of her forever, so she kept them. She held onto her first love just as tightly. If her heart were an office building, each of the men would have his own wing.
If she closed her eyes and let herself imagine them as they were, she could feel the same rush of love she felt while she was with them. Because her heart was still burdened by her love for them, she allowed them all to rent the space in her heart. With each man, she carved out a different type of relationship she felt they could better handle.
Heather went to Damon’s with the boys. She needed to feel safe and his place was where her car drove them. Damon wasn’t home yet so she grabbed his extra set of keys from its hiding spot behind a bush and walked in ahead of Jack and Tommy. When they weren’t looking, she grabbed a long knife from its slot in the kitchen and headed toward the back rooms.
Pretending to go through closets in search of wrapping paper, Heather searched each room for an intruder with a southern drawl. Each time she pulled open a closed door, she pulled the blade back into attack mode. When she found no uninvited guests, she headed out to the back patio.
The back porch was enclosed and offered shade from the sun and cover from the rain. The large pool was covered by an outer screen. Heather had spent many nights on Damon’s patio over the past twenty years and had always appreciated that he shared his childhood home and his parents with her.
Damon’s parents had quickly become her own surrogate mother and father during her troubled teenage years. She had experienced confusion and angst and had found escape in their welcoming home. Their broad shoulders and patient words of advice had healed her on so many different occasions.
Heather called them Carolyn and Mickey for two years. Then they became Granny and Grampy and became a part of her family. Heather missed them desperately but still felt they were close by.
“Hey,” Damon said from behind her.
Heather screamed and jumped. She almost smacked him in the face but recoiled in time.
When he saw her mangled eye, Damon almost screamed himself.
“What the Hell happened?” he yelled.
“You should see the other guy,” Heather said as she searched for a lie.
“I’m not kidding, Heather. What happened? Where are the boys?”
“Oh, right. Like if something had happened to them, I wouldn’t have told you by now?”
She was trying to buy time. She hadn’t heard him pull up and still didn’t know how much to tell him. If he were to help