| Part 3 (Bryan) I sat in the empty house, it seemed so much bigger when I sat there alone. I looked at the kids toys scattered around the house, and realised what I had lost. I looked at the phone, tempted to call, to hear their voices again. I decided not to, but it played on my mind. I sat and watched a bit of tv, when the phone rang, I ran over, maybe it was Ally, I slowed down, and let it ring a few times before I answered, not wanting to appear too eager. "Hello?" "Hey Bry, it's Nicky." "Hey." I said, disappointment clear in my voice. "Sorry to disappoint you, who did you think it was? Santa Claus?" He started to laugh. "No, thought maybe...nevermind." I said, "so, what's up?" "G and I just wondered if you, Ally and the kids wanted to come out for a day at the park with us and little Sam." "Oh, uh, we can't today." "Oh, ok. Give me a call on the mobile if you change your minds." "I can't see that happening anytime soon." I sighed. "Bry, are you ok?" He asked, concern in his voice. "Ok, ummm...promise you won't mention this to the other lads, but, well, me and Ally, well, we've decided to separate." "You what?" "Yeah, last night, well, we had another massive fight." "Every couple fights, doesn't mean -" "God, Nix, if you could've seen Jess last night. She was so scared...." I trailed off, tears threatened. I regained my composure, "we've decided it's best all round if we, well, you know." I couldn't say it, 'divorce, split up,' because it was something we had never thought possible. "How are you coping?" "Well, it happened just over an hour ago, and, I miss them so much." I sighed, "but it's for the best." "Do you want us to come around?" He offered. 'Great, a happy family, rub my nose in it.' "No, I'll be fine." "If you're sure..." Nicky sounded uncertain. "Yeah, I'll see you guys later." And I hung up the phone. My mind wandered a little, how would we tell people? Way-hey, another press field day. I decided to wait a few hours, then call them at Derek's. Just to check that they had arrived and settled ok, and well, maybe to see if she missed me as much. I dialled the number, slowly, it started ringing. I had the urge to just hang up, but held on. "Hello?" Derek answered. "Hi, it's Bryan." "Hey, how are you?" He asked me. "I'm fine." I lied. "Well, I guess you want to talk to Ally?" "Yeah, is she there?" "I'll go and get her." He said, and I heard him shout on her. "Who is it?" She asked, I thought she sounded sleepy, "is it Bryan?" A few seconds later, I heard her sniff, then, "Bryan?" "Yeah, hi." "Ummm..." An awkward silence. "I just thought I'd call and check that you guys made it ok." "Yeah, we did," she sniffed again, "I should've called when we got here, sorry, I didn't think." "That's ok. So, what have you guys been doing?" "Nothing much, I kinda crashed out on the sofa once we got here." She laughed a little, "that sofa of ours, it's not as comfy as Derek's." I laughed too. "Where are the kids?" "Watching a video in their room." I probably should explain. With Dylan being Derek's son (although he didn't know it), Derek had a room set up for him, but if Dylan stayed with Derek, normally Jess did too, so they sort of acquired a room there. "Do you want to talk to them?" "Not yet, I want to talk to you too." "Ok." "Look, Nicky called, I told him, but he's sworn to secrecy, I think maybe we should keep it quiet for the moment, just let mum and dad and the rest of the band know." "Yeah, I think you're right. When do you want to go to your parents?" I thought for a moment, "maybe, tomorrow afternoon, I could pick you and the kids up." "Yeah, ok. Hold on, here's two monsters who want to say hello." She laughed, and handed the phone over. She handed it over so fast, that she never heard me say that I missed her. "Hey Daddy!" It was Jess. "Hey." I tried to sound happy. "Are you being a good girl for your mum?" "Yeah, we were watching a video, and being quiet when she was sleeping." "That's good." "Daddy..." She started, "when are you going to come and stay?" I sighed, "I'm not." "But, I thought we were all supposed to stay in one house?" I could picture her little face frowning as she tried to figure it out. "Maybe we should come home...." "No, you stay with Uncle Derek for a while, ok hun?" She sighed, "daddy, you sound sad, mummy's sad too...maybe if you came here, you wouldn't be..." "Jess..." I heard Ally say in the background. It amazed me how simple things seemed to a kid like Jess, maybe she had the right idea, but we were too grown up to notice. I was snapped out of my thoughts as Ally came back on the phone. "Sorry Bry, I've tried to explain it to her, you know what she's like." We both laughed a little. Our Jess, optimist in training. "Daddy, you wouldn't believe how many cars Derek has, and I'm allowed to play with them too!" That was Dylan, trust it to go right over his head. I wish sometimes that Jess didn't think about things so much, be more like him. "You be good." " I will." He sighed, and handed the phone back to Ally. "Hey, so what time will you come by at tomorrow?" "Umm, after 1pm. I'll call mum and dad now." "Oh ok, I'll see you then. Miss you." She said, I wonder if it was subconscious. "Yeah, miss you too." And we hung up. |