The right time

Chapter one

How do you restore something you never really had. Perhaps Charlotte and James had it all wrong when they thought they had each other. Being married for ten years and then all of a sudden everything falls apart. They live together, but they're not together. Charlotte is constantly busy with the children, and James, on the other hand, keeps himself occupied with work. It led to such a content that the kids slept on the bed with Charlotte, and by the time James came home, he'd feel too bad to chase them to their rooms. He would sleep in the living room, and the emptiness in them never bothered them. Well, up until the point where James's new assistant showed such interest in him, Charlotte made the choice to let him go. They're not in bad terms with each other, but she hated him for running after Mia a month after their divorce. They loved each other, but they became strangers to one another. With James's mother always in the picture interfering in their lives and trying to dictate to Charlotte how to raise their kids was also what promoted their divorce. James was either too scared to defend Charlotte against his mother, or he just didn't know how to handle certain things. He was used to his mother always running his life. Charlotte hasn't moved on, but James did. He always tried to find completeness in someone else or perhaps familiarity. He finally did, in a young blonde with similar features as Charlotte, but the only difference is that she's nothing like Charlotte. The little things are what counts for James. Perhaps in the way Emma ties her hair that reminds James of his ex-wife.

"Oh, I miss it when my kids were young," Charlotte says, sitting in the front porch with her neighbor watching her children play. "They grow up so damn fast."
"Embrace yourself, Charlotte," the brown haired woman says, all relaxed back. "Children are meant to grow up and leave their parents behind."
"Does it have to go so fast, though?" she giggles, holding unto her cup of coffee. "I'm going to visit my kids for a week next month. Nadine is getting married soon and asked that I come before they start with wedding arrangements."
"Good. You need the break away. When you come back, we can have a talk about setting you up n date," Tammy says. Charlotte shakes her head with an awkward giggle. "You are so lucky you're divorced. Seriously, I have no idea what I'm doing with this man of mine."
"Thanks for the comfort," Charlotte laughs and looks at her friend. "Why? What's the matter?"
"Everything is wrong," Tammy mutters.
"Sweetheart, don't give up on your marriage. Take it from me. It's not fun or freeing as they say it would be. It's lonely and sometimes awkward," Charlotte tells her and sighs. "You can't just go out and have fun or do something you want. I have to depend on friends and family to go with me."
"That's why you need a man," Tammy laughs and looks at her. "I don't know, hun. He's just not him anymore."
"We all change," Charlotte agrees and sighs unhappily. "We all..."
She cuts her sentences off and just stares off in front of her. Perhaps they did more than just change, and that's a fact. It breaks Charlotte to suddenly think about how her perfect marriage ended up in divorce. Do you stand at the altar with the intentions to get divorced one day? Why get married then?
Charlotte never thought her and James's roads would ever split, but it did. This time for real.

James stands on his porch with a glass of whiskey in his hands. His hair is black with a few grey hairs in, and where his charming six-pack use to lay is a bump, probably from eating too much takeout. Emma doesn't like to cook. She never did and never wanted to learn even when James offered to get her classes.
His brown eyes go up to meet the clouds, and as he looks down, Emma steps out of the house. She wraps her arms around him from behind and hugs him.
"One more week to go," she reminds him softly. James smiles at her over his shoulder, then looks in front of him again. He acknowledges that he's getting older and that having a child now is nuts. But she's young and when you marry a person this young, you should expect them to want to start a family with you. "Perhaps if this one is successful, we can start planning on another."
"Sounds brilliant," he chuckles and inhales deeply, placing his hand on hers that rested on his chest. "Nadine invited us to a reunion they're having the end of the month. I told her yes."
"And you didn't think about talking to me about it first?" She asks, taking her arms off him.
"They're my family, Emma. If you don't want to come, I'm okay with that, but it's my children and my family," he says and takes a sip of his glass. Emma folds her arms and goes back into the house. Perhaps she knew that she'll never be his first and only priority, but she hates to think of him making choices on behalf of her. They're misunderstanding each other. She wants him to include her, and he feels that she's trying to control him.