Wild Ride - The Alternative Version (Book 2)

Chapter 63~It's Just For The Best

Abbie's POV

I must've fallen asleep after Dad left or something because the next thing I knew when I rolled over, I looked at the clock and saw that it was almost seven o'clock. I missed supper, but I don't care. I don't have much of an appetite now anyway. 

I flung the covers off of me and got out of bed, running my fingers through my hair and letting out a large sigh. My eyes felt heavy from all the crying I did before I fell asleep. I think I hurt Dad again when I wouldn't let him touch me, but I'm not apologizing this time after the way he responded to my last apology. I'm not apologizing to Kaylee any time soon either because I'm right, the fact that she doesn't even know what she's talking about because she's so young proves it. 

I opened the door and went down the hall, and before I could even get halfway down the stairs, I could hear the arguing voices of my parents. They weren't as loud as that night Kaylee got in bed with me, and I don't think they were as angry sounding, but I still didn't like it all the same. They never argued before, now it's almost every night, and when they don't argue it's like they don't exist to each other. 

Hesitating, I wondered if I should run back to my room or continue downstairs to listen. I wanted to know what it was they always had to argue about. What was so conflicting that they couldn't solve whatever problem they had? So, I quietly crept down the stairs around the corner towards the kitchen, where their voices were coming from. I stopped just outside the room, pressing myself back against the wall, staying out of sight. 

"All we do is argue, Jimmy. If we speak to each other at all, it's because we're arguing." Mom said.

"We do not."

"And now we're arguing about not arguing." 

Dad was quiet for a moment. "Well what am I supposed to do about it?"

"I don't know, I really don't, because I feel like you only married me because we have kids together and you feel like it was the right thing to do or that you had to or something." 

"C'mon, you know that's not true." 

"No, actually, I don't! That's what you display to me, that's how you make me feel, and that's your own fault. I'm pretty sure this isn't how a marriage's supposed to work." 

"Like you would know anything about that, your parents divorced after it took them years to figure out they grew apart." He spat, and my jaw dropped. How could he say that to her?

"Oh that's nice, Jimmy. That's real nice. And F.Y.I, that's not really why they divorced. They divorced because my father got tired of my mother's shit, just like I'm getting tired of yours!"

"Oh, really!?"

"Yeah, really!" 

"What are you going to do about it? Divorce me!?" Dad demanded, and then everything went quiet. It was quiet like that for a while, so I peeked around the corner to look, just in time to see Dad's face take on a really scared expression as Mom continued to say nothing. "Elise, no, I didn't mean that. I don't want you to divorce me, I really don't." 

Very quietly, I heard her say, "I've been thinking about it for a few days now. I think it would be best for both of us to go our separate ways." Mom paused. "I want the divorce, Jimmy."

A divorce? A divorce!? No, no, no, this can't happen! They can't divorce! I felt like being sick. Who are these people and what have they done with my parents?

I backed down the hall to the entryway and quietly slipped out the door, running across the yard down to the sidewalk. I had to get out of here, I had to get away. I don't understand how they could do this, how they could so easily give up on each other. I let tears slip down my cheeks as I ran, not even really sure where I was going.