Page 87 of Until the Ribbon Breaks

She lifts her eyes to Sebastian. “Because I don’t have any friends.”

And now he’s the one who’s uncomfortable.

“Harlow,” Greg calls from the doorway, “you have a phone call.”

“Your brother?” Sebastian asks.

“Probably.”

They normally don’t allow us to take calls whenever, but I’ve been trying to get ahold of Tyler since my parents told me about the divorce, and the staff agreed to let me talk to him when he called me back.

Greg leads me to the desk and then hands me the phone.

“Hello?”

“Hey, Low.” Hearing my brother’s voice is a comfort. “How’s it going?”

“Still locked up.”

“How much longer until you get to go home?”

“Hopefully not too much longer.” I situate myself in one of the chairs against the wall. “So, Mom and Dad told me they’re splitting up.”

“They did?” His voice pitches in surprise.

“How come you didn’t tell me?”

“They told me not to.”

“Since when do you listen to them?”

He avoids my question by asking, “When did you find out?”

“Earlier this week.”

He sighs heavily. “It sucks. I know Dad travels a lot, but I didn’t think they were having any real problems.”

“What did they tell you?”

“Nothing too much,” he says. “Just that they’d grown apart.”

“That’s what they said?”

“Yeah, why? What did they say to you?”

Switching the phone to my other ear, I tell him the truth. “Mom’s been having an affair.”

“What?”

“The day before she sent me here, I caught her kissing some guy.”

He goes quiet, and we sit in silence as he digests what I just told him. “Why would she lie to me if you already knew?”

“Why does she do half the crap she does?”

“That’s so messed up,” he mumbles. “I can’t believe she did that to Dad.”

“She did it to all of us, Tyler, not just him.”

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