Page 116 of One Night

"Sure it is. Maybe it doesn't happen to everyone but it still happens."

My phone rings. "It's my mom," I say to Kira. I answer the call. "Mom, I'm at Kira's. I'll be home later."

"Honey, come home. We need to deal with this as a family."

"There's nothing to deal with. You've made your decision. You and dad are breaking up our family." My voice cracks as I say it.

"We'll still be a family. Your father and I will do all we can to make this easier on you girls."

"It won't be easy, no matter what you do. Look what it's already done. Britt's crying in her room and I ran off to Kira's house."

"It'll take some time but we'll get through this. Something had to be done, Amber. Your father and I couldn't go on like we've been."

"Why couldn't you just try harder?"

"We did. For years. And nothing worked. Honey, come home and we'll talk about it."

"Not yet. I need to finish talking to Kira."

"Then finish up and come home. Bye, honey."

I hang up and say to Kira, "I'm supposed to go back there to talk about it. Like any of us wants to talk about this on Christmas. I don't want to talk about it at all. It's not like they're changing their minds so why bother?"

"Maybe you should just go back there for the sake of your sisters. Maybe you guys should just talk and leave your parents out of it for now. Like you said, the decision is made. Now it's about finding a way to accept it and move on."

But I don't want to accept it. Accepting it means accepting my parents no longer love each other. It means accepting the same thing could happen to me. I could fall in love, get married, have children, and somehow through all that, the love that started it all could disappear. And if that's the end result, then why bother? Why put yourself through that?

"Amber?" Kira wakes me from my thoughts.

I scoot off her bed. "I should go. I don't want to, but I can't hide out here forever, and as you said, my sisters need me." I give her a hug. "Thanks for being here."

"Always. Come over whenever you want. We could have a sleepover." She smiles. "Remember the blanket forts we used to make?"

I smile back. "Yeah, except I called them castles."

"You and your princess obsession. I somehow escaped that phase."

It's true. I was obsessed with the whole princess thing. Dreams of living in a castle, waiting for my prince to come take me away. But it was nothing more than a fairy tale. There are no princes in real life. Just guys who come into your life, say they love you, maybe even marry you, then leave you because their love for you didn't last.

On the short drive back to the house, Dylan calls.

"Merry Christmas!" he says when I answer.

"You already said that this morning." I park in the driveway and shut the car off.

"What's wrong?" I hear the concern in his voice, likely caused by my curt response.

"I'm sorry, Dylan. I didn't mean to respond like that. I'm just not feeling good right now."

"What happened?"

"My parents are getting a divorce."

"Shit. I'm sorry. When did you find out?"

"At Christmas dinner. My mom wanted to wait until tomorrow to tell us but then my dad just blurted it out."

"Where are you right now?" he asks because someone in the driveway next door just beeped their horn.

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