Cimarron, Denver Cereal Volume 4 by Claudia Hall Christian Page A

taken any
responsibility for that child.”
    “ How can I? I’m
here!”
    “ And why is that?” Jill
asked.
    Jill let the question linger in the air.
She’d hoped beyond hope that Aden would really get what was going
on. She’d hoped Aden would be the man Sandy needed him to be. She
sighed. So far, he’s acted like a defensive addict or maybe a
twelve year old boy. But certainly not a man. When she moved to get
up he touched her hand.
    “ I get it,” Aden said. “I
went after the pedophile. Even if I feel justified in my actions,
the result is that Sandy and my kids have had to deal with the
consequences. I get it.”
    “ Your water heater broke
yesterday,” Jill said. “At your house! Remember the house you own
that Sandy now cares for along with your children, your car, and
every other thing in your life?”
    “ I knew it was getting
old,” Aden said.
    “ Flooded the basement,”
Jill said. “The neighbor called because water was running out of a
window. That’s a tidy bill. Who’s going to pay for
that?”
    “ What happened with the
money?”
    “ Sandy can’t access your
money. Even from the ATM,” Jill said. “The papers you signed only
work to make Sandy responsible for your debt, not to get access to
anything you own. Did you ask a lawyer to set them up?”
    “ No,” Aden said. “I went to
the bank and they gave me the forms.”
    “ How responsible,” Jill
said.
    “ I tried, Jill. I did,”
Aden said. “And before you say it again, I fucked up.”
    “ Well, you’ll have plenty
of money when you get out,” Jill said. “Just no children and no
girlfriend. Oh and no house. It’s either house payments or food for
your children, and food wins out.”
    “ OK, OK, ” Aden said. “How
do I make this right? I don’t want Sandy to suffer because I’m an
asshole. I don’t want to lose my kids. I hate that I’m here, that I
screwed up. I hate it. But I can’t change what I’ve done. I can
only look at what I can do next. And I have to believe that you
think there’s something I can do, or you wouldn’t be
here.”
    Jill looked him full in the eyes while she
tried to decide what to say next.
    “ Is there a reason you
didn’t heal my hand?” Aden asked. “It hurts like hell.”
    “ I don’t want you to
forget,” Jill said.
    “ What a fuck up I am? How
likely is that?”
    Jill shrugged.
    “ What can I do,
Jill?”
    “ First, you need to make a
real apology,” Jill said. “Not a ‘yes, but’ apology or an ‘it’s not
my fault’ apology. You need to listen to how awful it’s been for
Sandy and apologize for that. I don’t know if she’ll listen to you
but that’s where you start.”
    “ Ok, what’s
next?”
    “ Fix the money crap,” Jill
said. “I don’t know what that will take but fix it.”
    “ Done. What’s
next?”
    “ Sandy has started her own
salon. You promised to set up her books. She’s completely lost and
thinking of closing and moving out of state. Set up her books. Not
because you want to make her happy but because you
promised.”
    “ Ok, then what?”
    “ Fulfill the rest of your
promises. Take care of your shit. Stop being such a
baby.”
    “ Got it. If I do all of
this, what are my chances?”
    “ Three percent, maybe
four,” Jill said.
    “ So why bother? I’ve
already lost her,” Aden said.
    “ Because a real man honors
his promises and cleans up his own messes. A real man doesn’t let
other people suffer needlessly because of his own actions. Do it
because that’s who you are, not because you want to get something.
Be a better person.”
    “ And maybe she’ll come
around?”
    “ And maybe you’ll come
around.”
    ~~~~~~~~
    Monday afternoon — 4:25 P.M.
     
    “ Thanks for coming,”
Valerie said to the Denver Post reporter at the door. “They are in
here.”
    “ This is a huge story,
Val,” the man said. “I could win a Pulitzer for this.”
    Valerie nodded.
    “ And I still get a photo of
your baby bump?” Remembering