Before And After the Divorce - 3. Year 1 AD (After Divorce)

Things were tough for a while. I was working all the time, but I was still lonely. The only bright points were my visits with Dominic. He started getting used to just seeing me every other Saturday. As time went on, I too, was getting more used to my routine. I even tried to pick up overtime on the opposite Saturdays. It wasn't enough. I wanted companionship, but there was no time. I'd learned my lesson with the adult video stores, I hadn't gone back, even though, technically, there was nothing stopping me from going. No wife, no boyfriend, shit, for all intents and purposes, no life. That all changed about nine months after the divorce. I was visiting Dominic, and I could tell something was bothering him. And it wasn't that he wasn't seeing enough of me. At least not directly.

"What's the matter, bud? I can see something's bothering you."

He looked at the social worker and shrugged.

"Alice, could we please have a few minutes alone?"

"You know I can't to that Mr. Pastore."

"Come on. My son is hurting and he's obviously not comfortable saying anything in front of you. What do you think I'm going to do, mol... hurt my son with you in the next room? Five minutes. Please."

"I'll give you three. Once he says what he needs to, you can continue to talk with him in my presence."

"Fine. I'll take whatever time I can get."

She steps out into the kitchen. I'm sure she's listening, but Dominic doesn't realize it, so it's all good.

"So what's wrong?"

He hesitates a little, takes a deep breath, and starts.

"Mommy's been acting weird lately. I don't do anything wrong, but she yells at me anyway."

"She doesn't hit you, does she?"

"No. Well, once. But I'm scared to do anything other than sit in my room reading. I mean, that's OK, I like to do that, but when I'm around her, she, I don't know, makes up things she thinks I'm doing. I don't even know what she's talking about half the time. She's stopped letting my friends come over because she thinks they're doing things with me. Of course, they're doing things with me. We play video games, trade baseball cards, stuff like that. I don't get it. It's like she's a different person sometimes."

When he said once, he looked away. I had a pretty strong suspicion it wasn't just once but didn't say anything right away.

"I'm coming back in."

"Fine... Dominic, you can talk about these things with Alice here. It sounds like mommy's having a little trouble understanding what's going on around her. She was like that a few times before I had to move out."

"Can't you move back in? She scares me sometimes."

I look at the social worker. Apparently, the wrong parent has custody now.

"Alice, you need to look into this. If there's something wrong with Lacy making her act this way, you owe it to Dominic to make sure he's safe."

"This is the first I've heard of any issues."

"I believe you. It was obvious Dominic didn't want to say anything in front of you. But if he doesn't feel safe..."

"I know. You're right... Dominic, I heard you say she scares you. Do you think she'll ever hurt you?"

He looked at me.

"It's OK. Tell the truth, you won't be in trouble."

"Well. I said she hit me once. That wasn't true. She has hit me a few times when she thinks I did something wrong. Mostly it's just a swat on my butt, but sometimes..."

"Go ahead honey. Your dad and I are here to help you."

"Sometimes she squeezes my arms tight and picks me up so she can yell in my face."

I'm starting a slow boil, but Alice keeps a level head.

"Does this ever leave marks on your arms?"

He just nods.

"Do you have any now?"

Again, he nods. It didn't click right away, but I just realized, it's June and he's wearing a long-sleeved shirt.

"Will you let your dad and I see them?"

"I have to take off my shirt. I'm not supposed to undress in front of anybody."

"It'll be OK just this once. Do you have a t-shirt on under spiderman?"

"Yes."

"Then just taking off the top shirt isn't really undressing. I bet you're warm with it on anyway."

"Uh huh. Can you turn around first?"

"Sure."

My heart is breaking. What has Lacy been doing to him? He takes off his spiderman shirt.

"OK."

I pull up his sleeves a little until the bruises are visible. They're pretty bad.

"Oh, my God. I need to call my supervisor. I'm not sure what I should do. I can't leave him here with his mother, and I can't let him go anywhere with you."

"I understand. You can put your shirt back on Dominic. Do your arms hurt now?"

Again, he nods. Alice steps out, back into the kitchen to talk to her supervisor. Dominic moves over next to me, and I give him a hug, being careful not to touch his upper arms. Alice is gone for a lot longer than the three minutes before. I'm just sitting holding Dominic while he cries next to me. Alice comes back in.

"Mr. Pastore."

"Dylan, please."

"Yes. Dylan. My supervisor made some calls. He's sending an associate over so he can go with you and Dominic. Unfortunately, we can't let you be alone with him at this point, but he doesn't believe Dominic should be left here either. He's working on getting an emergency hearing. My associate, Tim, will stay with you and Dominic until Monday morning. Would you be able to attend a hearing Monday morning?"

"Of course."

"OK. As soon as Tim gets here, he'll leave with you and Dominic. I'll deal with talking with your ex-wife. I'm so sorry this has happened. Like I said, I had no idea."

"It's not your fault, you couldn't have known."

"Am I going home with you daddy?"

"We'll be leaving together with Mr. Tim when he gets here. It will be up to him exactly where we go. Maybe it will be a motel. It'll be like a little vacation."

"Like when we went to Sesame Place before you moved away?"

"Yes, kind of like that."

I'd forgotten about that weekend. It was probably the best three days we ever spent together as a family.

It was about twenty minutes later when Tim showed up.

"Hi Alice. Who do we have here?"

"This is Dylan Pastore and his son Dominic. Did Steve fill you in?"

"Hello Mr. Pastore. Hi Dominic. Tim Marshall. Yes, I got an overview anyway. It sounds like we have a bit of a mess on our hands."

"Yes, we do."

I happened to look at the clock.

"Um, it's after 5:00. Lacy will probab..."

"Why the hell is he still here? That bum only gets 4 hours."

"Take it easy Mrs. Pastore."

"Trentino. Ms. Trentino. Why is he still here?"

"This is my associate, Tim Marshall. He'll be leaving with Dylan and Dominic."

"What? No. Dominic can't go anywhere with that pervert. Who knows what he'll do to him."

"Ms. Trentino, you're upsetting your son. Please calm down."

"No. I want you all out of my apartment. Leave Dominic and go."

"I'm sorry Ms. Trentino. We can't do that. We've seen the bruises."

"What bruises? What are you talking about?"

"Dominic told us you grab him, pick him up by his arms and yell in his face."

"I'm allowed to discipline my child."

"That may be true, but that discipline shouldn't include real harm. We're sorry, but we can't leave Dominic with you. I can call my supervisor if you want to talk to him. He suggested Dominic leave with Tim and Dylan."

"Harm? I haven't hurt Dominic. What have you been telling them?"

Lacy grabs Dominic by the arm and twists him to face her. This time Tim speaks up.

"Ms. Trentino, let go of your son. Don't make us have to restrain you."

"My. I..."

Lacy lets go of Dominic and drops down on the couch, beginning to cry.

"I'm sorry. I don't know what I'm doing sometime. Dominic, mommy doesn't mean to hurt you."

"I know mommy."

"OK. Tim, why don't you go ahead and leave with them. I'll wait for an ambulance to take Ms. Trentino to the hospital."

She pulls Tim and me aside and tells us quietly that she'll have to call the police as well. That surprised me a little, but then I realized it had to be done.

After the three of us leave the apartment, Dominic asks...

"Is mommy going to be alright?"

"Yes, Dominic. She just needs a little help dealing with things right now. You'll see her again soon."

"OK."

"Do you have a spare bedroom Mr. Pastore?"

"It's Dylan, please. And no. I have a one-bedroom apartment."

"OK. We have a block of rooms at the Budget Motel we can all go to. We'll have to meet back up with Alice later to get some clothes for Dominic, and we'll stop at your place for you as well."

"What about you?"

"Already packed a bag before I left home. We'll have to flip a coin to see who gets the rollaway bed, but..."

"I'll take that."

"Um, OK. Are you hungry Dominic? It's getting close to dinner time."

"Yes, Mr. Tim."

"OK. What would you like? Pizza, hamburgers, chicken?"

"Mommy doesn't let me eat hamburgers."

"Mommy's not in charge today, I am. If you want a hamburger, that's what we'll have."

"Really, Mr. Tim?"

"Really. I hope you don't mind, Dylan?"

"Not at all."

"Good. I prefer my charges get a little better than the two most popular chains, we'll go to Five Guys. OK?"

"Um. Yeah. I never go there, it's too expensive."

"The state of Pennsylvania is paying for all our meals this weekend; you don't have to worry about that."

"Thanks."

"My pleasure. Let's go get our hamburgers."

It was nice to see Dominic smile.

"If you want, Dylan, we can leave your car here and pick it back up later. That way Dominic rides with only me as little as possible. That has to happen a little, but I'd prefer to keep his time away from you to a minimum."

"That'll be fine. Lead on."

After hamburgers, french fries, and sodas, Tim drove to my place. True to his word, he didn't keep Dominic and I separated, they came in with me while I packed a bag. Then we met Alice back at their office, Tim retrieved the keys to Lacy's apartment, and we went to pick up clothes for Dominic. I drove my truck to the motel, Dominic watching out the back window of Tim's car the entire time. After checking in, we sat on the ends of the beds and watched some television. Tim took charge when bedtime finally arrived. Early for him and I, a little late, but but reasonable for Dominic. 10:00.

"OK, Dominic, why don't you take your pajamas and change into them in the bathroom, brush your teeth, go pee if you need to. Your dad and I will change for bed out here while you're in there."

"OK, Mr. Tim."

Dominic went into the bathroom and Tim started to undress.

"This doesn't bother you, does it? We can all change separately if you want."

"No. It's OK."

Apparently, Tim doesn't know my entire history. I have no problem letting him change in front of me. I just hope I don't pop a boner. It's been so long since I've had any sort of sex, and I have to admit, he's one good looking man. About 6 feet tall, probably about 190 pounds, sandy brown hair, neatly trimmed moustache and beard, dark green eyes, and, shit, I'm getting hard. He stripped naked before he put his sleep shorts on. I leave my underwear on to hide my condition. Fuck, he's got a nice ass. This is going to be a very difficult weekend if he keeps getting naked in front of me. If he noticed, he was enough of a gentleman to not say anything. Dominic comes out of the bathroom in his spiderman pajamas.

"You like spiderman, huh buddy?"

"Yes Mr. Tim."

"Me too. If it's OK with your dad, maybe we'll rent the newest spiderman movie tomorrow?"

"Really? Can we dad?"

"It's PG Dylan."

"Sounds good to me."

"Thanks!!"

"OK, let's all get into bed now. Are you sure you're OK with the rollaway, Dylan? I'd be happy to take it."

"It's fine. I've slept on worse."

It's been a stressful day, at least for Dominic and me, so sleep was fast in taking Dominic over. Before I fell asleep, Tim came over to my bed to talk quietly.

"I know you were looking at me. It's OK. I understand you at least have some homosexual tendencies, if you're not actually gay. I don't mind you looking, but if you try anything else, I'll break your fucking arms. Goodnight."

"Um. Yeah. Goodnight."

Sleep was frightened away for a little while. I don't think I'll be looking in Tim's direction while we're changing again.

Next up - "The Hearing and Some Drastic Changes"