BackTrek Read Online Free PDF Page A

the rearview
mirror. She didn’t want the kids to see that she had been crying
almost constantly since Jack had left. The kids dashed across the
parking lot to Tracey’s car, opened the doors to the backseat, and
jumped in.
    “Hey guys. How was school?” Tracey asked.
    “I had a good day.” Bella exclaimed. “We were
out on the playground, and Mrs. Stevens said that we didn’t have to
run the race if we didn’t want to, so me and Paul played on the
monkey bars.” She said as she held up her hands and showed her
reddened palms to her mother.
    “Let me see!” Brandon said, as he tried to
peek around her hand.
    “What about you, Brandon? How was your day?”
Tracey asked.
    “It was okay.” He said, clearly distracted by
the palms of his sister’s hands.
    “Did you turn in your homework from last
night?” Tracey asked him.
    “Yeah.” He answered, as he shut his door.
    “Excuse me, sir?”
    “I mean, Yes, mam.” He said carefully.
    “Do you have any homework tonight,
Bella?”
    “No, mam.”
    “Do you have any homework, Brandon?”
    “No, mam.”
    “Good, how would you guys feel about going
out for pizza?”
    “Pizza? All right!” Brandon yelled as Bella
chimed in. They buckled their seatbelts as Tracey started the car.
Maybe they would understand, she thought. She knew that if she
bribed them with pizza it wasn’t going to hurt anything. It might
just make it easier for them to deal with the news that she had to
share. She knew how much they loved their father, and already they
missed him because he spent so much time with his job. She took a
deep breath and fought back the tears that wanted to come.
    When they reached the restaurant, Tracey
requested a booth near the rear. She did her best to smile and make
light hearted chit chat with Bella and Brandon while they waited
for the pizza. She couldn’t help but be relieved when the waitress
brought out the steaming pizza. She blinked back tears as they
shoveled the pizza into their mouths. She nibbled on her
slice.“What’s wrong, Mommy.” Bella asked, as she chomped into her
last piece of pizza.
    “Finish your pizza sweety, and I’ll tell you
and Brandon at the same time.”
    “Is Daddy okay?” Brandon asked, his eyes
suddenly lit up with concern.
    “Yes, your Daddy is fine. But he and I have a
few problems that we need to work out.” She began, and realized
that now was as good a time as any. “Your Daddy needs some time to
work out his love for us. It’s not that he doesn’t love us, guys,
it’s just that with his work and all, it’s real hard for him to
show it. He and I discussed it, and we decided that he needed to
take a little vacation for a while.” She had promised herself that
she wouldn’t tell them that he was on a vacation, but now it was
too late. It had seemed to be the softest way to put it, and it
came out of her mouth so easily.
    “Why couldn’t we go?” Brandon asked almost
immediately.
    “It’s kind of like a vacation, but not
really. He has some things that he has to work out, and he needs to
be alone to do that, sweety.”
    “You threw him out, didn’t you Mom.” Bella
shot at her.
    “No honey. Not really.”
    “Mom! You threw Dad out?” Brandon’s eyes
swelled in fear.
    “Calm down, Brandon. It’s not like you guys
aren’t going to see him. Once a week, when he’s not to busy, he’ll
come over for dinner, or take you guys to the movies or
something.”
    “But Mom, you threw Daddy out? How could you
do that? What’s wrong with Daddy? He doesn’t beat you like that guy
did on COPS the other night. Has he got a girlfriend?” Brandon
asked, clearly puzzled as to why his Daddy had to go.
    “No, no, sweety, it’s nothing like that. Your
Daddy had some problems related to when he was still in the Army,
and he just needs a little time to straighten things out, that’s
all.” Tracey tried to comfort him, but the pain in his eyes was
evident. Though in her own eyes, it had seemed like Jack never