• Dave took a deep breath before he exited his car. He could see Helen in the window, setting the table for his return from work. At this time Tyler would be watching cartoons in the living room. The poor kid, this wasn’t his fault. Not really.
    With each step that took him closer to the front door, Dave questioned himself more and more. He knew he wanted to do this, but Tyler’s birthday was in a month, maybe he should wait until after? Then there was their anniversary, then Christmas, and so on. If he kept waiting for the perfect moment, every walk to the front door would be like this, forever. This inner battle would continue until he acted.
    Taking one last breath of fresh air, he opened the door and walked into his home.
    “Daddy!” Tyler called from the living room, running into give his dad a big bear hug.
    “Hey Kiddo!” David tousled his son’s hair. “What are you watching in there?”
    “SpongeBob!” the boy squealed excitedly and ran back to the television set.
    Smiling sadly at his son’s cheerfulness, David made his way into the kitchen where his wife was setting the table for dinner. He noticed that she had made her special lasagna dish from scratch. She had probably been preparing the meal all day.
    “Hi honey!” Helen placed the last glass on the table. “How was your day? I made your favourite.”
    David made his way to his chair and sat down. “Good. Ok.” He braced himself, noticing the care she had taken in setting the table, placing him next to the window because she knew he liked to look out. “Look, can I talk to you for a minute?”
    Helen stopped bustling and looked back at him apologetically. “Can it wait? Sorry sweetie but dinner is almost ready and Ty has swimming tonight so we’ve gotta eat now.”
    “Yeah, sure.” David fiddled with his fork, nervous.
    “What’s it about?” Helen was curious. “You ok?”
    David looked at his son playing in the other room, then back to his wife’s cheerful, caring expression. “It was nothing, never mind.” He stood and kissed his wife. “I’m going to go change, be back in a minute?”
    Helen nodded, her concern for her husband quickly becoming concern for her now overdone meal.
    David exited to his bedroom and pulled of his jacket. Taking out his cell phone, he dialed and sat down.

    Tyler heard his father’s muffled voice from behind the bedroom door. He wanted to ask his dad why starfish don’t have feet, so he had hurried down the hall but stopped just outside his room. With the stealth of the ninja he was now pretending to be, Tyler silently opened the door and stood in the open doorway. His father’s back was to him, it was the perfect time to pounce. Something in his dad’s tone of voice made him stop however, and listen to the conversation.
    “Hey, Honey.” David’s voice reached the ears of the child. “No, I didn’t tell Helen, not tonight. Tyler has swimming.” He paused, a murmur on the other end interrupting him, “of course I love you, Carrie. We’ll be together soon.” Another long pause, David sighed, “I know I’ve been saying that for a year. It’s difficult, you try breaking someone’s heart.”
    Tyler started to back away from the door. He didn’t understand what he had just heard but something made him not want to ask about starfish anymore. He retreated to his toys, but not before he heard his father whisper: “Goodnight, sweetie. I love you. See you tomorrow; I’ll take you out for dinner. Maybe lasagna?”