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My eyebrows shoot up and I shake my head. “It’s not that easy, son. We’re in completely different places in our lives, and I just really upset her on top of that.”
“Yeah, but Dorian is cool. We could be brothers, sort of. You know, if you ended up with her, then we’d get to live together and stuff. It would be so cool.”
I chuckle, though it’s devoid of humor. “It would be like that to some degree, but I don’t know if that would work out the way you want it to.”
“Why? You’d rather sit here and be all sad? You like her, and ever since she’s come around, this is the happiest you’ve been. Why do you want to ruin it?”
“I don’t want to ruin it.” But I already have. I sigh. “Just because someone makes me happy doesn’t mean that it’s right to continue the relationship. Sometimes, it’s just better if the two people say goodbye.”
His shoulders slump, and my heart aches for my son. He’s too young to understand just how complicated life can be. He doesn’t get the inner workings of universities and that things aren’t always so black and white.
While yes, Melody makes me happy, it doesn’t mean that it’s right for the two of us to be together.
I could lose my job. Or much worse, I could lose Connor, and that’s just not something I’m willing to risk.
“Well, this sucks,” Connor grumbles, pushing back from the table. “I swear, nothing good can ever happen to us.”
“Hey now.” I reach for his arm. “Don’t say things like that. We’re very well off, and there’s a lot more to be thankful for than there is to complain about.”
“Yeah, right.” He snorts. “This whole thing probably means that Dorian and I won’t even get to be friends anymore. We’ll have to just talk occasionally, and he’s like the only friend I have who actually likes me for who I am. All the kids at school are snobs.”
“Well, maybe we can find a different school for you to attend.”
He rolls his eyes at me, his near-teenage attitude kicking in. “Right, because the answer is to always run away from the problem. That’s what Mom did, you know? She wasn’t happy with us, so she just left.”
“That’s more complicated—”
“Maybe, but thisisn’t.If you care about someone, you stay and you fight for them. It’s stupid to walk away from someone just because it might make people mad.”
He’s right. And I wish I could take his advice. But not this time. If I fight for Melody, it’ll do a lot more than just make people mad.
“I’m going to bed.” He shakes his head. “Forget it.”
“Connor, wait,” I call after him, but he ignores me, stomping down the hallway and disappearing into his room.
I know he’s only twelve, but at the same time, he sounded more mature in the last fifteen minutes than his mother has acted in the last fifteen years.
Why did she have to threaten me? What’s the point of ruining my life?
I try to push the thoughts away, but they hurt. They hurt worse than I want to admit.
Ever since our split, she’s been out for blood, trying to make my life more miserable than ever. She saw her opportunity today, and she took it.
And if she goes through with it, it’s going to ruin my life.
I push back from the table, the screeching of the chair across the tile floor like nails on a chalkboard. I scoop my phone up from where I set it, half tempted to call Greg and pick his brain some more. I know it’s useless.
He’s said his piece, and honestly, I know he’s right.
But I just wish there was a way to save my job.
I push the chair back into its place and pick up the coffee mug. I dump the rest down the sink, and then wash the mug. Numbness settles in my body.
I don’t want to think about anything at all. I know no amount of pleading will change Madeline’s mind.
If she wants to go to the school with the information, then she’s going to do it. And in that same regard, there’s no way in hell that I’m going to back down and let her take my son halfway across the world. That’s not the answer. The answer isn’t to cave to her.
I stare out into the front yard from the kitchen window, the solar lights sprinkled throughout the yard.
