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“See?So what are you afraid of?Get it over with so you can stop worrying and get on with your life.”
“I-I will.Today,” she said.Because he was right.It needed to be done just so she could breathe again and stop stressing over something she couldn’t change.
Bryson lifted his hand in a wave and let himself out the door, and she watched him walk away before closing and locking it behind him.
Hadley opened the package of pain relief pills and downed them, sitting and sipping the coffee to give them both time to kick in.
Once she’d finished, she went upstairs to shower, staying beneath the hot spray so long it cooled and forced her out.
She didn’t want to continue lying or deceiving her family and friends, and the only way to do that was to do what Bryson advised.Rip the Band-Aid off and brace herself for the fallout.
But he was wrong about torturing herself for nothing.He didn’t know her parents—namely her mother.Nor how they would react to such news.
Hadley got dressed and put on a bit of makeup to cover the shadows beneath her eyes.Prepped for battle, she texted her parents to let them know she was on her way.Her father had retired several years ago from the hotel industry and now acted as a consultant, working from home, and her mother rarely left the house before ten.
Hadley used the short walk and salt air to clear her head and practice what she’d say, but all too soon, she stood on their porch.She took one last fortifying breath before knocking.
“Hadley,” her mother greeted as she opened the door.“I just saw your text.”Cheryl’s gaze narrowed.“Are you all right?”
Hadley took in her mother’s perfect appearance.As always Cheryl Dummit looked dressed to impress.
Hadley shoved her dark sunglasses atop her head and entered, walking into the living room, where she spotted her father reading.“I have something I need to tell you both.”
“About the house?Is something wrong?”her mother asked.
“It’s not the house.”She inhaled and fisted her hands until her nails dug into her palms.“Mom, Dad…Kyle and I are divorced.”
Her mother gasped.Her father simply lowered his head and stared at her from atop his reading glasses.
“Hadley, that’s not… I can’t believe you’ve separated,” Cheryl said.“Surely you can work things out.”
“Not separated, Mom.Divorced,” Hadley said.“I didn’t want it, and I didn’t tell you because I’d hoped to work it out with him and stay together with no one the wiser, but…it didn’t.The divorce was final a little over a month ago.”
Her father stood while her mother sank onto the edge of the couch as though her knees went weak.
“You kept this from us for…for over ayear?”Cheryl asked.
More like several years given the problems they’d hidden from prying eyes, but… “I’m sorry.”
Her father silently left the room, and seconds later, Hadley heard a door open and close somewhere in the house just as quietly.
Hadley stood there, feeling very much like the wayward child in the principal’s office due to bad behavior.Her mother sniffled and wiped a tear from her cheek but another fell.Then another.
“I don’t know what to say.How you could’ve done this…kept this from us…”
“It wasn’t intentional.Not at first.”
“Of course it was!You should’ve told us.”
“I’d hoped it would work out, Mom.”
“But when you filed andknewthat it wasn’t going to?”her mother asked.
“By then I’d kept it secret so long… Mom, I was devastated.It tookmea-a while to come to terms and accept it.To be able to take a breath without wanting to… I’m sorry, okay?I’m the one who was betrayed, but it’s over and done and everyone needs to just…accept it.”
Her mother shoved herself to her feet and glared at Hadley.
“Well, I don’t accept it.You don’t give up on atwenty-five-year marriage.How could you?”
