Page 33 of Echoes of Eternity
“What on earth are you talking about, Emily?”
“You know what, Ryan?” She dropped her arms to her sides. “I’m tired of trying with you.”
Walking out of the room, she shut the door quietly behind her. As she walked the hallway and wiped her eyes, she begged God through prayer for her husband to see the life he was missing at home.
After dinner, Ryan and his brother went into the back yard. Hanging up the dart board on the tree, they began a game of darts and listened to some music.
“You okay, Bro?” Jason seemed to sense the difficulty Ryan was facing in life. First when he got home and now.
Shrugging a shoulder, Ryan threw a dart as he revealed the part he wanted to about his life. “Drama in paradise.”
His brother laughed. “What do you mean?”
Glancing over his shoulder at Chloe playing in the dirt a few yards away, Ryan looked at Jason. “Enjoy her being three years old . . . if you can.”
“Kind of hard to do. She still struggles to use a toilet.”
“I’m serious, Brother. Enjoy it. My Lizzy is a different girl altogether. It’s like she’s a super immature adult. It sucks.”
“What happened?”
Stepping aside to let Jason throw his darts, Ryan sighed. “She got caught vaping in the bathroom at school.”
Jason’s dart missed the board and stuck in the tree. “No!”
“You have two more darts.”
“No, I meant about Liz.” He turned to Ryan. “So much for a fresh start.”
Ryan nodded, pain cutting into his heart at his brother’s words. “It sucks. And now Emily is mad at me, claiming I’m not around, and she’s upset about how much work I’m doing.”
“Have you spoken to God about it?”
“Some, but not really. I can pray all day, but that’s not going to change my circumstances.”
“Right. Prayer doesn’t change circumstances. It’s obedience and it changes us.”
“Can we not get into a philosophical conversation right now?”
“No problem.” Jason threw his next two darts. “Bill keeps bugging me about the grill and Dad. He seems like he’s just waiting for something to surface. I don’t get that guy’s deal.”
Ryan’s heart dipped as they both collected their darts from the board. “That’s odd.”
“It’s too bad Dad isn’t around. He’d know just how to handle it all.”
Ryan let out a laugh and shook his head, then threw his first dart.
Jason tilted his head. “What’s funny about that?”
Uneasiness filled Ryan as he fought against the desire to tell his brother the truth. “Uh, I just don’t know if Dad was the greatest of guys, man.”
“What? Why?”
He’d said too much. Stopping before he threw another dart, he looked at Jason. “I’m just saying he wasn’t perfect. Do you think he was flawless?”
Jason relaxed. “No. Of course not.”
“Well, that’s all I meant. We can’t idolize the guy just because he died. There was a lot we didn’t like.”