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choice?
    Panic set in.  I didn’t know what to expect when
Julie noticed Alissa’s presence in my house.  I turned to do some damage
control and noticed that Alissa wasn’t in the room.  A slight shuffling noise
from the kitchen told me that that’s where she was.
    I huffed and ran my hands through my hair.  Her
visit was the last thing that I needed.  “What are you doing here, Julie?”
    Within seconds, tiny arms tangled themselves
around my legs.  “Daddy!” Jasper cheered.
    I bent down and picked him up for a big hug and
said, “Hey, buddy.”  I turned to Julie.  “What’s going on?”
    She never showed up unannounced.  Since she’d left
me, the extent of our interactions had been while exchanging our son or over
the phone.  It sounds bad, I know— exchange .  In essence, that’s what it
was.
    Somewhere between trades , we’d manage to
discuss everything pertaining to our son with the very few occasions where we’d—meaning I —discussed our pending divorce.  The times when I’d bring up the topic had
always led to countless excuses, from losing the papers, to forgetting them,
which meant no resolution.  Needless to say, I was still a married man and
slowly losing my battle at remaining sane where she was concerned.
    “Can you give Mommy and me a minute, champ?” I asked
and set him down.
    “Okay, Daddy.  I’ll go get me a juice,” he said
before running off.
    “You know where they are.”  And then I realized
that I had inadvertently caused a meeting that I now hoped wouldn’t blow up in
my face.
    I waited, willing Julie for a response to my
earlier question but all I got was a sniffle and then I noticed her eyes.  They
were bloodshot.  “We need to talk,” she said.
    My mind gravitated toward the worst.  “Julie,
what’s going on?”  She couldn’t answer me fast enough and after several
seconds, I pushed.  “Julie!”
    “I’m pregnant.”
     
    I heard the crash of broken glass which caused my
head to snap in the sound’s direction.  Shit!   Alissa stood in the
kitchen’s entrance, looking pale.  Jasper was there holding her hand, looking
down at the mess.
    My son tugged on Alissa’s hand and handed her his
juice box when she looked at him.  “I know where the broom is, Allie.  I’ll go
get it,” he said and rushed off.
    I stepped toward her when Jasper was well out of
earshot.  “Alissa,” I said but the shake of her head told me she didn’t want me
near her and I halted all forward progress.  “It’s not-”
    “Who’s this?” Julie nodded in Alissa’s direction. 
“You freaked out about Todd but you have a slut?”
    “Excuse me?” Alissa said from her crouched down
position as she had started to gather up the larger pieces of glass.
    My eyes bugged out of my head when Jasper returned
and was handing the tools over to Alissa.  I couldn’t let the kid bear witness
to this fiasco of a first meeting.
    “Jasper, go to Daddy’s room, please,” I said.  He
smiled up at his new friend whose face had regained its coloring but showed a strained
smile directed at my little guy.  He grabbed his juice box from the side table
and ran off.
    I reared on my son’s mother and said, “I hope that
you didn’t drop by just to grace me with that news.  We both know the kid isn’t
mine since I haven’t touched you since before you left me.  Now, get out!”
    “But-”
    “You know your way out unless there’s more,” I said.
 “And Julie, I don’t want to hear from you unless it concerns our son or those
divorce papers.  If you’re looking for sympathy, you’re knocking on the wrong
door.”
    “Who is she?”
    “I-” Alissa began.
    I held my hand up to cut her off.  “It’s none of
your concern, Julie.  As for-”
    Alissa came up beside me, grasped my hand and
said, “I’m his girlfriend.”
    I looked over at her with a dropped jaw and she
offered me a small yet strained smile much like she had to Jasper but the small
gesture told