Page 88 of The Backup Bride Proposal

“So what happened?”

“I don’t know. I focused a lot of time and my energy on work. I chased promotions like they were the newest drug. One right after the other, working hours of overtime, traveling all the time, and I was never home. Your mom begged me to quit that job and I kept telling her the reward would be worth it at the end. But she got tired of waiting for something that hadn’t happened. She got tired of waiting for me and she…developed other interests outside of our marriage.”

Dread filled him. “Mom had an affair?”

Dad frowned. “Oh, no, nothing like that. Not that I’m aware of, anyway. She’s got all these activities and new friendsthat keep her busy and happy. She has a knitting group, a book club, she goes to the gym every day with a couple of her friends and she has something called a happy hour club. And I guess I woke up one day and realized that all I had was work and your mom. I had no friends, no social life whatsoever. And I no longer had your mom because she went out and found another life—without me.”

Kane wanted to feel sympathetic toward his dad, but he couldn’t. “Dad.”

“Yeah, I know. I brought all this on myself by chasing that rainbow of ‘someday,’ only to discover that the one wonderful thing I had was right in front of me the whole time. And now she wants a divorce so she can continue to live this awesome life she’s carved out for herself. Without me. And I have no one to blame but myself. I let her slip through my fingers, Kane.”

Kane’s mom was the most wonderful person he’d ever known. Giving and unselfish. He knew it had taken a lot for her to make this decision. If Dad had truly ignored her all these years, then he couldn’t blame her for choosing to move on with her life. Still, it couldn’t have been easy for her to decide to end a thirty-five-year marriage. But damn, he was angry as hell at her for avoiding him just as much as Dad had. They were treating him like a kid and he didn’t appreciate it at all.

“I want to talk to Mom.”

His dad opened his hands wide. “You should. I’m going to go inside and tell everyone else what’s going on.”

“Good idea.”

After his dad went inside, Kane took a minute to catch his breath. Of all the things he’d expected to hear from his father, a divorce hadn’t been one of them.

With a heavy sigh, he grabbed a spot at the table and pulled out his phone, about to call his mom when Mae stepped out. She had two glasses of iced tea. She put those down on the table and took a seat next to him.

“Are you okay?” she asked.

“Not really.”

“Your dad’s in there talking to the family. I figured I should step out. It seemed personal.”

“It is. He and my mom are getting a divorce.”

“Oh no. I’m so sorry, Kane.” She laid her hand over his. “That must have been devastating news.”

“Yeah, it was.”

“Is there anything I can do for you?”

He looked down at his phone, then up at her. “I was about to call my mom. I’ve heard his side. I need to hear hers.”

“I’ll leave you alone.” She started to get up, but he held her hand.

“No. Stay.”

“Okay.”

He punched in his mom’s number and it rang a few times before she answered.

“Kane.”

“Hi, Mom.”

“You talked to your dad.”

“Yeah. He told me everything.”

“I’m sorry, honey. We should have told you sooner. I guess we were waiting for the right time.”

He leaned forward. “I don’t think there’s a right time to find out your parents are ending their marriage.”

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