Now, all he saw were numbers. Diaper costs, school supplies, rising rent, future weddings. He lay awake thinking about tuition, braces, prom dresses. Twelve girls, gigantic bills and his dream of having a son was still unfulfilled. He resented making the choice of settling down and living this life.
At twenty-nine, he felt ninety. The traditional life he’d once thought magical with Lucy had turned into something suffocating. He was working three dead-end jobs, watching his dreams dry up while laundry piled high and someone always needed something. This wasn’t a life—it was a sentence he wanted to escape.