Peter always felt bad for Megan on holidays. She insisted that he take the twins so they would have traditions and family memories. He felt guilty that she had somehow lost her family. He had lost the family he always wanted with her. They both lost and suffered.
He didn't have a big extended family, and neither did Megan. There weren't gatherings of thirty people with cousins and second cousins once removed, whatever that meant. There was no kids' table set aside so the adults could sit together and forget their child had poor table manners.
His family would be complete for the first time in many years. Not that Peter considered it complete, because Megan was always missing. Still, his sister Liz was visiting from Florida with her family.
Liz had run off to Florida with her loser boyfriend when Peter was in high school. She went to school to become a hairdresser and waitressed nights. She said that senior citizens were at every turn in Florida and didn't tip over fifteen percent, but vacationers left good tips. She liked to work at places that were loud, and trendy so the old folks would stay away.
Six months into her Florida adventure her boyfriend took off and instead of coming home defeated she stayed. She moved in with a girl from the restaurant, finished school and started working at a salon.
She was doing alright for a poor girl from Maine. She had friends and a job she liked. She dated, but wasn't looking for a freeloader.
Peter had heard the story many times. One day she was cutting a client's hair, but it didn't need cutting. He had just been in two weeks before. She thought he was a nice guy, but shy. He had a job he wore khakis and a nice shirt to, but she didn't know what it was.
Two weeks later, he was back in her chair for a haircut he didn't need. She looked him over and smiled at him. When he smiled back, she saw dimples and sparkling green eyes. He wasn't bad for the quiet type.
Just as she was finishing up with his hair and brushing all the little hairs off his neck she said, "You'd save a lot of money on haircuts you don't need if you just asked me out."
She could see him blush, but sure enough the shy guy asked her out. It turned out that optometrists wear khakis and nice shirts. In Florida, optometrists are busy and make decent money. Neither cared that he was twenty-eight to her twenty.
Liz and Adam were married with little fanfare a year later. She didn't want to get married in Maine and knew her family couldn't afford to go to Florida so they had a simple ceremony. Their son and daughter age eleven and nine were Nick and Sophie's only cousins.
She owned her own salon. When Liz came back to visit once a year, Peter always liked her to cut his hair.
"Nobody cuts it like you Liz." It was the evening before Thanksgiving.
"So I'll see your kids tomorrow?"
"Yep. They'll have fun with their cousins."
"So what's new with you?"
"Nothing. Just work and weekends with the kids. I turn up the excitement once a month for a poker game with friends."
"High school friends?"
"No, I don't hang out with them. Certain ones I don't have any use for."
"Like Sully."
"Yeah."
"When are you going to move on?"
"Move on to what?"
"A new relationship."
"I don't know. I'm fine, don't worry." He wanted a relationship, but not a new one.
"So how is she, anyway?"
YOU ARE READING
Shattered Hearts (TP1)
Romance(Complete) Peter isn't prepared for the reality of another man spending the night with his ex. He should be, but his heart has never let her go. Peter, who was abandoned by his father as a young boy, will do anything for his kids. He won't stop unt...
