Capturing Peace Read Free

me, and it’s not that I didn’t want that for us either. I just couldn’t imagine myself taking that leap of faith in someone else. Someone who could potentially ruin us forever.
    Coen— July 30, 2010
    “S ACO, MAN, YOU can’t let her fucking do this to you. It’s your fucking kid, she can’t just keep him from you.”
    “What am I supposed to do? Try to get custody of him from my own wife? I’ve never even seen him before. I was gone through Liv’s pregnancy, the delivery, and for the first three months of his life. No judge is going to grant me custody.”
    “So you’re actually going to listen to her? This is bullshit.”
    “I know, Steele, but I have no choice. I need to be able to see my son. I’m already waiting on this realtor to go look at some places. I’ll call you when I have news, yeah?”
    “Yeah, all right. Sorry this is happening, man, I really am.”
    “Me too.” An exhausted sigh sounded through the phone. “Later.”
    I pressed END , and looked over at Hudson. “His bitch wife is making him buy them a house before she’ll let him meet their son.”
    “The fuck?” Hudson balked, and lowered himself into a chair. “Can she do that?”
    I shrugged and tossed my phone onto my dresser. “Apparently, because he’s meeting with a realtor.”
    Our friend, Brody Saco, had gotten out of the army not even a week ago. He’d been planning on making this a career, but all that had changed when his girl from back home wound up pregnant. He’d married her immediately, and ever since then, she’d refused to see him or let him meet their son—and it’d been a year since their wedding. I could respect him for taking responsibility, but we all felt bad for him because he’d blindly gone into a shit storm with her.
    “What are you doing this weekend?” Hudson asked me, and it was then I noticed his backpack sitting at his feet.
    “Got some shoots booked in the area. You heading home?”
    He nodded and drummed his hands on the arms of the chair. “Yeah, I missed my nephew’s birthday last weekend, I need to go see him and my sister.”
    “All right, I’ll see you when you get back.”
    “If you don’t feel like coming back to base between your shoots, hit me up, you can stay at my parents’ place or something.”
    I laughed and shook my head. “Nah, I’m good. Thanks though.”
    Hudson stood to leave, but stopped at the door, and a knowing look crossed his face. “Try to get some sleep.”
    “Uh . . . yeah. I’ll do that.”
    He and I both knew that wouldn’t be happening. I was lucky if I got two hours in a night. If I didn’t have photos I could edit during those long hours, I would go insane.
    Once he was gone, I made sure everything was charged, and packed up all my equipment before heading out to the studio I had in Denver. I had a few photo shoots set up for the night—some with friends, and one with a new client. The shoots, along with the editing and wedding I was covering the next day, would keep me busy throughout the weekend. Busy was how I liked my life. How I preferred it. It kept me from remembering things I wished I’d never seen.
    T WO WEEKS LATER, I walked into the room I’d been sharing with Hudson since Saco had gotten out, and stood there staring at everything for a few minutes. Today was bittersweet. It was a day I’d been waiting on for months now, and at the same time, a day I couldn’t have prepared for.
    I’d been in the army for almost six years, and like Saco, I’d been prepared to make this a career. But with my photography business taking off and demanding more of my time, I’d had to make a decision. The army was all I’d known since I turned eighteen, but in the last year I’d started realizing that photography was more than a hobby; it was my passion.
    I thought I wouldn’t be getting out for another month or so, but I’d gotten the call this morning and had spent the next handful of hours in an office waiting, and then signing the