TEARDROP IN MY EYE -- Excerpt

THERE ARE MANY TEARS IN THIS BOOK BUT NONE GREATER THAN AFTER THIS EVENT...
When I couldn’t keep them entertained upstairs any longer and knew they needed some sort of breakfast, I brought the kids downstairs. I cautioned Chance, telling him that his father was asleep on the sofa, and we needed to be super quiet for daddy so he could sleep. I told him that we were playing a quiet game, and then a sudden flashback of my early childhood crashed into my brain. I had forgotten all about those similar days when my mother had tried to keep Lane and I hushed around our father’s hangovers.
Midway through Chance’s bowl of marshmallow-enhanced cereal, Finn started to moan in protest to, I am sure, a raging headache or just the effort of opening his eyes. Chance noticed right away. Our little boy, who had been away from his father for most of the summer, was eager to spend any moment with him. Quiet game was over.
“Daddy!” He popped up from his booster seat in the kitchen in record time.
“Chance!” I loudly whispered, but it was no use.
Running toward the sofa, Chance called out, “You awake now.”
Finn mumbled in response, “Give me a minute.”
“Daddy, I won quiet game. Arinn—”
“No.” Finn was mono-syllabic as he tried to get up.
When Chance bounced on the sofa on top of Finn, that’s when it happened. That’s when our world was turned completely upside down. That’s when I saw what I never, ever imagined I would ever be witness to.