Free Amongst The Flames: A Contemporary Christian Romance (Embers and Ashes Book 1) by T.K. Chapin Page A

down.
    “Thanks,” I said as I picked up my fork. Looking back over at Tom, I said, “It doesn’t help matters that you hate me.”
    “She doesn’t care. If anything, I think that helped her want to marry you more so in the beginning. She was just rebelling against her father!”
    “She wasn’t that defiant, Tom. Jeez,” Cindy added.
    After finishing a few bites and sharing a silence, I asked, “When was Megan supposed to tell me?”
    “She was supposed to tell you the day after she arrived in Seattle.”
    Shaking my head, I thought about Megan. She hadn’t let me know at all what was going on. She just took our children and left across the state with the plan to stay away from me… How ridiculous and immature of her. “I don’t get why she couldn’t just talk to me when she was here…”
    “I don’t know,” Tom said with a shrug.
    “She was scared,” Cindy added. “Telling your husband that you need time apart isn’t exactly easy.”
    “Well, it’d be easy to address the actual issues at hand if she was here. Not run away from them.”
    “Well, that’s not how it is. You two need to figure it out and fix it. Marriage is forever, Cole! Again, I say it’s not at the whim of how you are feeling in the moment. It’s a commitment to God!” He slammed his fist against the table.
    It was difficult to swallow the bite of food that was in my mouth at the moment those words rolled off Tom’s mouth. This man, who was nothing but an arrogant jerk to me since I married his daughter, was trying to tell me about God? “You haven’t been to church in over a year Tom, don’t lecture me about God!” I retorted.
    Seeing his eyes gloss over with anger, I smiled a little inside. I got to him with that comment. Finally, I got to him! He cleared his throat and took a deep breath. “My lack of church attendance doesn’t change God or what he instructs us to do in the Bible.”
    “Like how he says not to forsake the assembly?” I took another jab, edging his anger on purposefully.
    “Look here, you little punk! I won’t let you talk down to me anymore in my own house! I invited you over here to help you and you’ve done nothing but disrespect me. Get out of my house, now!” he demanded shouting.
    Cindy said with a soft voice, “Tom…”
    Standing up, I tossed my napkin down on my plate and looked over at Cindy. “Thank you for the meal. I think it’s best if I go now.” I headed to the front door.
    As I opened the door to leave, Tom said from the dining room table, “You can find a new station to work at! You made your bed and now you can lie in it!”
    I slammed the door behind me as I darted down the sidewalk towards my truck. Coming over here was a mistake, I thought to myself as I climbed into the cab. It felt good to finally get to the guy after so many years of dealing with his attitude problems towards me. Even if it was at the cost of my job.
    It was about a twenty five minute drive back to my place and a million things ran through my mind during that time. How far back did Megan plan on leaving me? I recalled her words about planning to go see her sister. Why did she defend herself when I asked why she was going to see her sister… She was so bold in her outright lie to me. What could she possibly say? My heart raced as adrenaline coursed through my body. I felt so angry and betrayed by my wife, I could barely stand the thought of speaking to her, let alone getting to the bottom of so many unanswered questions.
     

     
    Later that evening as I was writing down key topics and questions I wanted to discuss with Megan, my phone began ringing. I sat back on my couch as I saw it was her, but this time it was a video call. My heart twisted in my chest as a lump formed in my throat. Trying the best I could, I cleared my mind of the issue, as the children were probably on the other end wanting to see their dad. Not wanting to see the broken, furious and angry husband of their mother.
    “Da-da!”