Total pages in book: 85
Estimated words: 77663 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 388(@200wpm)___ 311(@250wpm)___ 259(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77663 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 388(@200wpm)___ 311(@250wpm)___ 259(@300wpm)
My Dad came running when Mom started screaming and crying like her life was coming to an end. “What happened? Who’s hurt?” Mom filled him in, and then the two of us spent the next ten minutes holding him back from going after Dan.
“I’ll murder that son of a bitch.”
“No, Dad, you can’t, I don’t want that, please don’t do anything. I just need a place to stay for a few days until I get my thoughts together.”
“Of course, your old room is always there for you anytime you need it, you know that.” Mom helped me up the stairs and helped me to bed before taking off my shoes.
I don’t know how long I slept, but it must’ve been a while because it was much darker outside than when I arrived. I found my parents in the kitchen drinking coffee and speaking in hushed tones. They both looked up at my arrival with red, swollen eyes.
“Listen, hon, your mother and I have been talking, and we don’t think it’s a good idea for you to just vacate the marital home; it could be grounds for abandonment if you were thinking of getting a divorce, that is.”
The thing about my parents is that they never push. They might have an opinion on any given matter, but they won’t voice it unless asked. For a second, my stomach started to hurt when I thought they were going to tell me to go back.
“That’s right, Mandy, so we think you should call Dan and tell him your father, or I am sick, and you’re needed here for a few days.” I released the breath I was holding and went to hug her. The tears just wouldn’t stop coming, but they both held me as Dad got up from his seat to join us, and I fought back tears of gratitude.
They’d already asked why I hadn’t told them sooner, and I explained that Dan had asked me not to, to give him some time to find a way to explain himself. I know now that I should never have agreed to that. All it did was make me feel isolated while he had his family behind him cheering him on.
Mom was so mad at Cecile and her treatment of me that she was ready to throw hands. “What about your sisters and brothers? Should we tell them, or do you want to wait?”
“Can we wait for a bit? I don’t think I have the energy to deal with all of the questions right now. I’ll go call Dan and let him know that I’ll be staying here tonight.”
I went to the bathroom and splashed some water on my face first, then did some breathing exercises to get my voice and tone under control. I felt sick to my stomach as I listened to the phone ring because I had never deceived him before.
He answered the phone, sounding a bit distracted, and from the noise in the background, it sounded like he was still at his mother’s. “Hey Dan, something came up; I’m going to stay with my parents for a few days.”
I’d forgotten what I was supposed to say. “Hold on a minute let me go in the other room.” I heard him tell someone he’d be right back and was sure I heard Deidre’s voice. “Repeat that?”
“Dad’s not feeling well, and Mom’s not doing too well either, so I’m going to go to work from here for a few days.”
“You didn’t tell them, did you?” There was sheer panic in his voice.
“No.” I couldn’t get any more out.
“That’s good. Okay, wish them well for me. I guess I’ll see you in a few days.”
“Sure.” I started to tell him that I would come by the house to get some clothes in the morning, but someone was calling him.
“I’ll be right there. I’ve gotta go, babe. Talk to you later.” I looked at the phone in my hand like it was a foreign object. I went back downstairs and pretended to eat the dinner mom put in front of me but put in the garbage disposal as soon as her back was turned.
I think that maybe, just maybe, if someone had told me at that point that I should maybe give it a try, that I would’ve fought my way back to happiness with the man I loved. Because beneath all the heartache and the pain, I was still in love with him.
But that all changed when I went home the next day for a change of clothes and found her there in my bed. I walked into the room, already expecting her because her car was in the driveway, but I was hoping against hope that she was in the nursery and there was a good excuse for her being there.
They were both asleep, wrapped around each other in my bed, and I think the last part of me that was human died. I didn’t turn on the light as I walked through the bedroom past the sleeping couple to the walk-in closet.