"I-I've been having an-an affair." The words were barely out of Ben's mouth before my knees collapsed and I found myself on the floor.
"You what?"
"I'm so sorry, Charlie. I never meant for it to happen. I love you..."
"You don't."
"I do. Charlie, I love you so much. What I did was idiotic. And stupid. And moronic. And a million other things. It never should have happened." He knelt in front of me, reaching out to touch my cheek but I slapped his hand away.
"Don't touch me."
"Charlie..."
"No. Get away from me. I don't want to see you. Get out of the house."
"What?"
"I said, get out. Go somewhere. Anywhere. I don't care."
"I can't - won't - do that, Charlie. I love you. I want to make it up to you."
"No."
"I'll do anything. Charlie, please. Please, I love you." Tears were forming in his eyes as he begged but I shook my head, not able to look him in the eye. This man whom I'd trusted with my life, my heart, had suddenly betrayed me in the worst way possible.
"Get out."
"Please..."
"GET OUT!" I screamed suddenly, my emotions taking over and I shoved him away from me, scrambling to my feet and rushing up the stairs to our bedroom. I heard Ben come after me and I was suddenly thankful we'd put a lock on our door. He couldn't get in.
"Charlie, talk to me. Please. We can work it out." His voice was muffled by the door as I slid down it to sit on the floor again, bringing my knees up to my chest and hugging them tightly.
"Leave me alone."
"We can work it out."
"No. Go away."
"Please, Charlie. Please let me in."
"I said no."
"I'll break it off with him in the morning, I promise." Something in me snapped and I jumped up, yanking the door open to glare at him.
"In the morning? Are you kidding me? You think that's going to make me feel better? What would make me feel better is if you left this house, tonight, and didn't come back." I hissed.
"I won't do that. I want to stay here. With you. I love you."
"Well you should have thought of that before you had an affair with some random pretty-boy."
"I'm sorry, Charlie. I'll do anything to make it up to you."
"This isn't like you brought home the wrong thing from the store. You can't just 'make it up' to me. You cheated on me. For god only knows how long." I laughed bitterly.
"Six months."
"What?"
"Six months. That's how long the affair's been going on."
"Oh my god! You've been sleeping with someone else for six months!?"My voice was slowly rising again as my anger boiled over. "You're telling me that you thought it was okay to cheat on me for six whole months?"
"No, I-"
"Get out! Get out of my house! I don't want to see you! I don't want to hear you! Just get out!" By the end I was screaming and I heard, somewhere in the back of my consciousness, Nathaniel's bedroom door opening.
"What's going on? Why are you yelling?"
"Because Ben is a lying, cheating asshole who needs to leave this house right now before I do something we'll both regret." I said slowly and deliberately. Ben's eyes went wide but he stood his ground.
"I'm not going anywhere Charlie. Not until we've worked this out."
"Worked what out?" Nathaniel was looking between the two of us, confused and upset.
"I made a mistake, Charlie. I never wanted to hurt you." Ben continued as if Nathaniel hadn't spoken.
"Hurt me? You didn't hurt me. You broke my heart and my trust. After everything we've been through, you go and do this..." I trailed off, shaking my head and moving to shut the door but Ben held it open with his hand.
"I'm so sorry Charlie. I wish, more than anything, I could take it back. But I can't. So I'm going to do everything in my power to get you to trust me again. To love me again."
"I'm sorry, Ben. That's not going to happen." I said bitterly and finally shut the door in his face. I locked it and somehow stumbled to the bed where I curled up in a ball and cried myself to sleep.
--------------------
"Dad?" I woke to Nathaniel knocking on the door but I just lay there for a moment, the memories of last night slowly filtering into my head. "Dad, please come out."
"Can you get my phone?" I called to him.
"Okay. But you have to open the door to get it." His footsteps retreated and I listened for sounds of Ben still being here. There were none so I got up and went over to the door, unlocking it and waiting for Nathaniel to come back.
"Dad?"
"I'm here." When he came back, I opened the door just a tiny bit and held out my hand.
"Dad, I'm so sorry about what happened." Nathaniel hugged me tightly and I wrapped my arms around him.
"What did Ben tell you?" I muttered.
"He told me he'd been having an affair. I- dad, I wanted to defend you so I..."
"What did you do?"
"I hit him."
"Hit him? How? Where?" Nathaniel had never been a violent person so his admission surprised me.
"I sort of punched him in the face."
"Sort of?"
"Well, I don't think I hit him that hard. But it definitely shocked him."
"Oh Nate. Thank you for doing that. You didn't have to."
"I did. Dad, he cheated on you. And he can't get away with that." I smiled sadly at my son.
"Unfortunately, he can. And he has for a while. There's not a lot we can do now. Do you know where he is?"
"He said he was going to sleep at work. And that you could call him if you wanted. I told him there wouldn't be much chance of that."
"If I could never talk to him again, I'd be happy. But we're still married, for now. And there's you and Alexis to think about."
"You're going to leave him?" Nathaniel's eyes were wide.
"I have to. I can't stay with him if he's not happy being with me anymore. It wouldn't be good for me. Or for you two." I hugged Nathaniel tightly. I'd promised him that Ben and I would always be a family for him and now, suddenly, our little family was falling apart. "I'm sorry Nathaniel."
"It's okay, dad. I'm just worried about you."
"I'll be okay. I just need some time. You think you can walk Alexis to school today?"
"She's gone."
"What?"
"Dad, it's eight-thirty. When you weren't up at seven, I called Alexis' friend's mom to come and get her."
"Oh. I thought you meant she'd gone with Ben."
"No, he left last night after I hit him." As Nathaniel spoke, a car horn sounded from outside. "Oh, that's my ride. Matt's mum is driving me."
"What would I do without you?"
"I don't know. I also called Headmistress Marsden and told her the basics of what happened. She said you don't need to come in for the rest of the week or until you feel better."
"Thanks, Nate. I love you, buddy." I hugged him again.
"Love you too, dad. Get some rest. I'll see you tonight." Nathaniel let go of me and darted down the stairs, leaving me standing alone in the silent house, wondering what had just happened. Less than twenty-four hours ago, I was happy and content with my life. Now my life was in tatters around me and I had no clue how to fix it.
