Vagrant
Aleph Null
- Joined
- Jan 15, 2002
- Posts
- 4,372
~This thread is closed for myself and Sweetandsexy3~
Richard Mancini had a pretty good life. It wasn't perfect, and he knew things could have been a lot better. He was working a pretty terrible job, his wife had left him, and with full custody of his daughter, they were barely making ends meet with her college tuition.
But he grew up the son of a brick layer in New York. His grandfather had gotten on a boat in Italy to come to America with nothing and he had made a place for himself and his family. Richard had nothing to complain about in comparison, and he knew he had a lot to be happy about. First was his daughter. She was the light of his life and he wanted nothing but the best for her.
She was quiet and reserved, focusing on school to the exclusion of most everything else. She had never had too many friends, much to his worry. Silently, he had blamed much of her problems on her mother. They had met in college and while the devout woman didn't like some of his friends, or some of the things he enjoyed doing, she did seem to care for him.
That all changed when their little girl came around. Her behaviour went into overdrive. Their daughter wasn't allowed to have friends over unless she was there. When guests were allowed, the visits almost always ended poorly. Richard didn't think even a day went by as their daughter became a teenager that her mother didn't drill into her head that nothing else mattered but school. Fashion was irrelevant, wearing makeup was expressly forbidden, and dating wasn't even to be whispered about.
Richard for his part had done what he could to temper his wife's treatment of their child, but he could only do so much. He agreed that school was important, but felt that she needed social outlets as well.
Finally her behaviour became too much and they divorced. After showing the family court the evidence of this behaviour, the judge determined his wife to be psychologically abusive towards their daughter and awarded him full custody.
It had been about a year since either of them had seen or heard from his ex-wife. He knew that she had felt the two of them were a lost cause after she lost custody, and knowing her, she hadn't given either her former spouse, or her daughter a second thought.
The other day, Richard had gotten a call from an old friend of his from college. Chris Roake had been one of those friends that his wife hadn't cared for at all. He was one of Richard's best friends, but as time wore on the pressure from his wife led Richard to see less and less of Chris. The recent call had come with some bad news. Chris and his wife Nikki had split. It turns out that Nikki had been cheating on him and lying about it. To hear Chris tell it, sleeping with another man wasn't the issue. It was the lying. The lying and the emotional infidelity. If she had just come to him and explained she wanted to sleep around, and that it was nothing but a desire for variety, he would have been fine with it.
Chris had called because he had heard through mutual acquaintances that Richard had also gotten divorced. Not blaming his old friend for the time since they had last seen each other, he picked up the phone and invited him over for dinner.
Richard Mancini had a pretty good life. It wasn't perfect, and he knew things could have been a lot better. He was working a pretty terrible job, his wife had left him, and with full custody of his daughter, they were barely making ends meet with her college tuition.
But he grew up the son of a brick layer in New York. His grandfather had gotten on a boat in Italy to come to America with nothing and he had made a place for himself and his family. Richard had nothing to complain about in comparison, and he knew he had a lot to be happy about. First was his daughter. She was the light of his life and he wanted nothing but the best for her.
She was quiet and reserved, focusing on school to the exclusion of most everything else. She had never had too many friends, much to his worry. Silently, he had blamed much of her problems on her mother. They had met in college and while the devout woman didn't like some of his friends, or some of the things he enjoyed doing, she did seem to care for him.
That all changed when their little girl came around. Her behaviour went into overdrive. Their daughter wasn't allowed to have friends over unless she was there. When guests were allowed, the visits almost always ended poorly. Richard didn't think even a day went by as their daughter became a teenager that her mother didn't drill into her head that nothing else mattered but school. Fashion was irrelevant, wearing makeup was expressly forbidden, and dating wasn't even to be whispered about.
Richard for his part had done what he could to temper his wife's treatment of their child, but he could only do so much. He agreed that school was important, but felt that she needed social outlets as well.
Finally her behaviour became too much and they divorced. After showing the family court the evidence of this behaviour, the judge determined his wife to be psychologically abusive towards their daughter and awarded him full custody.
It had been about a year since either of them had seen or heard from his ex-wife. He knew that she had felt the two of them were a lost cause after she lost custody, and knowing her, she hadn't given either her former spouse, or her daughter a second thought.
The other day, Richard had gotten a call from an old friend of his from college. Chris Roake had been one of those friends that his wife hadn't cared for at all. He was one of Richard's best friends, but as time wore on the pressure from his wife led Richard to see less and less of Chris. The recent call had come with some bad news. Chris and his wife Nikki had split. It turns out that Nikki had been cheating on him and lying about it. To hear Chris tell it, sleeping with another man wasn't the issue. It was the lying. The lying and the emotional infidelity. If she had just come to him and explained she wanted to sleep around, and that it was nothing but a desire for variety, he would have been fine with it.
Chris had called because he had heard through mutual acquaintances that Richard had also gotten divorced. Not blaming his old friend for the time since they had last seen each other, he picked up the phone and invited him over for dinner.
