Page 18 of Bending Under Pressure

I grab my cell and call him. He probably won’t answer, the chicken. When I hear his voice, I’m shocked.

“Haley, I’m so sorry,” he says.

“Whatever. I don’t care,” I lie, trying my hardest to keep my voice steady. “Not that you care, but I won’t show up or contact you again. You now have one daughter and that’s Carly. I don’t want anything to do with you. As far as I’m concerned, I don’t have a father. That’s all I wanted to say. Bye.” I hang up without giving him a chance to speak. My phone stays in my hand, my gaze trained on it, for the next five minutes.

He doesn’t call back to fix things.

Defeated, I curl into a ball on my bed, hug a pillow to my chest, and let the tears fall. I have no idea how much time passes before my bed dips behind me.

“Sit up, Haley,” Mom says gently. “I want to tell you why we divorced.” Quickly, I sit up to face her. “A few months before I told you we were divorcing, I noticed a change in your father. He no longer seemed like the man I married, the man who was the father of my beautiful daughter. I tried to find out, figure out what was different, but it wasn’t until the day before I told you that I learned a big part of why he was not the same.”

Mom’s voice drops and her eyes close as she softly says, “He was having an affair. I caught him and went to a divorce attorney the next day. I didn’t want to tell you because I knew you looked up to him and no matter what he does, he’s still your father.”

My mouth falls open, ready to speak, but I’m dumbfounded, stuck on what she said. He cheated. What? Why would he do such a thing? How is that even possible? I’m supposed to believe that the man who always drilled into me that if a guy ever cheated on me, I needed to leave him in two seconds flat because he wasn’t a good man, is the same person who cheated on my mom?

“The woman he’s with now, Tonya, was the one he was seeing,” Mom adds quietly. “I really didn’t want to tell you, Haley. In your eyes, your father hung the moon and the stars every night and took them down every morning to hang the sun. He never did anything wrong, and I knew if I told you why, you’d lose that. I never thought he would treat you the way he has.”

This entire time I assumed it was Mom’s fault, because she’s right; I thought Dad could do no wrong, even when he showed me differently time and time again. I’ve been angry with her and Walter, for no real reason.

“I’m sorry,” I choke up the words.

Mom gathers me in a hug. “It’s all right, Haley. I’m still right here, and I’m not going anywhere. If you’d give Walter a chance, he’d be there for you, too.”

“I’ll try.” I sniffle. “He seems like he might be nice.”

“He is.” Mom holds me for a few minutes before she pulls away. “Have you eaten? We can run out for takeout.”

“No, I haven’t. I know of a place where we can go though, if eating out is okay.”

“Of course. Get ready and I’ll tell Walter.” Mom stands and leaves me alone.

Taking a deep breath, I wipe away my tears and make my way to the bathroom. My face doesn’t look too terrible, but I splash cold water on it anyway. After brushing my hair, I walk to the front door, where Walter and Mom are waiting. Mom wraps an arm around my shoulders as we go out to the car. Walter gets into the driver’s seat and then looks over his shoulder at me.

“Where are we going, Haley?”

“There’s a place in town called Elsie’s.”

He nods. “I’ve heard of that place.” He starts backing out and heading toward the diner.

It doesn’t take any time for us to arrive. The air is cool and I welcome the slight chill in the air once we walk inside. The first two times I was here, I didn’t really take in my surroundings; I look around once we take a seat at a bright blue booth. There’s an actual jukebox at one end of the restaurant, and I wonder if it works. I’ll have to ask Keelan.

There’s an old timey feel to the place. The floors are those checkered black and white tiles, and booths line the walls. There are with tables dotted throughout the room, and there is a counter with pies and cakes on display every f

ew seats. The walls are a sunny yellow and have pictures of famous singers from the fifties, sixties, and seventies.

Mrs. Elsie breezes over to our table, walking pretty fast and light on her feet for a woman who has to be in her sixties or seventies. Just like the times I have been here before, her white hair is up in a bun and her glasses are perched low on her nose. She’s wearing bright red lipstick on her thin lips, but it works for her.

“Hello, Haley,” she says, laying menus on the table. “It’s nice to see you again. Who are these fine people with you?”

“Hi, Mrs. Elsie. Meet my mom, Rita, and her husband, Walter. Mom, Walter, this is Mrs. Elsie.”

They say hellos and Mrs. Elsie asks, “How are y’all enjoying the town?”

“We’re loving it so far,” Mom answers with a smile.

“Good. This is a great town. I’ve lived here all my life and wouldn’t dream of living anywhere else.” She glances over her shoulder when someone else walks in. “Do y’all know what you’d like to drink?” We give her our orders. “I’ll whip those up while y’all look over the menu.” Mrs. Elsie swiftly walks away.

My eyes are on the menu when I hear my mother ask, “How does she know your name, Haley? Have you been here before?” I lift my gaze in time to see her look at me.

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