“Amy, just listen—”
“No! There’s nothing you can say that will make any difference. And if Hunter Pickett dares step foot on my property, I’m calling the cops. He’s not coming anywhere near my daughter.”
Daniel exploded. “You haven’t changed a bit, have you? Jumping to conclusions, swinging your anger like a baseball bat, closingoff your mind to anything you don’t want to hear. I bet you don’t even remember how many times I tried to sober up, tried to do better. But it was never enough. I never made enough money, I didn’t do enough around the house—”
“You didn’t! You were always drinking, Daniel. Except for the first couple years of our marriage, you were never sober.”
“That’s not true,” he insisted.
“You were too drunk to remember!”
“I—”
“STOP IT!”
They both turned to see Britt standing in the hall, her body shaking.
“Stop... fighting...” She burst into tears and sank to the floor.
Chapter 26
Britt sat on the couch in the living room, staring at her lap, unmoving. She couldn’t bring herself to look at her parents or even tug on her shirt hem. It was bad enough she put her channel on private. Ever since the Picketts’ party, she wasn’t motivated to do anything, especially art. But she was getting so many DMs and questions in the comments of her videos, she had to do something. She was losing ad revenue, but she felt she had no choice.
And now her parents were fighting again. Shame filled her as she sniffed back more tears. Hearing her parents fight like they had when she was a child had kicked her into the past, when she would cry herself to sleep at night while they had World War III in the other room. After all this time, nothing had changed. They were still at each other’s throats, and she was still that little girl who couldn’t hold in her tears.
“Britt,” Mom said, her voice sounding thick. “Please. Talk to us.”
Us.Hearing her mother say that word was strange. The fact her parents were in the same room together not battling right now was a miracle. And she knew why. They were worried about her.
She was worried about herself.
Britt didn’t like ignoring her mother, but Mom had been overwhelming ever since the night of the party. Hovering and smothering, and the only way to stop her was not to engage. At least her father sent her minimal texts, likehiandthinking ofyou. Britt managed to respond to those with one-word answers. Maude too.
Hunter had completely stopped texting her. No surprise since Britt refused to answer him. She couldn’t seem to do anything, including work. Every time she thought about art it brought Hunter to mind, squeezing her heart until she was sure it would burst. Then there was Savannah, whom she hadn’t heard from at all.
She’d lost her boyfriend, her best friend, and if she didn’t get it together, she would lose her job. But she didn’t care. She was falling down an abyss and she didn’t know how to stop.
“Brittany,” Dad said. “Your mother and I want to help you.”
The calm concern in his voice compelled her to look at him. “I don’t think I can be helped,” she said, her voice so tiny she could barely hear it.
“Oh, honey,” Mom said. “Sure you can. This is just a small setback—”
“Small?” Britt’s eyes narrowed. “My life is a wreck, Mom. How can you call that small?”
“I didn’t mean...” She turned to Dad, silently pleading.
Then he did something that shocked Britt to the core. He took Mom’s hand. Even more unbelievable, she didn’t shake him off. “Regardless of our relationship, we both love you. I know I have a long way to go before you fully trust me, but your mother has always been here for you, and no matter what happens, she always will be. We both will.”
Britt wiped her weepy eyes with the back of her forearm. “It hurts so much.”
“I know.” Mom grabbed a tissue and blew her nose. “A broken heart is the worst.”
Dad winced.
“I wish I’d never met him.” She’d said the words over and over in her mind, but this was the first time she’d spoken them out loud. “It wasn’t worth this.”
“Are you sure?” Dad said.
