Chapter 1

I walked into the house and put my school books on the kitchen table. My mother was crying and would not look at me.

I quickly went to her and asked, “Mom, what’s wrong? How come dad is home?”

“Your father is leaving.” Mom answered between her sobs.

“What do you mean leaving?”

Sounding almost like a whine, my mom told me the unbelievable, “He is moving out and won’t be living here anymore.”

I ran to the hallway, and my dad came down the stairs with his suitcase in hand. “Dad, where are you going? Why are you leaving?”

My father looked distraught and extremely upset when he answered me, “I’m sorry, Doug, but I can’t stay here one more minute. I’ll call you when I get settled.”

“But Dad, why?” I was confused and wanted answers.

My father turned to me as he opened the front door. “You wouldn’t understand.” And he was gone.

I went back to the kitchen. Mom was wiping tears from her eyes with a tissue, “Mom, what happened? How come dad left?” She just shook her head.

Then it hit me. It was so obvious. Dad cheated on my mom. How could he do that to her? He was having an affair all those times he said he had to work late and on weekends. I put my arm around my mom and asked softly, “When did you find out he was having an affair?”

Mom turned away from me, put her face in her hands, and cried so hard her shoulder shook.

Just thinking about how much this must have hurt my mom made me angrier and angrier. “That bastard. I’m glad he is gone.”

I held my mother tighter. “It’s okay, Mom. We will be fine. We don’t need him.”

My mother gathered some of her composure, “Please don’t blame your father, Doug.”

“Don’t give me the, oh, it was both of us story, Mom. He was the one that was never here. I hope I never see him again. I hate him.”

My mother stood up and practically screamed at me, “Don’t you dare hate your father! Yes, he came home late and worked weekends. But look what we have” She waved her arm around. “A beautiful home, a pool, you go to a private school and have a new Corvette. I drive a BMW. We have a membership at the country club. Your dad gave us all that by working his ass off, and what do I do? I go out and pick up guys and fuck them in the back seat of the car your dad bought me. Then I lie to him and tell him I am at aerobics.”

I could not believe what I was hearing. I sat down in the kitchen chair and just stared at my mother. It was so easy to think my dad had an affair and blame him, but never my mother. I was still trying to absorb that piece of information as a fact when mom said. “Now you know. Just don’t blame your father. I will understand if you want to live with him when he finds a place.”

“Why, Mom? How could you do such a thing?”

Without answering me, she stood up and ran upstairs. Her bedroom door slammed shut.

I had homework to do and did not know how to handle what I had just witnessed. Should I call dad and beg him to come back and work things out? Should I try to comfort mom and have her beg him for forgiveness? Should I yell and scream at her? I certainly can’t just forgive her. How could I expect dad to?

I picked up my books and went to my room, and opened my chemistry book. I stared at the chapter heading for ten minutes before I went over and lay on my bed. Tears rolled down my cheeks.