Don't You Go and Carry On With Your Life

Alex

I watched as Jack and Kellin left the house slamming the door behind them. The silence that followed afterwards made me feel a little uneasy. Of course I didn't want our family to split. I made the mistake of cheating on Jack with my old secretary a few times, but I didn't think he would actually ask for a divorce ever. I didn't mean for it to become any more serious between Tay and I. I was just so sick of always arguing with Jack about working so much. I began staying late at my office to avoid him and that’s when Tay and I became close and started having the affair.

The day after Tay and my trip together, I felt so guilty that Jack found out I was cheating. I decided to apologize to him and call things off with Tay. As soon I made it home and before I could apologize, Jack handed me divorce papers. I was caught off guard and became angry. I tore the papers telling him that we were not getting a divorce, but he handed me a second set of papers he had waiting. I took the papers and left out of the house. I went straight to Tay's house planning on breaking things off with her to prove to Jack that I was serious about wanting to do better. Before I could get to the point and tell Tay that I didn't want to sneak around with her anymore she told me that she was pregnant. Hearing that took the air out of my lungs. She cried and begged me not to leave her. She said she didn't want to do it alone and of course I wasn’t going to let her.

I took finding out that Tay was pregnant as a sign that Jack and I should actually go through with the divorce. It didn't seem like a coincidence that this was all happening at once. Plus I needed to man up and be there for my new child.

I knew that telling Jack and Kellin that I got Tay pregnant would tear them apart, so I kept it to myself. I didn't know how long I could do that for, but I was going to keep it a secret for as long as I could. Kellin already hated me after finding out that I cheated. That's part of the reason I wanted to keep Kylie. She was the only one left in our family who didn't hate me over this. That's partly due to the fact that she didn't understand what was happening.

"It's just me and you, baby girl." I sighed and carried Kylie into the living room with me. I sat down on the couch and Kylie jumped out of my lap and ran towards the front door.

"Kylie!" I called out to her.

"Huh?" I heard her say.

"Come back over here."

I waited a few seconds and I got up to see what she was doing. She was looking out of the window next to the front door.

"Kyls they went bye-bye." I told her and she continued to look out of the window. "They'll be back later." I lied. That was the only way we could get her to not worry when someone left the house without her.

"Otay." She mumbled and walked towards me. I picked her up again and walked towards the kitchen.

"How about we get cookies?!" I said and she smiled.

I went into the pantry and grabbed two chocolate chip cookies for us. Then my phone began ringing in the living room. "Can you hold mine for me while I go get that?" I asked and she nodded.

I sat Kylie down and went into the living room to get my phone. I looked at the screen and saw it was my friend, Rian, calling.

"Hey Ri." I answered.

"Hey, I was calling to see if you had some free time right now so we can go over the divorce case?" He asked. Rian was a close friend of mine and he also worked at the law firm with me. He was one of the best lawyers there, like me, so I only trusted him to represent me for Jack and my divorce case. I could have represented myself but I need Rian to act as a character witness. Jack's lawyer would most likely try to paint me as a bad person.

"Yeah, actually you can come over now if you want. Jack is staying with his mom so it's just Kylie and I." I told him.

"Yeah I can bring Liam to play with her." He suggested. Liam was his three year old son he and his husband, Zack, adopted together.

"Yeah that's fine." I said and we both said bye and hung up.

"Kylie." I called out to see where she was.

"Hmmm?" I heard her say from the kitchen. I got up and found her going through the cabinets. Jack asked me so many times to put locks on the cabinets for her and I kept forgetting.

"Stop it before you hurt yourself." I scolded her. I picked her up and carried her back into the living room with me. "Where's my cookie?" I asked and she shrugged. "Did you eat it?" I chuckled.

"No!" She said she said quickly. She looked so guilty.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

"Yeah right. I know it was you my little Cookie Monster." I began to tickle her sides. She laughed and tried to fight back my hands. I stopped and kissed her on the cheek. "See, I knew you could never hate me." I told her. "You do still love me, right?" I asked and she nodded. "Good." I said and sat her down.

I turned to Bubble Guppies for her and we watched TV until Rian rang the doorbell. I got up and went to open the door for him and Liam.

"Hey!" Rian said.

"Hey, let’s go to my office." I said and he nodded. We took Kylie and Liam, along with their toys, with us so we could keep an eye on them.

"Alright let's finish going over what you want to keep and what Jack can keep." Rain said.

"I just want to keep the house and split custody of the kids." I immediately answered.

"Uhh okay that's going to be a little hard since you had an affair. I know his lawyer is going to use that excuse to try to get everything Jack wants." He sighed. "Maybe we can bargain. Like if Jack gets soul custody of the kids then you can keep the house or vice-versa." He suggested.

"Shit, yeah you're right, that's probably the only way we'll get him to agree." I said. "Split custody is more important to me than the house so I'll give it that."

"Okay I'll tell them we're willing to compromise for that. Just make sure whatever you do, you do not mention or answer any questions about Tay at all. Don't mention that you're still seeing her or anything. I'll say that they're deflecting if Jack's lawyer tries to bring her up."

"Yeah make sure we leave her out of it." I agreed.

"Is she going to move in with you?" Rain asked.

"Yeah she's. . . Going to move in with me." I sighed. I still haven’t told Rian the reason I was still with her.

"Well since Kellin is sixteen he gets a pretty big say so in who he’ll get to live with. He's most likely going to ask to stay with Jack especially after he finds out Tay's going to be living with you. But the Judge might say he has to spend a few weekends out of the month with you. So you and Jack will most likely be fighting over the right to keep Kylie."

"Huh?" Kylie said when she heard her name.

"He's not talking to you, silly." I said. I wanted to have shared custody of both Kylie and Kellin but I didn't think about Tay being in the house too. She was only two months pregnant meaning she would soon be showing and I didn't want Kellin or Jack to know yet.

"I think it's best if I just have visitation rights for Kellin right now and not have to have him on the weekends." I said and Rian frowned.

"Why? That's giving you less custody and the judge might take it as you don’t want to spend much time with you kids." He said. I needed to tell Rian about Tay for him to understand.

"It's just . . . Tay’s pregnant." I sighed.

"She’s what?? Alex please tell me you're joking."

"I really wish I could."

"And you haven't told Jack?" He questioned.

"No and I won't ever tell him. It might literally kill him."

"He's going to find out one day, Kellin will too.”

"Yeah but hopefully that day won't be any time soon.” I said and he gave me a scolding look. “Fine, I’ll work towards trying to tell Kellin at least. Hopefully I can beg him not to tell Jack, or at least bribe him.”

“Good, so I’m going to continue with bargaining the house for joint custody of the kids.” He said and wrote it down in his notes.

"Do you think I'll have to pay Jack alimony?" I asked.

"Do dogs bark?" He asked sarcastically and I glared at him. "That means ye-"

"-I know it means yes. Just tell me how much I'll have to give him." I huffed.

He grabbed my calculator on my desk and turned it on. "Alright how much do you make a year?" He asked.

"How much do you make?" I asked him back.

"Alex I'm not trying to compare salaries with you. Just tell me how much." He chuckled.

"One-hundred and forty-eight thousand a year." I answered.

"Ha I make a thousand more than you." He teased.

"Only because you're a kiss-ass. Now calculate how much." I said and he started doing the math.

"Well that means you bring home around ten-thousand a month after taxes?" He asked.

"Give or take."

"Okay well then you'll have to give him uhhh maybe two thousand a month."

"Two-thousand?? Out of my check??"

"Give or take."

"Why would I have to give him that much?"

"Well it's most likely going to be listed as reimbursement alimony. Since Jack worked while you went to Law school, he made it possible for you to get where you are. Also he doesn't have a job now so you have to pay him back plus help him live comfortably like he was while you two were still together." He explained.

"And that's two-thousand dollars? Jesus. And I have to pay this until he gets remarried?"

"Yep basically. Let's just hope you get some sort of custody because that’s going to go up with child support." He said and I put my head down on my desk.

"I might as well hand him my whole check." I said dramatically.

"Nah I'll help you try to help you lower that amount as low as we can get it."

"I really hope so, Ri. I think we should call it a night. My head is starting to spin." I complained.

"Alright. We can pick back up tomorrow during our lunch break."

"Yeah yeah of course."

He picked up Liam and I picked up Kylie walked them to the front door.

"Oh one more thing I should tell you, the judge for Friday morning is Judge Harrison and you know she's not sympathetic to parents who commit adultery. Which means I'm going to have to work extra hard to show her that you're still a good person and parent. Just make sure you don't get angry or even speak out of turn because she won't hesitate to act in favor of Jack." He warned.

"Ugh it would be her. I guess I’ll be fine as long as Jack or his lawyer doesn't get under my skin. I wish I knew the lawyer he hired."

"I'm sure it's no one better than me." Rian said smugly and I laughed.

"That's true. I’m sure this case will be a piece of cake." I said confidently.

Notes

I hope this makes your Monday better!