The Do Over

By Ruthann Masters

Where do broken dreams go? The promise of a life of love and adventure turns into a trip to nowhere. Can Kate muster the courage and strength to turn things around? Her marriage is in shambles, her teenagers are a mess. She is barely hanging on. Can a broken home and heart be mended? Can Kate start over? If she reaches out to God, will he help her rein in her life that is spinning out of control or is it too late?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Covenant Books, Inc.
• Release date: Aug 16, 2022
• ISBN: 9781638858126

Book preview

Table of Contents

Cover

Title

Copyright

Acknowledgments

Preface

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

Chapter 29

Chapter 30

Chapter 31

Chapter 32

Chapter 33

Chapter 34

Chapter 35

Chapter 36

About the Author

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The Do Over

Ruthann Masters

ISBN 978-1-63885-811-9 (Paperback)

ISBN 978-1-63885-812-6 (Digital)

Copyright © 2022 Ruthann Masters

All rights reserved

First Edition

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods without the prior written permission of the publisher. For permission requests, solicit the publisher via the address below.

Covenant Books

11661 Hwy 707

Murrells Inlet, SC 29576

www.covenantbooks.com

Dedicated to my family

This book is written for my children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren—Scott, Holly, Jacob, Amanda, Alyssa, Camila, Levi, Carsyn, Jace, Noah and Raegan—also for my beautiful daughter-in-laws Didy (Denise) and Niomi Masters. They inspire me as do my husband and my Christian friends. My grandfather shared his faith with his children, and my parents passed down their faith to my brother, John and I. I leave this book as a legacy to my family to keep our faith and share his gift, to keep his story alive for the next generation and beyond. I thank my husband, Larry, for allowing me countless hours of writing and research. Most of all, I thank God for his amazing love, his constant mercies, and my salvation.

Acknowledgments

The Lord inspired me. Holly Bozarth, Lee Ann Ott, Vicki Resch, and Niomi Masters, sisters in the Lord, advised and encouraged me.

Preface

I never intended to write a book, but I had an idea that wouldn't go away. For weeks I wondered how many people would love to have a second chance, a do-over. I know I would. From there I just started writing. I don't consider myself a great writer, but I have a great message.

My advice would be to read my book with your favorite Bible translation. The NIV or the RSV or the NKJV would be a good companion. Because of the copywrite laws, I had to use the King James Version in my book. You are going to see a lot of names below, but don't fear. Most of the names are only used once or twice. They are all special people that have impacted my life.

Main characters:

Chapter 1

How did our family get so off course? Kate thought.

My family is so divided. It seems we aren't even related. It's almost like four strangers living together. Steven is on his third job, and he hates it. He's making less and has a terrible boss who is above his pay grade. What's worse is my daughter hates me. Rebekah, almost sixteen, now insists we call her Becca. She says her name is old-fashioned and too long. She says it belonged to some character in the Bible which makes it worse.

Our son has zoned out, Jeff, seventeen. He is a loner. He says he no longer likes his peers. It seems to me he has just gotten shy. He used to like his buddies but says they are only into sports and girls now. It is a puzzle to me as he was always a gregarious kid with friends who also liked video games. He is handsome like his dad. Jeff has thick brown wavy hair that is messy on top and buzzed on the sides. He is almost as tall as Steve, his dad and my husband. He has blue eyes and long eyelashes. I should be so lucky. Jeff wears baggy clothes and says everyone does. We did crazy things when we were young, so I am hoping it's just a fad. He buys his clothes at a secondhand store. Now he spends most days tucked away in his room or in our cold basement. We are worried that he is on drugs. I don't know how to get through to him. He now gives us one-word answers and never engages in a real conversation, unless he wants something. He banged up my car last week and says the guy behind him ran into him. I bet he was texting and had to slam on the brakes. You can't punish him. If you get upset with him or put him on restriction, he just says, Whatever, and goes to his room where he prefers to be anyway. His bedroom is downstairs, and he loves being alone. His headphones plugged into his iPod are permanently attached, I think. He has decided he is a vegetarian now and won't eat meat, so I have to make special meals, but he doesn't really like most vegetables. He says his friend Noah's mom, Piper, makes him smoothies. Really. In your dreams.

Steve has kinda given up on him. As soon as he realized Jeff isn't into sports, he couldn't relate. Steve is also a book guy, and I thought he would like his interest in inventions and things of that sort. Not so. Jeff doesn't seem to be interested in anything anymore. Steve likes reading mysteries. That's what our lives have become, one big mystery—or misery. Steve works long hours and comes home, eats, and heads for the computer or a book. TV news captivates him. It bores the socks off me. Too much bad news. Too many lies. The world is going downhill so fast it is hard to keep up. Our marriage is going downhill too. We are both holding on by our fingertips.

Kids are different these days. When I was growing up, we didn't talk about sex, and now kids do it on a first date or sometimes just for recreation. So much pressure on our kids these days. The morals in our society are collapsing. It is sad to watch. I am not crazy about our kids' friends. I am trying to be a cool mom and accept them, but I can't believe how weird they look. Kids say we are out of touch. I remember in our old neighborhood there were lots of kids. We weren't tattooing our bodies or wearing rings in our noses. The Gothic look is dark and dreadful. Don't get me started on today's movies. We watched Disney flicks and loved the Mickey Mouse Club. We played outside till dark. My older sister, Georga, and I would have to be home when the streetlights came on. Back then, summers were great because we could stay out longer, and we weren't worried about being abducted. Nowadays, you have to watch your kids like hawks. Jeff tells me that he knows our parents didn't like the music we used to listen to. He is right about that. My parents listened to the crooners. Now the music is dirty and rap. They really promote sex and bash women. I make them listen to it on their headphones.

Chapter 2

Everyone's home. Dinner, come and get it.

I had set the table and fixed a nice dinner. I have insisted that we eat together every school night. Friday night, we don't eat together if the kids have a date. Rebekah says kids don't date. That too is out of date. No pun intended.

Friday night is not a school night, they remind me.

Asking the kids about their day is futile. We start dinner, and the arguments are on a high pitch. Rebekah says Jeff was supposed to pick her up from school, and he claims he was there, but she wasn't. She starts yelling at him and calling him names. Steven yells at her for yelling at Jeff. Nice meal. I wonder if anyone even knows what I fixed. I could make goulash, and no one would know. Jeff pushes his food around and says he had something similar for lunch. Oh, he does taste it. The rest of the meal, we eat in silence.

Once dinner is over, the argument over doing dishes starts up at a fever pitch. I give in, again, and tell the kids to do their homework, and I relent. I am at the end of my rope. I had a hard day at work with one emergency after another. I have an appointment in the morning to meet the school counselor to discuss Rebekah's absenteeism. It seems she has been ditching school…again. Last month, she was caught smoking in the school bathroom.

Steven is ignoring my request to talk to Jeff and see if he can engage him in a manly conversation or see if they can go to a ball game together. Anything! We have searched his room for anything that resembles drugs or smokes. Nothing. Either he is a good deceiver, or we are as dumb as a bag of rocks. A gal at work said her son was on drugs, but they didn't have a clue. She would have sworn he wasn't doing drugs, and now she is sorry she was so blind. He is still in rehab, and it's been months and is draining their savings. Ouch!

The doorbell rings. It is our next-door neighbor lady, Raegan, complaining about our dogs barking early in the morning.

Hi, Kate, she says. I hate to complain.

No, she doesn't. We have two miniature Australian shepherds, Tucker and Raleigh, brother and sister. Steve calls them Tuck and Roll. I have no idea what that means, but he thinks it's funny. My hubby is anything but funny. In the morning, when others leave for work or take out their trash, they bark. Raegan works nights as a nurse and needs to sleep in. We used to be close, but when she hit on my husband, we parted ways. That was a near miss as I think he was tempted. I could tell the way he laughed at her stupid jokes. Maybe it's because she still has that perfect, no-kids figure. No, I'm probably imagining things. She still trots over in her best attire and all made-up, always has a dumb excuse. Got your mail or Found your paper in my yard. She probably put it there. I wouldn't put it past her to get our mail from our box. I guess she is hoping he'll cave. Maybe he will, given enough time. She is divorced and has no children. She says she envies our happy home. If she only knew. She is in her late twenties, I think. Maybe Raegan can be my substitute. I can see it now. My hubby can see her without her makeup, and the kids will drive her to drink. I guess they're stuck with me. She probably is a nice person, and I am nuts.

Our dysfunctional family has been brewing for many years now. When did things go sideways? It's hard to pinpoint exactly when Rebekah decided I was the enemy. Now she is wearing a skull on her T-shirt and has dyed black hair and a skull earring. I hardly recognize her. She wears black makeup around her eyes and wants to add a ring in her nose. Who does that? Her best friend Alyssa does. Alyssa is a pretty girl. She hides behind too much makeup and her wild, unkempt blond hair. Bedhead she calls it. She has a great personality. Ugh! She used to come over a lot, but I think Becca doesn't want anyone over. I think she thinks we will embarrass her. They were both cute little girls. Rebekah knows if she puts a ring in her nose or a hole in her tongue, she loses her car.

Rebekah has gotten a tude, always has a snarly response. Her new favorite expression is as if. What does that even mean? I have to walk on eggshells when I am around her. I am constantly telling her to watch her language. She wants a tattoo, but so far, she has kept clean, or she knows she will lose her dating privileges. She probably has one in an obscure place, hidden from plain sight. Jeff says she hangs with the weird kids. I think all their friends are weird. What can I do? Rebekah was a sweet little girl who liked school and has an artistic ability. She loved to draw, horses especially. I still have one of her best drawings on our refrigerator. I'm not sure where she got the talent; Neither Steve nor I can draw a straight line. She loved books, couldn't get enough. She was a bright child and started reading early. No more. She has become less and less interested in anything we have to say or do. Now she does not want to be seen with us. When we take her to school, we have to drop her off a block away.

Six months ago, things went from bad to worse when Rebekah was caught shoplifting. She was caught with makeup and a bathing suit in her backpack. Of course, we ended up at the police station. I had never been in the police station before. The department store was serious about pressing charges, but the store manager was talked out of it due to it being Rebekah's first offense. Who knows, maybe it wasn't her first robbery job. She may have been stealing stuff for some time. We hardly know her anymore.

That same night when we got home, we discovered Jeff was gone. We were getting ready to call his friends, but just then, the police called and said we needed to come down to the police station because now they had our son. What a nightmare. I couldn't get the police to tell me what was going on. They said Jeff was okay, but that was all they would tell us. I told him I wouldn't come until he told us what was happening with our son.

Your son's been caught selling drugs, he said.

I told Steve what was going on, and he went ballistic and started yelling.

I've had it with these teenagers. I told you he was doing drugs.

He was steaming. He said we should just leave him there and let the police do their job. We started fighting again, and finally, we went to fetch Jeff.

What a joke. I honestly think Steve would have slugged our son if the police weren't standing there. We were there for hours. The charge was possession with the intent to distribute. Jeff had no record and never been in serious trouble before. He claimed he was doing it for a friend. He had under a gram, which was in his favor.

We told the police we wanted to take our son home, but they said he couldn't leave. He was still a minor, but they had to detain him. More questions and tests? They suggested we get a lawyer and sent us packing.

Jeff didn't have much to say but begged us to take him home.

Sorry, kid, his dad said. You really did it this time.

What the heck were you thinking? I asked him. And where did you get drugs?

Are you a stoner? Steve asked.

No, Dad, Jeff said. They don't call it that anyway.

Gee, if you're not a stoner, you must be a loner. Do they still call it that? Under Steve's breath, he said, No, wait. He's a loser. And he walked away.

We had to leave him there. When we got home, Rebekah was sitting on the stairs.

What happened? she asked. Where is Jeff?

Probably in jail, Steve said.

How could you leave him there? What's wrong with you guys?

Wrong with us? Steve yelled. Go look in the mirror. You look like a tramp.

I hate you, she said and ran upstairs.

Steve was yelling at her as she fled. What do you care? I thought you hated your brother. Go figure.

I went to bed. I lay there and thought about our family and what a mess we were. Steve didn't come to bed. I think he slept on the couch, if he slept at all. I don't know anymore. I was starting not to care. I was glad because I just wanted to be alone. Steve was furious, and I was exhausted. On second thought, maybe I can trade places with my neighbor Raegan.

The next day, we called a lawyer who was a friend of Steve's dad. The news wasn't great, but because Jeff hadn't had other offenses, we might be able to help him. He told us using drugs and selling them are two different things. Selling is a federal crime on school property, and the DEA would be involved.

I can tell you, the lawyer said, The police are going to grill Jeff until he divulges where he got the drugs, etc. They are relentless. Jeff will not come out of this unscathed.

The lawyer met with Jeff that afternoon. He talked to the cops too. He told the police they didn't have a case because it was entrapment, and Jeff was released. It turned out one of the guys involved was a police officer, but no one had mentioned that to Jeff. He was a last-minute stooge. He was lucky…this time. Oh, he was willing to sell the drugs all right. That was six months ago.

Jeff swears he does not do drugs and got stuck with the job as he was trying to make friends. Bad decision. Bad friends. Jeff is on probation. We all know he was a willing participant. We took away his car for six months. He was not happy and said that Rebekah is a kleptomaniac. A major fight between the two ensued.

Rebekah was yelling. What would you know about me? You are a weirdo skank.

Rebekah is on and off probation, and Steve and I are hardly talking anymore. We have to take turns taking the kids to school. We want to make sure they get there. There was no dropping them off a block away. They have to walk home. It's six blocks. I hate my life.

I am feeling particularly down tonight. I left the kitchen messy and the kids out of control, arguing about something. My husband is miserable trying to referee the kids and feeding the jumping dogs. Well, he's the one who insisted we get both dogs.

We can't leave her brother behind, he said in baby talk. So who gets stuck cleaning up after two dogs? It's easier to do it myself than to get one of the kids to help. I do love our dogs. It's just that life is too much. I am dreaming of a vacation on the beach with palm trees and waves, sun to tan my skin, and drinks with umbrellas in them. Dream on, girl. I think it's far from my reality. If I am being honest, I don't think I want to go on a vacation with our kids. How sad is that.

Steve says his boss is threatening to fire him if he doesn't get his sales numbers up. Steve is a personable guy and sometimes can be pushy but hates his boss. Steve has his nose in the computer, probably looking for a new wife. Or maybe worse. He is so secretive about what he is doing. It's a wonder we are still together. He says he's in it for the long haul. Steve is not a great communicator. I never know what he is thinking most of the time. I think Steve has started drinking. He is a closet drinker. Me, Kate, I just want to leave home. Frazzled!

Where have the years gone, and how did we end up so messed up, so damaged? I can remember when the kids were younger. Steve and I were always going out with our high school friends and getting sitters. We never left the kids alone, but looking back, we didn't spend a lot of quality time with them. We were too busy having fun and trying to get ahead. We are paying for that now. The kids spend hours on their video games or on their cell phones. We enjoy the peace and let them have at it. Now when I try to talk to them, they say they're too busy. You know what they say. What goes around comes around. I guess I need to make an appointment.

We both worked hard so we could have the big house, and eventually, we dreamed of having a pool. We ended up buying the two-story place with a bedroom downstairs, which Jeff grabbed. Weekends are for chores and getting ready for work the following week. The kids have their chores too. They have to clean their rooms and help with yard work and laundry. I have to threaten them to get any work out of them. I dreamed of owning a place like this, but really, who cares when you have a miserable life? The fancy house is just more work to take care of. Once when Jeff was cleaning the bottom bathroom, I opened the door and smelled toxic fumes. It was some cleaning agent.

What are you doing? You could kill yourself breathing this stuff.

I didn't know, he said.

Keep the door open, I told him. And go easy on that stuff.

I was glad I decided to check on him. He had his music blasting and was working away…clueless. Kids.

I work at the local veterinarian's hospital as the office manager and stay busy all day. I worked there since high school, started as the receptionist. It is my escape. I get free vet care for the dogs, and I love the people I work with. It's a carefree atmosphere. We work hard and laugh a lot. We all get along and make a good team. We swap recipes, share new decor ideas, and go to movies together. We plan to put our dogs through obedience school together. Camila, the vet tech, always has the best jokes. We cry together when we lose someone's beloved pet. Animals are so real, nothing put on. They just love. At least something is working for me. The kids used to love my stories, but now they say they've heard it all before.

One of the gals there, Charlene, and I have become good friends. She