Chapter 15
Mom comes back with the boys about an hour later. I’ve been hanging outside my father’s room since I got back from the cafeteria. The sandwich was dry, but after fighting with my husband over breakfast, I was too hungry to care.
She pulls me aside while the boys slip into his room.
“Hey, honey,” she says gently. “How did it go?”
I look at her. “You knew.”
She doesn’t pretend. “He’s been wanting to talk to you for a while now. The heart attack finally gave him the courage. So… how did it go?”
“Not well,” I say. “He apologized less and excused himself more.”
She nods slowly. “He’s just…”
“I don’t need the speech,” I cut her off. “He already gave it to me. I’m going home.”
She follows me down the hallway. “Kate, your father loves you. Isn’t it time to… let it go?”
I jab the elevator button harder than necessary. “Let it go? Like it’s so fucking easy?”
“Watch your language,” she snaps. “I’m still your mother.”
I turn to her, my voice rising. “I’ve been swearing since I was sixteen. You know, when you abandoned me. So I’m going to say ‘fuck’ as much as I want.”
She flinches. “You are so angry all the time. When will you forgive us? What will it take? Your father nearly died.”
“And so did I,” I shoot back. “When Alex was born, I almost died. But do you know who never even showed up?”
She hesitates. “Your grandmother said you were doing fine. That you were fighting well.”
“Exactly,” I say, the words sharp. “I was fighting. Alone. While my parents were off traveling the world and my husband was…”
She cuts in, voice defensive. “Was what? Say what you want about us, but Aiden has always been there for you.”
I stare at her, too tired to yell, too full to swallow it down. I speak quietly now, no longer having the energy to keep making the same argument. “Aiden was too busy with college. Grandma was old when I was a kid. I was all alone.”
She looks at me then, realising this isn’t something she can undo. “We didn’t know,” she says, barely above a whisper.
The elevator door dings open.
“You never asked,” I say, stepping in.
She stays behind. The doors close, sealing me off, and my phone buzzes. It is Aiden. A short message. Just checking in.
But I stare at it, unmoving. Something has shifted. Something firm. I cannot live like this anymore. The house will be empty. The boys are here. Aiden and I will be the only ones home. We’ll have space and silence.
I decide.
Now is the time.
I take my time driving home, the afternoon sun cutting through the windshield.
I need to gather my thoughts, sort through the wreckage in my mind before I walk through that door.
I don’t want a divorce. But I cannot keep living this way.
Not with the weight of everything I have buried pressing on my chest.
I’ve been holding it in for so long that it spills out in sudden bursts, snapping, storming, slamming doors. I need to stop it before it happens again in front of the boys. Before they start shrinking in my presence. Before they grow afraid of the silence in our home.
They don’t deserve this.
They don’t deserve a mother who is so miserable, she sometimes forgets how to breathe.
When I get home, the house is silent. I leave my keys in the bowl by the door, take a breath, and walk straight to his office. The door is half-shut. I knock once, then push it open.
Aiden is behind his desk, sorting through a stack of papers, glasses low on his nose, pen resting against his lip. He looks up as I step in and sit down across from him.
“Hey,” he says, setting the papers aside. “I texted you.”
“I know,” I say. “I thought this conversation was better had face to face.”
His brow tightens. “Did something happen?”
I don’t answer, just stare at him, and I know my face says it all. Are you really going to ask me that? After everything?
He swallows. “Oh.”
I nod once. “What happened this morning can’t happen again.”
He leans forward slightly. “I agree.”
I fold my hands in my lap to stop them from shaking. “I think it would be best if you moved out.”
He blinks. “Move out? Wait, what?”
I keep my voice steady. “Our relationship has been hanging by a thread for a long time. And this… this recent development severed that thread.”
His face darkens. “You’re kicking me out over a mistake I made ten years ago?”
“I’m asking you to leave because I can’t live like this anymore,” I say. “This isn’t about the past. It’s about the present. And it’s about what’s ahead if we keep going like this.”
He shakes his head, anger flashing across his features. “What about the boys? This is my house too.”
I hold his gaze. “I would move out, but I have a feeling the boys would want to come with me.”
His eyes narrow. “Because you told them.”
“I didn’t mean for them to find out the way they did,” I say. “That being said, I don’t regret that they do know.”
Standing, I walk to the window. The sky is dimming, the rays of the sun a little less harsh. I press my fingers to the glass wishing I was outside.
“I’m really good at spotting liars,” I say quietly. “Really good. And I kept asking myself, why didn’t I know? Why didn’t I see it back then? Why not in the years since?”
I turn to him, my arms folded across my chest. “And the answer is, I don’t know you. Not really. You’re the man I sleep beside. You’re the father of my children. But somewhere along the way, I stopped knowing who you are.”
He shifts in his chair. “I’m your husband.”
“No,” I say. “You’re the man who works all day, then goes to the gym or out with friends, then comes home to either have sex or fall asleep. You take the boys on trips sometimes, but I can’t remember the last time you and I were together. Really together. Just the two of us. Outside our bedroom.”
He’s quiet now. No excuses. No deflection. Just silence thick enough to drown in.
I speak softly. “I’m not asking you to leave to punish you. I’m asking because something in me broke. And I don’t know how to fix it while you’re still here pretending everything’s fine.”
“I will never poison the boys against you,” I say, my voice firm. “Or anyone else, for that matter. As long as you do the same.”
Aiden opens his mouth to respond, but I keep going.
“Because I will not stay quiet while you tell people this is my fault.”
His face tightens. “I would never do that.”
I give him a look. One we both understand.
“It might not be your choice,” I say. “Your mother will come after me the second she finds out.” And I think, to be honest, so will mine. They adore him. Aiden, the man who stuck by their reckless, pregnant daughter. That’s how they see me. That’s how I saw me.
His jaw clenches. He nods once, slowly. “I’ll talk to her.”
I turn, ready to leave the room, but he stops me.
“Kate, just because I'm leaving doesn’t mean I’m going to stop fighting to get you back.”
I hesitate, then look down at him. “The person you’re fighting for doesn’t exist anymore.”
He doesn’t answer right away. He just stares at me, like he wants to say something that matters and isn’t sure how.
“I love you,” he says.
I reach for the doorknob.
“Kate,” he says again, and this time I stop, but I don’t turn around.
“If I make an appointment at Orange Cove tomorrow,” he says carefully, “for the two of us… will you come?”
I stand there, thinking. Everything inside me is tired and fractured, but not numb. Not yet. I let myself consider it. Not for the past. Not for the marriage that cracked open in the light. But for the future, whatever shape it takes.
I glance over my shoulder and give a short nod. Not a promise, not forgiveness. Just a beginning.
I may not be the same. But neither is he. And maybe, we owe it to ourselves to find out what is left.
Aiden packs a small bag and puts it in the trunk of his car.
He doesn’t say much while he does it, just moves through the house in quiet, deliberate steps.
Neither of us really knows what to expect, so we don’t talk about it.
Not yet. We agreed we’d wait to say anything until the boys were home. We'd say it together.
My mom texts to say she’s dropping them off on her way to the airport to pick up my brother. I reply, okay , and nothing else.
We sit in the living room, waiting. I keep smoothing the same fold in the blanket on the armrest. Aiden is perched on the edge of the armchair, elbows on his knees. He doesn’t look at me. Just stares at the front door.
Then it opens.
Jack walks in first, backpack slung over one shoulder. Alex trails behind him, hoodie zipped up halfway even though it’s warm out. They both pause when they see us.
“Hey,” I say, trying to sound casual. “Can you two sit down? We need to talk for a minute.”
They exchange a glance but obey, settling onto the couch across from us. The room feels too quiet. Even the air feels heavier.
I look at Aiden. He gives a tiny nod.
Turning back to the boys, I say. “Jack. Alex. Your dad and I… we’ve decided to take some time apart.”
Alex frowns. “What do you mean?”
“We’re separating,” Aiden says, his voice calm but careful. “Just for now. This isn’t a divorce. It’s… space. To figure things out.”
Alex blinks at him, then at me. Jack just sits back with his arms crossed. “Where are you going?” Alex asks, voice small.
“I’ll be staying near my office,” Aiden says. “That apartment building you guys know, the one with the orange awnings.”
“Where you stayed during COVID,” Jack says.
Aiden nods once. “Yeah. There.”
Silence stretches a little too long.
“You’ll still see me all the time,” Aiden adds quickly. “Nothing’s changing between us. We’ll still hang out. Still do boys’ nights. You can text or call anytime, and I’ll come.”
Jack speaks again, but it’s softer this time. “But it is changing.”
Aiden’s face shifts, his shoulders falling just a little. “Yeah. I guess it is.”
Alex picks at a loose thread on his hoodie. His voice is small, careful. “Is this because Dad cheated?”
The question hangs in the air for a beat too long. I glance at Aiden, neither of us knowing how to answer.
"It's not just that,” I say gently. “Your dad and I have been struggling for a while. But we’re going to work on us. And no matter what happens, we will always be a family. That part doesn’t change.”
Aiden shifts slightly, his voice steady but softer than usual. “I’m so sorry for what I did. I broke your mom’s trust… and yours too. I know that. But I’m going to be better. I promise you both that.”
He glances at them, then at me, before finishing, “Things are going to be a little different for a while. But we’ll make the best of it. Together.”
Alex nods slowly, still quiet. Jack’s eyes are locked on the floor, but I see his shoulders drop just slightly. All I want to do is put my arms around them, protect them from it all. But I can’t, not from this.
Aiden looks heartbroken. I almost want to take it back, tell him to stay.
But we need this. What happened this morning cannot happen again.
He gets up and walks to the boys, they’re sitting still.
Aiden squeezes Jack’s shoulder and ruffles Alex’s hair before carefully stepping away.
I follow him out the door, watch as he gets in his car and peels out of the driveway.
An hour later, my phone buzzes.
Aiden: Dr. Claudia. 11 AM tomorrow.
I stare at the screen, then text back one word.
Okay.