Bitter Sweet

Volume

It was late. Rather it was early when Shirley came home. Even though it was 2:30 in the morning, Tobin couldn't help but wonder why Shirley had come home so early. She hadn't expected her home until dawn broke. It had become the norm, long before the two split up.

It was the disturbance that her ex-wife imposed on the quiet house that made Tobin wonder why she ever thought this was a good idea. Living together.

They had decided that once their daughter was born that it was best to share a home. Both of them able to be there as she grew. Tobin never anticipated how hard it would be.

The hardest part was listening to her ex-wife crying behind her bedroom door. The pain she heard form from deep within the other woman stabbed painfully at her. She no longer had the right to ask what was wrong. She no longer had the right to hold her. She no longer had the right to fix it.

As the night drew on Tobin eventually feel asleep to the other woman crying. Only to be woken by the crying of the most important person in her life. Her daughter.

Picking up the baby Tobin no longer wondered why she thought this was a good idea. The big brown eyes with natural long and full eye lashes laid themselves on Tobin. Her daughter was the only thing that made sense to her.

With less than a moment passing Tobin felt sadness for her daughter. She didn't know her mother. She didn't know Shirley. Tobin had hoped that once their daughter was born, that Shirley would come back. If not for Tobin, but for their perfect daughter.

Shirley had only gotten worse. She stayed out all hours of the night. She liked to pretend she didn't have a boyfriend, but she did. She drank. She disappeared. She showed only a tiny interest in the little girl.

As the months passed Tobin knew what she had to do. Doing it was the hard part. She knew one day she would pack their things and leave. That she would raise their daughter on her own. Away from the destructiveness of Shirley.

Tobin wondered if Shirley had gotten in a fight with her boyfriend that caused her to come home crying. Secretly she hoped it was. She wondered if Shirley's mother had said something. She wondered if it just was a bad day for her. But Tobin would never know, and maybe that was for the best.

She had her daughter to protect. She had her daughter to care for. It was only a matter of time before Tobin let Shirley go.