Consequences ( Book 3 in the Hijacked Of Innocence Series)

Chapter 67. Paradise Lost???

Lloyd looked down at Ericka. "What do you mean, she doesn't listen? Is that true Ericka?"

Ericka nodded no. "Mommy is mean." 

" I told her that she could take three outfits and the minute I turned my back, she packed everything from her closet into that bag." 

Lloyd looked around the apartment, then at Tanya. "I really think you should move back to the beach house. It would make life much easier for everyone, especially the kids."

"That all you have to say?"

Lloyd shrugged his shoulder.  "What do you want me to say.  She misses her home and her Dad."

"Tanya eyed him suspiciously."So you keep saying. Did you hear from Eric?"

"Tanya, he doesn't want to be heard from. You said you wanted space so he is giving you that. What else do you want now?"

"Why are you angry at me Lloyd? Did I do something to you?"

Lloyd sighed. "I am not angry at you Tanya. I just don't understand you. You don't know what you want or who you want."

"What?"

"Look,  I am frustrated just looking on from the outside. I can only imagine what your indecisiveness is doing to Eric. One minute you can't do without him and the next minute you want nothing to do with him."

"You are right, you don't understand. No one does."

Their eyes met and locked. His intense stare reminded her of Eric. "Make me understand."

Tanya quickly looked away. "Ericka tells me that she spoke to her father. Is she fantasizing or has she spoken to him?"

Lloyd closed his eyes. He was obviously caught in the middle.

"Yes she spoke to him."

"When Lloyd? So you lied to me?! I thought you were the one person in that family that I could trust."

"Look, you and Eric have me caught in the middle. You are asking me not to tell him certain things and I have honored your request. He has also ask me not to tell you certain things and I must honor his request too. I did not lie to you. I just did not offer up any information."

"So you know where he is and you dont think that I should know?"

"No, I did not say that Tanya. He is on the move all the time. He doesn't stay in anyplace too long. He calls from time to time and yes he has spoken to Ericka and EJ."

'He spoke to the baby too? Is that why EJ has been singing Dada recently?'

"Does he know that EJ is saying Dada?"

"Yes, EJ enjoys talking to his father. And yes he calls Eric Dada." 

"Did you tell him anything about ... me?"

"No Tanya I said nothing.  You asked me not to say anything and I have honored your request." 

Tanya began to tear up. She quickly wiped her eyes. She missed Eric, but she would never say it to anyone. "I am glad he talks to EJ.  I was afraid that he would miss that EJ is talking."

                                                                                              **************

Eric was hold up in a bed & breakfast somewhere in Louisiana. He had worked for a month in Guatemala, building homes for people who had lost their homes to floods. He was now back in the United States doing the same thing.  A storm had  passed through leaving  devastation behind.  Seeing the condition that most people lived in humbled Eric considerably. He thought how unfair life was. Some people had so little while others like him had so much.