Shattered Dreams Read Online Free Page A

character’s name: Emma Peel
= M Appeal = Man Appeal. I think that Emma, my wife, has a lot of
man appeal. 
    A few months later, I was running late to
meet her for lunch. I was running down the sidewalk towards the
restaurant as she was coming out. She dropped her shopping bag and
bent over to pick it up. I was close enough to her to hear some
creeper say, “Hey baby, mind bending over again? I wasn’t quite
ready.” The creeper is holding up his cell phone to take a picture.
“Hey, jerkoff, take a picture of this!” Emma told him, holding up
her middle finger.  
    I yell for her so she knows I am here.
“Someone picking on you, Em?” I ask. 
    The creeper leaves. Quickly. 
    “ Not anymore,” she says,
smiling.  
    James stirs and Emma wakes immediately. I am
lying on my side, beside them, and just watch. She attends to James
before she even notices I am watching her.  
    “ Hi.” 
    I bend down to kiss her. “Hi,
yourself.”  
    “ What are you doing?” she
asks, picking James up and positioning him for his
feeding. 
    “ Watching my two favorite
people sleep.” 
    “ Nothing better to do with
your time?”  
    “ No, there is nothing better
to do than to watch you and our son.” 
    “ Would you mind getting me a
diaper and wipes? 
    I’ll be right back.” I get up from the bed
and walk out of the room. 
    “ And get a burp cloth, too,
please.” 
    “ Anything else while I’m
up?” I ask, poking my head back into the bedroom. 
    “ I could use some water, if
you don’t mind.” 
    “ Water, wipes, diapers, and
a burp cloth, got it. Be right back.” 
    Later in the week, my mom and dad come to
visit for a week and they automatically fall in love with James.
Dad and I put James’ train set up in his bedroom. When I was a
little boy, I had a train set that ran around the perimeter of my
bedroom just below the ceiling on the wall. It took some time but
we got the train track shelf mounted to the wall and the train runs
perfectly and continuously around James’ room. James is too young
to appreciate this train set, but when he gets older, he will love
it. Emma let me decorate his nursery in trains. She wanted some
little fuzzy bears, but she eventually and reluctantly agreed to
the train theme.  
    “ Son, it looks wonderful,”
my dad says as his eyes travel around the room. 
    “ Wow, Max, I can’t believe
it, but it looks great,” Emma says, walking further into the
nursery.  
    “ This is just like the one
Max had as a little boy.” My mom smiles in
appreciation.  
    Mom is holding James and we are looking
around the room at the moving train. 
    I look around the room and
think, This is a great-looking
nursery.   
    “ James, do you like your
bedroom?” Emma asks as she turns him around to see everything. He
is still too small to know what’s going on, but he looks up towards
the ceiling at the lights.  
    We all sit down at dinner and have mom’s
homemade potato soup with bacon and cheese topping.  
    “ I forgot how good this soup
is, Cheryl,” Emma says, spooning more soup into her
mouth.  
    “ Thank you,
Emma.” 
    “ Mom, you outdid yourself,”
I say, scraping the bottom of my bowl. 
    “ Max?” my dad asks
seriously. 
    “ Sir?” My dad is a retired
Army Command Sergeant Major. I always answer him with
respect.  
    “ Did you find out what the
meeting is about tomorrow?” 
    I look around the table. Emma looks up at me
and stops eating. My mom also looks at me with concern. “No, I
haven’t heard anything. I guess I’ll find out tomorrow.” I smile at
my mom and then at Emma. I don’t want either one of them to
worry.  
    “ Max, what do you think it’s
about?” Emma asks, and I can hear the crack in her
voice. 
    I look into her big, clear, blue eyes. “Em,
it’s probably about stepping up security on base or something like
that. I don’t want you to worry about it.” 
    Emma looks away, breaking eye contact with
me. That is a clear