Free Begin Again by Evan Grace

start spending time with him, so sometimes it’ll be just you and me. Isn’t that great that we found Joey’s daddy?”
    “But what if Joey misses me ? His daddy won’t know I sing him songs when he’s sad.” Abby’s face was scrunched up with worry. “Was Joey’s daddy lost like my daddy?”
    Journey felt the familiar ache in her chest thinking about her brother, Cash. She hadn’t heard from him since right after Abby came to live with her. Who does that? Dylan at least had an excuse for his long absence from his boy’s life. Cash fucked up and lost custody of his child and didn’t seem to care about Abby at all.
    “Yes , sweetheart. We were together, but he had to leave me and we didn’t get to say goodbye, so I had no way of finding him when Joey came along. Remember what I told you about your daddy: He and your mommy did something very bad and they needed me to take care of you, but they love you very much.”
    She wanted to cry when she would remember what Abby was like when she first got her. For one, Abby had never met Journey, so she was a complete stranger to her and it was obvious they didn’t take very good care of her. She was, and still is, tiny for her age. She had nightmares and cried a lot in her sleep at first, but somehow they managed to get past that. Abby was thriving now. As much as she loved Cash, he could stay away from them as far as she was concerned.
    They reached the park ten minutes before Dylan was supposed to show up. He texted her earlier in the day saying that he would be there at six or a few minutes after. She wanted to confront him about talking to Zach, but she wasn’t going to do it in front of the kids. After they went to bed tonight, however, she was going to call him and ask him what the hell he was doing.
    She walked the kids over to a spot by the picnic tables. Handing Abby a bottle of bubbles, she sat down watching as Abby blew them and Joey tried to pop them. He was getting so big already. He could run and jump, which he did all of the time. He chased Abby, squealing and clapping his hands. He couldn’t say Abby, but he did call her “Abba.” Nan thought it was hilarious and took to calling Abby “Dancing Queen.”
    “Be careful with him ,” Journey warned Abby, who could get a little rough when they played.
    “Hi there.” Journey lo oked up to see a man with blond hair walking towards her. He was dressed in khaki shorts and a dressy t-shirt. He was good looking enough, but she wasn’t interested. Her life was too crazy and even Zach, the sweetest guy she knew, didn’t stick around.
    “Um , hey.” She stood up, still keeping an eye on her kids.
    “Are they yours?” He was looking at Abby and Joey smiling. It wasn’t creepy, but still, he didn’t know her or them.
    “Yeah, they are.” She took a deep breath and turned to him. “I don’t mean to be rude, but is there something you needed?”
    Abby brought Joey over and Journey scooped him up in her arms. Where the hell was Dylan? It was past six by now and he still wasn’t there.
    The guy had the decency to look embarrassed. “I , well…I’ve seen you here before and, well—you’re beautiful, and I just was wondering if you were single. Because if you are I was hoping to get your number. My name’s Greg, by the way.”
    Well , that was a first, and really sweet, but it was not gonna happen. She wasn’t in the right place to be dating anyone. Zach proved that, and until she and Dylan worked out visitation of Joey, she needed to stay focused on that.
    “Well, thank you , Greg, but I’m not really looking for a relationship of any kind right now and I don’t have a lot of free time. It was sweet of you to come over, though.” She figured that was letting him down gently enough.
    “Okay, well , it was nice meeting you…”
    “My name’s Journey. Nice meeting you too, Greg.” She watched him turn and walk back over to two little girls that were swinging on the swing set.
    “Who was that