It was only while he watched Mandy and Todd playing in a sandbox at the park that he realized he would do almost anything to keep his family together. If it took a lot more work than he should have to put into it, that was okay. There was no guideline he knew of saying Peggy had to meet him halfway. If he had to go farther than usual, so be it. He would work as hard as he could, and as long as he could to keep him, Peggy, Mandy, and Todd together as a family. He’d been trying before. Now he would redouble his efforts.
Peggy wasn’t with them at the park. She was working overtime in her office downtown to get a high profile account audited and the report written. He was certain that was where she was and that was what she was doing. It was the third Saturday in a row she’d had to work though. It was becoming tiresome. He had an idea.
“KIDS! Hey, come here a minute.” The pair in the sandbox jumped up and rushed to their father at the park bench from where he’d been sitting and watching them. They’d been playing a long while and, if the truth were told, they were a little tired of doing what they were doing. They were ready for something new. Kyle bent over to put his face on a level with theirs and spoke loud enough only for them to hear, as if he were speaking to them in confidence about something others should not know about. They crowed closer. Kyle put his arms around them.
“What do you say…we get all cleaned up,” he began, “and go get a big ol’ pizza…” He was interrupted by two toddlers squealing with delight. “AND…we take our pizza and go see mommy?” There was more cheering and gleeful dancing. The proposal was accepted, passed, and acted upon in moments.
When the three marched into Peggy’s office at lunchtime, they were greeted with tired smiles from an office full of disenchanted accountants. Kyle had expanded on his earlier idea and brought enough pizza and soft drinks for everyone. When it became clear what he had done, the entire staff enthusiastically gathered round and companionably bumped shoulders with each other as they playfully struggled for the their share of the pies.
The morale in the office rose dramatically in a very few seconds. Expressions on their faces softened even more and a warm, happy mood filled the room when the little boy and girl presented their mother with Hallmark cards saying how much they missed her. When Kyle gathered them up half an hour later, each child had been hugged dozens of times and had sat on several laps while they happily tapped keys on keyboards to see the what would change on the monitor screens. The Windows solitaire game especially fascinated Mandy for some reason.
When they left, the smiles in the office lasted into late evening. They put on a big push to finish the project. Everyone complimented Peggy on having such a fine husband and family. Some of the unmarried girls wanted to know if Kyle had a brother who was available.
Already sensitive to such things, Kyle redoubled his efforts to ensure Peggy had no opportunity to find a lover to get her revenge. It had been ten months. He’d thought she’d have let it slide into the background of her mind by now but it had not. He pictured it as a festering sore in her mind and he was doing all he could to apply a salve to the wound, hoping a healing crust would form and then fade away.