Prodigal Son Read Online Free PDF

been so miserable in his life. It reminded him of the days when he could barely read, when it seemed as though everyone else knew the answers except him. It was a terrible helpless sensation. But this time he didn’t strike out at anyone. He just felt like he was dying inside, and losing everything that mattered to him. His career, his wife, and his boys. She had delivered a hell of an ultimatum, and her message to him was clear.

Chapter 2
    The weekend was as awful as they both expected. It was the undoing of a life, like a movie in reverse. They put the house in the Hamptons on the market, at a painfully low price. But Peter wanted to sell it soon. He photographed all their artwork, and planned to call their art dealer on Monday. He was also going to contact Sotheby’s and Christie’s to see about auctioning whatever he could. He was willing to sell to whomever would pay the highest price. All the art and objects they had collected over time were being dispensed with. The beach house they had loved and where they had had such good times would belong to someone else.
    Peter left the Rolls and the Ferrari at the car dealership and was startled when Alana refused to give up the Bentley. She said she was sending it to L.A. Her father was paying for the transport, and offered to buy the car from Peter, which he wouldn’t agree to. He didn’t want her father paying for anything, so he said she could keep it, which was a hardship for him since they needed the money. She wanted it in California, and Peter didn’t argue with her. He hated making her unhappy. The atmosphere between them had grownchilly, and had been ever since their conversation on Friday, when Alana had made her position clear. She was on the phone with her father every five minutes now, and she was planning to leave for L.A. the following weekend with the boys. She didn’t ask Peter how he felt about it—she announced it to him as a fait accompli.
    They had left Ben and Ryan in the city, to play at their friends’ houses, while Alana and Peter went out to Southampton to deal with the house and cars. They didn’t want to use the beach house since it was being shown for a broker’s open on Tuesday, so they went home, and Peter drove them back to the city in silence. He was feeling defeated by the decisions she was making. It was a painful process, and they kept to themselves in separate rooms on Sunday, and then took the boys out to dinner. Ben, their nine-year-old, was excited about living with Grampa Gary in his guest house. At fourteen, Ryan was unhappy to leave his friends, since he had just started high school at the Lycée. And Ryan was visibly worried about his father. After dinner, they played a game of pool in the game room while Ben went to watch a movie in their projection room with his mother.
    Ryan startled his father with a painful question halfway through the game. “Are you and Mom getting divorced?” Peter didn’t know what to answer but put a good face on it for his son’s sake. He had been asking himself the same question for two days, since Alana told him she was leaving and taking the boys to L.A., and he could sense that she had no intention of coming back to New York anytime soon, if ever.
    “Not that I know of,” Peter said honestly, not totally reassuring him. “Your mom’s probably right. Things are going to be a little tough here for a while, and you’ll be comfortable with Grampa Gary.”
    “What about you, Dad?” Ryan looked worried. “Where are you going to be? Will you come out after you do everything here?”
    “Of course.” Peter smiled at him and put an arm around his shoulders, but Ryan wasn’t fooled. “I just can’t come to L.A. yet. There’s too much for me to take care of here right now. And I feel a little weird letting your grampa take care of us. That’s my job. I just have to figure out how I’m going to do it. But I’ll be there as soon as I can.”
    “I want to stay with you,” Ryan said