by SouthernCrossfire
Hope I can read the next chapter of this novel, and congratulations, you are a good writer!
Really good third chapter! It was nice to see his children supporting him as he worked at getting his life back. Can't wait to see what happens next. Great job! Five Stars!
One of your best chapters to date. Great work capturing the pain of his loss, the subsequent family dynamics and the rising Phoenix of a man. 5*
Rob is a decent man, questioning himself und thus having developed as a person. Still, it doesn't sit right with me that he faults himself for the breakup with Erin: "We made mistakes.". If he didn't put the whole blame on Erin in a more thorough analysis of events, that'd be acceptable.
I guess you could look at it from different angles. One could say they were young and inexperienced and their relationship was part of their maturing into adults, avoiding terms like 'mistakes', 'fault' and 'guilt'. They had been incompatible, at this point in time at least.
But even if you follow Rob's stance: Would the outcome have been different if they had converged slower? I don't see it. Erin had had come together with Donnie anyhow. Rob, being the loyal guy he is, was needing loyalty in response, He'd have made the same decision, perhaps, just maybe, with a little less heartache. Excuse me, but I still don't see Rob doing something wrong. Erin wanted to have her cake and eat it too, period.
To me Rob's self-condemnation is like a meeting point. This is less than a step apart from a mindset, chalking every "male" emotion up to something equaling to or resulting from the so called "dumb male pride". But let's face reality. Most of human emotions and feeling are just that, and not specifically male or female ones. There might be traits you could call "typical male/female", but in general these get too much attention in mass media, literature and so on. If western society continues to follow the path it walks just now, those differences will even out. Tthey are less pronounced than 150 or even 50 years ago. But generally our commonalities as human beings are overwhelming. Random individuals can be contrasting in personality much sharper than the groups "every male" and "every female" are.
Loyalty can be a character trait, deeply rooted and not just being an imprint from one's upbringing and education. Being that way often entails a sense of symmetry, or call it justice.
There are many authors and commentators on Literotica who malign the need for reciprocation of loyalty in a loyal person as possessiveness. I'm taking these accusations as insults personally.
However, I feel a keen interest in reading the remaining parts of this story- if you'll excuse me.
Sorry, TOTALLY disagree about him even considering Erin. She already exibited willingness to lie (not as bad as typical LW wives, but still) AND to cheat. WTF is wrong with him that he's even remotely willing to give her a chance?