Asterisk 2: Another Wildcard Character

By Booth Milovnik

Charlie had his world turned upside down on his fourteenth birthday when he found out that his dad, the man who raised him since birth, was not his biological father.

Who is Charlie? Who is his father? Just how important will Charlie become to those who find out about him?

Charlie will suddenly find himself to be the asterisk in the lives of the family he knows and the new family he will soon meet. How will they handle having him in their lives?

There will be incredible stories told, full of raw emotions and unfamiliar feelings. Will everyone's questions be answered?

Read about this unique situation from the perspective of many different people, including a story from Charlie himself!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Fulton Books, Inc.
• Release date: Nov 30, 2022
• ISBN: 9798885057387

Book preview

ASTERISK 2

Another Wildcard Character

B

OOTH

M

ILOVNIK

Copyright © 2022 Booth Milovnik

All rights reserved

First Edition

Fulton Books

Meadville, PA

Published by Fulton Books 2022

ISBN 979-8-88505-737-0 (paperback)

ISBN 979-8-88505-738-7 (digital)

Printed in the United States of America

This book is dedicated to all of the dads out there raising a kid that they don't share a biological connection with.

I see you. I acknowledge you. I admire you.

Thank you for your stewardship.

Don't ever question the impact that your presence brings. Even in the darkest of times you are still making a difference.

Stand tall. Stand Proud. Stand confident.

You got this.

Contents

Preface

Chapter 1: Hop On Pop

Chapter 2: God’s Gift

Chapter 3: Teenagers Don’t Overreact, They Yell

Chapter 4: Hero to Zero in No Time Flat

Chapter 5: Fourteen Years of Regret

Chapter 6: I’m Shook

Chapter 7: The Missing Gene

Chapter 8: Peaks and Valleys Part III

Chapter 9: Love, Todd Style

Chapter 10: Periodt

Chapter 11: Gigi Is Tired

Chapter 12: Dead Man Walking

Chapter 13: The Long Goodbye

Chapter 14: You Are the Part of Me I Will Always Need

Chapter 15: A Simple Man

Chapter 16: My Little Bart

Chapter 17: My Favorite Hello

Chapter 18: The Making of Brian 2.0

Preface

Sigh.

I don’t think there is a more undeserving villain in all literature than Gabriel Cramer. Think about it. Here is a guy that only tried to do the right thing, supporting his girlfriend as she tried to navigate her life as a single mother. He agreed to step up and be a father to her baby, getting his own son in the process.

Mind you, he didn’t necessarily have all the facts when it came to Charlie, but he also didn’t care. He was just doing what he thought he needed to do at the time. He was stepping up to be a father.

Unfortunately, good intentions can’t make up for the fact that Charlie was living a lie. It was a very messy situation, and no one seemed too happy about any of it anymore. It was certainly fun to write about, but Charlie’s teenage anger was exhausting.

If it seemed as though Charlie bonded with Matt entirely too quickly, that’s because he did! Believe me when I tell you that Charlie’s actions throughout this book were true to form. Just ask anyone who has adopted an older child from foster care.

I certainly hope you enjoyed Charlie’s journey into his new family. It appears that there is very little hope that he will ever be able to forgive Gabriel, but I would just advise you to stay tuned! By the time you read the fourth book, karma will catch up with Charlie, and he will see his stepdad in a whole new light.

Creating the characters for these books are not as easy as you might think. I am constantly asked if I am basing any of these characters on real people. Well, I can honestly say, other than Brian Corbin, no. Brian is based on Michigan State running back Blake Ezor. His avatar fit perfectly in the timeline of the book, and he is such an interesting person that it was too hard to ignore. He was the perfect person to base Brian on.

Everyone else, however, is based on many different people, all rolled into one. For example, take the character of Timothy: he is based on two of my oldest son’s friends from the turn of the century. One friend was a drummer trying to make it in local bands, and the other was a metalhead and devil worshiper.

The original Tim was also a devil worshiper, but I had to write out that part of the character in the end. Instead, I just made Tim an agnostic. Otherwise, it would have never made sense that he become an honorary member of the Floyd family. They would have never had him spend time at their house or see their daughter. I felt that they probably wouldn’t have wanted her to keep the baby either. It certainly would have made Tim more compelling, as he tried to insert himself into a religious family, but it would also make him pretty incompatible with Cindy.

When I was in high school, my friend John worked at a tailor shop in downtown Lansing. He had a boss there named Mike. John said that he was amused by all of Mike’s stories about his teenage fraternal twins. They were, evidently, driving this Mike guy nuts. John really liked Mike and sympathized with his plight as a divorced father with twin teens.

I decided to draw on that old memory and also make Timothy a fraternal twin with a dad named Mike. I had originally planned for Cindy to become friends with Tim’s sister first. There was a lot of potential with that storyline, but it slowed everything down too much. Instead, I had Cindy get the hots for another boy instead, turning to Tim later on after they broke up. That story moved much faster and got Matthew in the picture much sooner.

Finally, in the summer of 2000, I was working at a hotel in Lansing, Michigan, and a young couple checked in on their honeymoon night. They were still in their wedding attire, a little buzzed but very happy. The bride, however, was on crutches. Her dad was there helping them get checked in and was very chatty with us at the front desk. He told us his daughter broke her leg a few days before the wedding but was still determined to hobble down the aisle on her big day. She supposedly worked at the Humane Society, and he was a repairman of some sorts, blah blah blah.

So when it came time to create a wife for Tim, I recalled that memory and created Jessica. It was, pretty much, the same for all the characters in Asterisk.

I get asked about Amy all the time. Who is she? Did all that really happen to someone that I knew? Is it this person? Or that person? Who? All I can say is that Amy is based on people that I knew of both genders. Her stories are all true to life but based on many different people. Amy’s spiritual journey throughout the series will be pretty amazing. She is, by far, the most favorite character in the books.

Pay attention to all the people around you. They are a treasure trove of knowledge, and they will help to create your own experience in life. But each individual story is unique to each person. It is their truth and theirs alone. Not yours.

As you navigate your own life path, use all that knowledge you have learned to help others that may be experiencing something similar. That is what I hope to accomplish with Asterisk: to get people to help and serve others as part of their daily routine.

If you relate to some of these characters and on a deep level, that would make me incredibly proud. It means that all my observations and discussions with all the people throughout my life has paid off.

Hopefully you won’t feel quite so alone in life if you can read about other people that might be feeling some of the same things.

Just know that I only want the best for each and every one of my readers. When you have been talking to me, I have been listening. I will continue to share everything that I have learned with all of you so you can feel that you are also being heard.

We all have the light of heaven inside of us. Everyone! Believe it, harness it, embrace it, and live it. You are perfect just the way you are.

Chapter 1

Hop On Pop

Crystal Marie Solner

Poor Charlie.

What a crazy month he’s had! First, he found out on his fourteenth birthday that his dad wasn’t his real dad. Next, he sprained his arm playing dodgeball in gym class, and finally, his actual dad is coming to our school today to pick Charlie up.

Charlie has been nervous about meeting his real dad all week. I would be a little scared myself to meet my dad for the first time after all those years. Charlie told us that his real dad didn’t even know that Charlie existed at all. Can you believe it? I am a little nervous for Charlie as well. He is such a great guy. I’ve had a crush on him for two years. We are good friends, but I don’t know how to tell him that I want to be more than that.

When we finally started high school back in September, I was hoping that he might start thinking about dating me. Boys are so dumb. I am always dropping hints and hanging out with him at his locker and in the lunchroom. How can he not know? I mean, we are ninth graders now. It is time to start hanging out together. Alone!

High school is tough, especially when it is your first year. There is a lot of pressure to be dating someone. I really wish Charlie would just ask me to hang out after school. If I had to ask him instead, it will make me sound really desperate!

But I am desperate! I have never even been kissed by a boy, and I’m not getting any younger. If I don’t get some action soon, I might as well join a convent and become a nun.

Lacey Parker said that she left notes in John Neller’s locker to get him to go out with her. Olivia Dawson said that she sent an Instagram post to Brent Sharp asking him out. And the rumor is that Lynda Wasp offered Jacob Elsie a blow job to get him to go out with her. That seemed a little extreme to me! Are all boys clueless? Why do the girls have to do all the work?

I guess I will just wait until Charlie has his visit with his dad this weekend, and then, on Monday, I will ask him about the visit and see if he would like to go out with me. It sounds like a good plan. I will be confident as I look him in the eye and list off all the reasons why we should be together.

Who am I kidding?

I won’t do any of that. I’m sure that I will just chicken out again. I’ve tried to ask him out before, but I always get tongue-tied. I would just sound like a dummy. He would just get confused and think that I was an idiot. If he didn’t really like me, he might even get disgusted.

He is not shy at all. He is always laughing and goofing off. He has those beautiful blue eyes and that goofy grin. His blond hair is so beautiful. I think about him all the time. I wonder if he ever thinks about me when he is not in school. I doubt it! He is just too cool to think of me as anything but a boring old friend.

Here he comes.

Hey, Crystal! he announces as he sits down next to me during lunch. Wanna share my fries with me?

I shrug my shoulders. I might as well eat some of his fries. He never finishes his food anyway. Too busy talking. He has a lot of energy.

Oh great! Here comes his dumb friend Cameron. Seriously, that dude is so immature. I also see Kyle and Brenda. They are coming to our table to sit down. They have been going out since eighth grade, and they have been friends with Charlie and myself since then. Charlie should definitely ask me out so that we can go on double dates with them.

I exchange greetings with Kyle and Brenda. Brenda wants to know where my lunch is. I tell her I’m sharing fries with Charlie. All of a sudden that stupid moron Cameron starts eating the fries. The nerve of him!

So, Charles, Cameron shouts stupidly as he helps himself to a french fry, are you nervous to meet your old man!

Not really, Charlie replies as he scans the lunchroom. He stopped by my house last night for dinner. Dude, stop eating all the fries! I told Crystal I would share with her!

Sorry, man, Cameron says as he shoves more fries in his mouth. Sorry, Crystal.

Jerk! I give Cameron a dirty look, but he just smiles like a dope.

What are you going to do with your dad this weekend? Brenda asks Charlie as he fidgets in his seat.

I’m not sure yet, he answers, still distracted. He met my family last night, but tonight it will just be the two of us. He is staying at the Hilton, and it has an indoor pool and hot tub.

Cool, can I come? Cameron blurts out.

Definitely not! Charlie answers as he pushes the rest of his fries toward me. He is clearly too nervous to eat.

Thanks, Charlie, I say with a smile. Are you a little nervous?

Kind of, he responds. My real dad is pretty cool, but it was weird having him at our house. My parents are so lame.

It’s super loud in the lunchroom at that point. Most of the ninth graders eat at this time. Two girls that I don’t really know that well stop to talk with Charlie and end up sitting next to him. Cameron tries to interrupt their conversation, but Charlie punches him in the arm and tells him to chill out. I can see Charlie’s face start to blush a little as he talks to the girls standing in front of him. It’s pretty obvious that he’s crushing on one or both of them. It’s hard to hear what they’re talking about.

So I guess the reason Charlie hasn’t asked me out is because he is in love with someone else. I’m going to have to find out who these girls are and size up my competition. I haven’t gone to Charlie’s dumb soccer and baseball games for nothing! I have put a lot of sweat equity in this relationship, and I deserve to go out with him first!

I will just have to find a way to get him to notice me. At least I know that this weekend he will be with his dad and not out with another girl!

Just then, Ms. Caliber comes into the lunchroom and starts to look around. What is she doing out of the office? OMG? Is that Charlie’s dad with her? They are walking over to our table. Charlie spots them right away and stands up.

Be cool, Crystal! Make a good first impression with his dad. Hopefully, he will like me and tell Charlie that he should go out with me.

Why is Ms. Caliber smiling so much?

Oh, I get it now. Charlie’s dad is hot! What the hell? I am so nervous. Charlie looks nervous as well. Everyone is looking at Charlie and his dad. The lunchroom actually gets a little quieter.

Charlie picks up his backpack off the ground and introduces his dad to the dumb bitches standing next to him, then Cameron, and then me.

Holy shit! His eyes are the same amazing blue color as Charlie’s! Is this what Charlie is going to look like when he gets older? His dad looks right at me as he greets me. I freeze. I am tongue-tied again. I’m such a dork! When Charlie is done introducing his dad, stupid Cameron starts to hug him and asks if he would adopt him.

What a jerk!

Actually, Charlie’s dad could certainly adopt me. He says his name is Matt. The girls at the table all watch as Charlie and his dad walk away. Then they all turn to each other and giggle at how hot he is. He is way hotter than Charlie’s other dad, what’s his name?

So do you girls consider Charlie’s dad to be a DILF? Cameron shouts like an idiot.

Everyone tells him to shut up, but they do laugh. Maybe if I couldn’t date Charlie, I could date his dad! For real. Charlie’s dad is a hop on pop!

Chapter 2

God’s Gift

Barton James Corbin

Bohdan is being a little brat right now. I know he misses his mama, but come on, little dude, upokoj sa prosim. Calm down please.

My mother has called an impromptu family meeting, and I am trying to get Bodie to sit still on my lap. He seems to be more interested in chasing a yellow balloon through the house than sitting with me, and I am half tempted to pop that stupid balloon. I know that will only make things worse, however, so I will just keep working on restraining him somehow while we wait for my dad to come into the room. Where is dad anyway? Did he forget again?

Dad finally arrives, and he scoops Bodie up in his arms before putting him on his shoulders. Bodie squeals in delight before calming down and settling nicely onto his grandpa’s lap. Of course, my kid will sit still just fine on Grandpa’s lap! Go figure.

Mom looks like she’s just won the lottery. Could that be what this meeting is about? How did she get a lottery ticket? That would be so awesome if she was a winner.

I just got off the phone with Matt, she exclaims with a big smile. You are never going to believe what he said. I am still in shock.

Don’t tell me that he and Amy are having another kid! I reply incredulously.

Bodie claps his hands and tries to shout the word kid at the top of his lungs. Mom shakes her head no and continues. Not quite, Bart. Do you remember Lindsey? His girlfriend when he lived in Seattle?

Dad looks totally confused. He can’t remember her. That is typical for him these days.

The chick at his college graduation? I ask. The one he met at Starbucks?

That’s her! Mom replies in a giddy voice. Well, she was expecting your brother to propose to her on Valentine’s Day back in 2010, and when he didn’t, she broke up with him.

Why are you telling us all this? I question impatiently.

Dad announces that he doesn’t have a clue who Lindsey is, but he does know who Bodie is, and he begins to tickle Bodie, causing loud squealing again.

Let me finish! Mom shouts. What Matt didn’t know was that Lindsey was pregnant! She was planning to tell him after he proposed, but when he didn’t, she decided not to tell him.

I have to slowly process everything she’s just said in my brain.

So I am a grandpa again? Dad asks as he bounces Bodie on his lap. Bodie tries to shout the word again, and Dad lets him down to go chase the balloon. I don’t go after him this time. The conversation is just starting to get interesting, and I’m starting to think of a million questions I want answers to.

Mom proceeds to tell us the rest of what she knows. Lindsey gave birth to a boy. His name is Charlie. She shows us his picture on her phone. He just turned fourteen. He was born on October 10, 2010.

What the fuck?

October 10? Are you for real? Just like Mom, Dad, and Todd? How is that even possible? Four people in our family share the same birthday? What are the odds?

Mom tells us that Charlie was born two weeks early, just like Matt and Todd, and had always thought the man that raised him was his actual dad. Charlie just found out today that Matt is his real dad.

Poor kid.

I really hope that this guy Charlie thought was his dad had done a good job raising him. Otherwise, Charlie had missed out on having one of the greatest dads on earth. My brother. This Lindsey chick sounded like a real bitch! How could you keep something like that a secret? And from all people, my brother?

It is really cool that my son will have another cousin to hang out with, and ironically, Bodie and Charlie will have about the same age difference that Matt and I had. I would bet money that this Charlie kid is just like Matt. Mom says that Bodie is just like me.

It is likely that my brother is pissed at Lindsey, and those two will probably have a challenging relationship going forward. I have my own challenging relationship with my baby mama.

Milada Kovacova.

Sigh.

I don’t even know where to begin. We met at the Beatles LOVE Show at the Mirage. She was a dancer and acrobat, and I was a sound and lighting technician. She was from Slovakia, a country I had never heard of, and was working in the United States on an H-1 Visa. She had initially signed on to a one-year contract in February 2021, and that was when I first saw her. She was beautiful. I was amazed at her talent and athletic ability. Plus, she had a sexy accent.

That accent!

People in my family have many different versions of a fairy-tale love story that they have experienced. I was ready for my own version and began to pursue Milada. She resisted at first, not wanting to get involved with an American, but eventually came around once she had spent more time with me and my family.

Maybe a little too much time.

Milada had a crush on my older brother, Todd. It is so fucking dumb because Todd is into dudes, not chicks! I had no idea about any of this, and I guess Todd didn’t either, at first anyway. Evidently Todd told Milada that he was gay, even though he never bothered to tell the rest of us, and she decided to stop wasting her time on him.

Instead, Milada started to look my way a little bit more closely, and she must have liked what she saw because we began dating in the summer of 2021. We eventually started sleeping together that fall, and she immediately went on the pill. She couldn’t afford to get pregnant since she was only here temporarily.

The thought of her leaving and going back to her hometown, Bratislava, stressed me out. I was starting to fall in love with her, and I knew she was also falling in love with me. But she was holding back because her contract would be up soon. So I worked hard to convince her to stay and sign another contract. It wasn’t easy, but in the end she decided that she really loved working in the show and spending time with me. She would sign a new contract, and this time it would be for two years instead of one.

I was so relieved.

I really loved this girl and knew that if I had two more years with her that I would have plenty of time to propose, and then we could begin the long process of her becoming a US citizen.

Once she signed on for two more years, Milada began to relax and embrace her life in Las Vegas. We would often go to parties on the Strip after work, both of us promising to look out for each other so we didn’t fuck up our lives like my brother Todd did when he partied.

We often drank, mixing in shrooms and ecstasy once in a while, and danced in clubs. We slept together at my house, evading my nosy mother the best we could, as there was a little more privacy there. We enjoyed meals at all the great Vegas restaurants and even managed to make our way to Zippy’s!

Life was great for us. For me, personally, it was awesome. It was hard to find a better scenario to be living in. Everything was going according to plan.

Except that.

Milada’s birth control pills ran out in March 2022. Until she could get a refill, we would have to use condoms. It was not a problem, as I was always prepared. Always.

One night after taking shrooms and mixing in alcoholic drinks, I stupidly decided that I was fine to drive us back to my house. I shouldn’t have done it, but we made it there safely. We tried to be as quiet as possible once we entered the house so we didn’t wake anyone. We were both pretty horny, and I had condoms in my dresser, so things got hot and heavy pretty quick.

I remember getting out the condom. I remember putting it on. Something.

But whatever I put the condom onto, it never actually made it onto my actual body. To this day, I have no idea what happened to that condom.

It was never found. As a result, we had unprotected sex that night, more than once.

Of course, you know what happened next. Surprise! There was a baby on the way. Milada found out that she was pregnant in May. We fought about it constantly. She lamented that she could not have this baby as it would ruin everything for her. It was all my fault. She was adamant that she would be getting an abortion. I argued that if she was planning to get an abortion all along, why did she bother to tell me?

I couldn’t let an abortion happen, so I dragged my mother into the middle of our dilemma. She worked tirelessly to convince Milada that if she kept the baby, everything would be okay. She claimed that everyone would support Milada and that keeping the baby wouldn’t jeopardize her life or career as much as she was thinking it would. I am so grateful to Mom because without her coaching and counseling, I am certain that Milada would have terminated the pregnancy.

Milada followed Mom’s advice and approached the management of the show where we worked. She had continued to dance until July but had to end her aerial spots as soon as she told them. She wouldn’t get paid while she was out pregnant but would get maternity leave for three months after the baby was born. She could keep her benefits but would be expected to be in shape and ready to perform again after the maternity leave was over.

We would now be relying on my salary, so Mom and Dad invited Milada to move in with us permanently. She quit drinking and smoking and tried to eat healthy. She was able to swim in our pool every day, right up until she gave birth.

I realized that Milada was irritable and unhappy with me in general, but she said that my family was so kind and encouraging. They made her feel very welcome at our house, and it helped to keep her stress levels down. She seemed to get along great with my parents and even Todd. Her goal was to stay in the best shape possible and get back to work by Valentine’s Day in 2023.

The baby was due around Christmas, and we found out we were having a boy. Milada wanted him to have a Slovak name, so we decided on Bohdan. It means God’s gift.

And he truly was a gift from God. All six pounds, seven ounces of him. He was a beautiful baby born on December 29, 2022. I was there for his birth, and he was welcomed into our family with open arms.

Milada did, indeed, go back to work in February of 2023. She also chose not to breastfeed so she could quickly take up smoking and drinking again. It didn’t really bother me as the rest of the family was eager to help feed him for us. My family was so awesome—they still are! They have treated Bodie like a little prince and really seem to love helping to care for him.

My grandma Doreen came in March of 2023 for her annual visit, and Mom decided to have a surprise party for her ninetieth birthday. All my aunts and uncles and cousins and siblings were there to celebrate with her. She had no clue it was going to happen. It was so great to see everyone again, and it was also a chance to show off my new son.

Throughout the relationship with Milada, I was slowly learning the Slovak language. She had often taught me phrases and pronunciations and plenty of slang, and I supplemented that with online courses. I wanted to be able to converse with my son and his relatives when we took him on a planned trip to Slovakia in 2024.

After my grandma’s party, we settled into a routine, taking different days of work, if possible, and setting up a schedule with my parents and Todd to make sure Bodie was always taken care of. By July of 2023, I knew that Milada was the one for me. I loved her, and even though I knew she was homesick, I was hoping to convince her to stay in America and get married. I wanted our little boy to have a real family. Our family.

So I proposed to Milada over the Fourth of July. I took her to King’s Sausage food truck for some Slovak food, and then we went on a gondola ride at the Venetian Hotel, where I proposed to her while our guide sang romantic songs in the background.

Cheesy, I know.

But we lived in Las Vegas, and I wanted this moment to always be remembered from my hometown. Classy and cheesy. Serious and fun. Milada and I were certainly different people, but Las Vegas was what kept us together. And now our baby boy connects us as well.

She immediately accepted my proposal but said that she wanted to go over a few things with me the next day. I had no problem with that. I just assumed we would have a few logistical things to work out. The marriage would be the easy part, but working to keep Milada in the country was certain to take a while.

We shared the news with her parents over the phone, with me greeting them in Slovak and actually understanding quite a bit about what they were saying. Next, we shared the news with my parents. Mom and Dad were thrilled. If Milada was planning to stay, then that meant their grandson would also be staying. Mom said that we could continue to live with them as long as we needed. If we wanted to wait until Bodie was in school, she and Dad were both cool with that. Mom even stated that we could even stay longer than that if it helped us. She knew that working with Immigration to make Milada a US citizen could take years.

It is hard for me to think of that day back in July of 2023. I was so happy and full of hope. I had my own fairy-tale story to add to the family, and no matter how long it took, I was determined to make Milada my wife and keep her and my son in the United States.

Except that.

Fuck that! Fuck him! Fuck you!

Milada confessed that she and Todd had recently slept together. She said that they had been hanging out after he would pick her up from work. He wouldn’t just pick her up and bring her home. They were going out to parties on the Strip instead. Todd began hanging around his old buddies again. They were both drinking and taking drugs. Their hookup just happened. She was curious what Todd was like in bed. She said that he was wild and aggressive and nothing like me. They both realized that it was a mistake and couldn’t happen again. She