Page 113 of One Night

"No!" She starts crying. "You can't break up!" She gets up and runs off to her room.

"I'll talk to her," Leah says, hurrying off to Britt's room.

I'm left there with my parents, feeling awkward, not sure what to say or what to think. Ever since they started growing apart and fighting all the time, I thought it'd be best if they divorced. But now that it's happening, I don't like it. I want them to stay together.

Chapter Twenty-Three

Amber

My mom turns to my dad, glaring at him. "I told you we shouldn't have said anything until tomorrow."

"What difference would it make? They had to be told."

"Yes, but now you've ruined their Christmas."

"They knew this was coming. It's not a surprise."

"Still. I wanted them to have a nice Christmas." My mom covers her face with her hands and breaks down crying.

My dad sighs and gets up from the table. I assume he's going to comfort her but instead he just walks away. I guess when you're divorcing, you no longer care that the person you once loved is hurting, crying right in front of you.

"Mom." I race over to her, sitting beside her.

She hugs me. "I'm sorry, honey. I didn't want to tell you girls today. I didn't want it ruining your holiday."

"It's okay. Don't worry about it." I pull back. "When did you guys decide this?"

"A week ago. Your father had had enough so he went and found an apartment. He's been staying there all week. We just pretended he's been here in the house for Britt's sake. He'd come over early, before she woke up, so she wouldn't suspect anything. I suppose we could've told her, but she gets so excited about the holidays and we didn't want to ruin it for her. Plus we wanted to wait until all three of you were home so we could tell you together." She glances down the hall. "I need to go talk to her."

While she goes to Britt's room, I go in the kitchen and find my dad. He's cleaning up the mess from dinner, washing pots and pans.

"Need some help?" I ask.

My dad turns to me. "I wash, you dry?"

"Yeah." I stand next to him and pick up the dish towel. "So you and mom...why now?"

He shakes his head. "We just can't keep doing this. Your mother and I keep hurting each other and we can't seem to stop."

"Could you go to counseling?"

"We've been. We tried it years ago but it just didn't work."

"Oh." I didn't know they'd gone to counseling. They never told us. I take the saucepan from him and dry it. "So you wouldn't want to try again?"

He looks at me. "Honey, sometimes these things just aren't meant to be. You think they are in the beginning but then things change. People change. And you find you're no longer compatible."

"I don't understand that. If you love each other, then why can't you get through the changes together? What happened to for better or for worse?"

"Your mother and I have been stuck in the 'for worse' part for years now and it hasn't gotten any better. That's a sign it's time to end things."

"But you love her, right?"

He sighs. "I honestly don't know anymore."

"How could you not know?" I throw the dish towel down. "She's your wife! The mother of your children!" I'm yelling now, anger and sadness rising up past the shock. "How can you not feel any kind of love for her?"

"Amber." He reaches for me but I turn away and storm down to my room. I yank my phone out and call Kira.

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