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"Oh, Drew," she wailed stumbling across the kitchen in his direction. "It was so awful."
Grateful he could finally do something, he pulled her into a hug and held her close, glad she couldn’t see his face now, because he definitely had tears in his eyes.
"He made it out to be my fault. I never talked to him about his job, never gave him the physical relationship he needed. I wasn’t good enough of a wife." She lifted her face, looking devastated. "Do you think I was a bad wife?"
He shook his head violently. He would’ve denied it even if he had thought so, but he could remember so many times she’d given up things for Jeff. She’d raised Jeff’s children with almost no help from him. She’d stayed home and cooked and cleaned when she could’ve gone out. She’d been the perfect housewife, even though she’d worked forty hours a week at the bank. She’d worked so hard.
"Listen to me," he growled, clutching her face in his hands. "He was just caught at his mistress’s house. He’s going to say anything right now to keep the blame off him. He’s going to make any kind of excuse he can. No one likes to admit they’re one hundred percent to blame."
"But I never—"
"If he was that miserable, he could’ve told you about it a long time ago instead of finding someone else. Mandy, he was wrong."
A new string of tears started. Worried he’d only made the matter worse, he sat her at a chair at the table and hurried to the stove to make her a kettle of hot tea. Still remembering she liked to brew tea when she was upset, he dipped a teabag into a mug of hot water once it was ready, spooned in a teaspoon of sugar and placed it in front of her.
She reached out immediately and wrapped her hands around the cup. He opened his mouth to warn her it was hot and to wait a minute before she took a drink. But then he realized she just wanted to hold the mug, like she was cold and needed some warmth and comfort.
"How’re the kids?" she asked.
"They slept the entire night and are still in bed."
She nodded. "Good."
He caught sight of a box of Kleenex and snatched it up, bringing it to the table as he sat across from her. He passed her a single sheet and she wordlessly used it to dab at her wet cheeks.
"Thank goodness they still think he’s in Denver. I don’t know what I’m going to do when it’s time they think he should come home."
Felix and Lucy were more like he had been, Drew realized. They wouldn’t be so concerned about their father’s absence. Where he’d been a sister’s boy, they were momma’s babies and wouldn’t miss Jeff. Natalie, on the other hand, would hurt.
"We’ll have to … to … work out a custody arrangement," Mandy admitted, fresh tears welling.
Drew pulled another tissue from the box and handed it over. She took it gratefully and blew her nose.
"What all happened tonight?" he finally asked.
"We fought mostly," she admitted. "I blamed him, and he blamed me. And then he said, ‘I can’t live like this anymore.’ And I was like, ‘live like what?’ I had no idea he’d been so miserable, Drew. If he was that dissatisfied why didn’t he come to me? Why didn’t he tell me? I just don’t understand."
Not sure how to respond, Drew sat there, ready with another Kleenex.
"All I can remember is back when we were dating and he took me out to the park in the middle of the night and sang the Boston song, Amanda, to me. It was so sweet. I think I fell in love with him right then." Her eyes were so tear-stained they seemed to float in their sockets. "What went wrong?"
He shook his head, unable to answer. "I don’t know, Sis. I don’t know."
•
It was almost noon by the time Drew made it home. He’d already called his one appointment scheduled for the day and cancelled. Every muscle in his body screamed from exhaustion. He ignored them, tramping through his house to the back kitchen.
He opened the fridge and yanked out a soda, crushing the aluminum can in his fist when he was done drinking.
He’d spent a majority of the morning with the kids in order to give Amanda some time alone. Even his brain was worn out. He plopped onto his kitchen stool located at the end of the cabinets and just sat there.
The world hadn’t come to an end, but it was definitely pausing. One era had ended, and the next had yet to start. Drew rested his elbows on the counter, thinking what he should do next. As he contemplated, there came a knock at his door.
Thinking Amanda still needed him to watch her children, he slid off the stool and hurried toward the front room.
But it wasn’t Amanda and her three children.
It was Jeff.
