about this guy—and about you.”
At their furious expressions, she felt her breathing start to go strange. Tight bands wrapped around her chest. “Your father and I have been apart since last November. He doesn’t have anything to say about who I date. Or about anything I do.”
“He should,” Hailey said, straightening. Her eyes were…cold.
Disgusted.
“You were married for over twenty years, and you tossed him aside like he was garbage. Left him.” Hailey’s voice rose. “Did you know he started drinking? Because of you?”
This was…this was wrong. Lies. But Hailey had always been a daddy’s girl, had idolized Barry. And Valerie had reinforced her children’s belief in him, covering for him, propping him up as needed to keep from ruining his bigger-than-life image.
She’d been a fool.
“He was drinking before I left.” Valerie kept her tone quiet and reasonable.
“Yeah, I bet he was. Because he was trying to hold onto a marriage, hoping to be loved by someone who didn’t give a shit about him.”
“Hailey, that’s not—”
Dillon interrupted, his tone ugly. “He let you go, figuring you’d get your head on straight and return to him. Because he loves you—although, fuck, right now, I don’t know why.”
The words shot through her like knives, and her mouth went dry.
Her son, her baby, scowled at her. “I can’t believe you cheated on him; you’re sure not the person I thought you were.”
“Th-that’s not true, Dillon. I never—”
“Don’t even try to lie to us; Dad told us how it was.” Her son pointed a finger at her. “You need to go back to him and make it work. Put some effort into it this time.”
“Honey, we’re divorced. There were reasons I left him—and I’m not going to return to your father.”
“Yes, you fucking are.” Dillon’s voice rose to a shout—the kind of angry volume that had silenced Valerie since before she’d even learned to talk. “Or you can just write yourself out of my life.”
Somewhere in the back of her mind, she could hear her parents shouting at her. “You can just leave, Valerie. Leave and don’t come back.” Because they hadn’t loved her.
Didn’t her children love her at all? Taking a step back, she tried to find her backbone. Find the words to fix this.
She needed to speak, to tell them what had happened. But her words had dried up like desert sands.
When Dillon stood, so did her daughter.
Valerie pushed air through her throat, managed to find her voice. “Hailey, you don’t believe—”
“You screwed around on Dad, the best guy in the world. How could you, Mom?” Hailey shook her head.
“And he still wants you back.” Dillon snapped. “I couldn’t believe it, but he does.”
“You need to fix things, to go back where you belong.” Tears filled Hailey’s eyes. “Or…or you won’t see me or Luca again.”
The horrendous threat hit Valerie like a hammer to the chest.
Her children walked out, Hailey closing the door gently behind them.
“No,” Valerie whispered. And her heart snapped in half.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
How had everything gone so wrong? Valerie sat behind the desk in her small classroom as her students finished their essays. Don’t think of Hailey and Dillon. Of their cold faces as they walked away from her. Not now.
Her eyes still felt hot and swollen despite her bathing them in cold water before coming in.
Because she’d cried—oh, how she’d cried. When she was young, she’d been sure older people could handle anything. Adults never became upset, never cried their heads off.
Or spent hours thinking of the different things she could have said, how she might have found the right words to turn the disaster around.
Or would become so angry. At Barry, the lying bastard, but also at Hailey and Dillon.
How dare they not listen to her? How could they possibly think she’d lie to them or cheat on their father?
After a glance at the wall clock, she sighed and scrubbed her hands over her face.
How much of this is my fault? My doing?
She’d always felt parents should support each other, stand together, for the children. That it was good for the kids to see their parents as strong and honorable, worthy of emulation.
So when Barry was inconsiderate or forgetful or inconsistent, she’d fixed his mistakes, covered for him, or made excuses.
Because she’d been too insecure to initiate uncomfortable conversations and demand he pull his weight, she’d enabled him.
She’d been a fool.
It’d taken Finn to show her how honesty and openness should form the foundation for a relationship.
Gods, she wished she could stay home and try to come up with