Taxi: Sarah & Tom

Chapter 5: Tom

A/N: This week and next are busy for me both professionally and socially, so please bear with me for shorter or less frequent uploads. Thanks!

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Tom

My girlfriend is driving away from me in tears, my son is talking to everyone except for me, and my ex-wife is, for some baffling reason, still in my house. And now I think that I'm developing an ulcer.

Everything has been so tense lately in all of my relationships, and I'm desperate for there to be movement forward. I started the day excited to see Sarah, rushing home to meet her and Jackson, and hopeful that a bit of time in the car together would yield positive results. Sarah is good with Jackson, and I know that Jackson used to really enjoy spending time with her.

I knew that Sarah was going to be special the moment we met; we connected so instantly that it was obvious we had something that not everyone gets to experience in their lifetime. I was open about having a young child from the beginning, and Sarah reassured me that she was okay dating someone with children, but that didn't alleviate all of the anxiety that I felt about introducing her and Jackson. Sarah was special, but I'm a father first, and I can't act like so many of the men I've met. I refuse to move on from my son and make him feel like I have a second family that I love more. Jackson always needs to know that he's my #1 priority.

I talked to Jackson about Sarah all the time, subtly at first by mentioning my new friend in passing, and then I would tell longer stories or show him pictures of the things that we were doing together. Eventually, he started asking more about her, and she and I were getting more serious, so Sarah and I both felt like it was time for them to meet.

God, when I told Michelle that I was going to introduce Jackson to Sarah, I felt like I was in the midst of our divorce all over again. In one evening she would vacillate between ice-cold and raging, cajoling to threatening. When she tried to say that I couldn't bring casual dates around Jackson, I pointed out that Sarah and I had been together for almost a year, and we weren't casual. She obviously didn't like that, but she relented after I told her that they were going to meet one way or another, and her choice was to meet Sarah first or not.

The lunch that we had between the three of us was uncomfortable, to say the least. I had no idea that Michelle would have a prepared list of rules for Sarah, but I was so grateful that she wasn't yelling at me that I figured it was still a win. Sarah, bless her, handled the entire thing gracefully. She took it in stride, didn't fall for Michelle's bait, and I thought that she was on the same page as me.

I turn back to the house and watch the back of Michelle's head and Jackson's face in profile. I know that those two love each other, but I wish that he would tell me all the things that he's telling Michelle. What am I missing? Am I doing something that makes him feel like he can't be honest with me? I think back on the last few months, and I don't believe that we've pressured him to act one way or another around Sarah, but if he's telling his mom and grandparents something else, then I must be the one who's missing something.

The chill finally kicks in, and I walk up the drive, unenthused for the conversation ahead of me. Michelle smiles up at me from the couch, as if we weren't just in a heated argument and she didn't say awful things to Sarah. I know, better than most, how sharp Michelle's tongue could be. Her infidelity may have been the catalyst for our divorce, but it was more of a convenient excuse for me to finally leave her. When we first got together, I admired how strong and driven she was, but over time, I started to feel suffocated. When I brought it up to my parents, they told me that I knew that I was marrying a strong woman, and it was childish to be threatened by her now.