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“Yes, you would, Ryan. At this point in the process, I think brutal honesty is the only way to go. You’re leaving, and I’m staying. I’m shocked you want to take the kids, though. I guess if Daniela agrees to go along, it will be okay.”
“You don’t trust me with our kids?”
“It’s not that, Ryan, and you know it,” Lisa said, her voice getting shrill. “This will not be easy for them, either. My poor boys!”
She wailed that last part, sitting on the bed with her head in her hands, the reality of what was about to happen to her perfectly organized routine stripped of any façade.
“Their father will have to step up to the plate,” Ryan said, throwing socks into a suitcase, referring to Dan Chua, the boys’ birth father.
“They want you, Ryan. They’ve never minced words, those two. You see how they are if Dan comes and they’re cuddled with you! They refuse to move. Damn! I didn’t think this through.” She looked up at him. “Ryan, please reconsider what you’re doing.”
“Honey, you want me to go because I can’t get my shit together.” He meant the infidelity.
“Oh, right! Blame me.”
She got up from the bed and stormed out of the room. After washing her face in the hallway bathroom, she’d nab Daniela and get her support. The kids had to be told while Ryan packed that he was leaving.
After sending the nanny a text, Lisa met her out in the hallway, and they presented a united front with the children, who were playing together in the huge playroom.
“Kids, gather round,” Lisa said, picking up Sierra, who had pulled a book off a shelf and swatted her mother to put her down.
“What’s up,madre?” Marcus asked, high fiving his brother.
She pointed to the floor. “Sit. Megan, you, too.” Niece Miranda was there as usual, and that meant she’d have to hear the news. “Sorry, Mandy. You, too.”
“Oh God, is this about Uncle Ryan?” she asked, terror on her face.
“It is,” Lisa answered. “You older kids know that he’s been struggling.”
“He’s been acting like a jackass,” Megan said.
“Meg! Stop it,” Lisa cried, but backpedaled when her child cried, too.
Lisa went to her and pulled her over, petting her with a free hand as Sierra screamed to get down.
“Is Dad leaving?” Marcus asked.
“He is. I hope it’s not permanent, but I can’t promise it won’t be. He wants freedom now that I can’t give him if he’s living with us.”
She didn’t want to mince words, and Daniela frowned when Lisa didn’t sugarcoat the reasons.
“What can I say?” Lisa asked in defense. “I don’t want him to go, but he can’t date other women and live here with me.”
“I understand,” Marcus said. “I’m mad at him.”
“Me, too,” Dan Junior cried. “He’s a jerk.”
Lisa didn’t correct him. The kids huddled together, sad. Lisa and Daniela stood nearby with the girls, watching the detritus of a broken relationship scatter. Lisa heard footsteps outside the playroom.
“Oh no, he doesn’t,” she hissed.
The last thing she wanted was for Ryan to make excuses. Meeting him outside the room, she gently pushed him away from the door. “Your presence is not needed. They are crying and sad in there, and you’ll only make it worse.”
“When do I get to tell my side?” he asked belligerently.
“Never! Your side is that you want to play around. I already told them you want to date. Young kids don’t need to hear more than that, Ryan. Nothing you can say to those kids will mean anything if you don’t say ‘I love you enough to give up the need to mess around on your mother.’”
“Okay, you’re right. Script something for me to say to them when the time is right.”
