Always

Chapter 44

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My jaw fell open in shock as I gaped at him. Both he and my mother had snapped their eyes to me, silencing their voices as they stared at me. It was clear they hadn't expected nor wanted me to find them like this, in the middle of a raging argument.

Not a word was uttered as we all looked at each other. If it hadn't been for Harry's reassuring hand on my back, I don't know what I would have done. I was so confused by the sight in front of me I was having trouble processing what was going on.

"Joey..." my mother said, the first to recover her voice. I tore my gaze from my father and tried to close my mouth, which was still hanging open.

"What's going on?" I asked, surprised at how steady my voice sounded.

'Honey, can we talk later? I need to finish talking to your father," she responded, shooting an angry look at him in the corner.

"No, I want to know what's going on and why there are shattered dishes everywhere," I demanded, quickly growing frustrated. I refused to be treated like a child.

"No, sweetie, I swear we'll talk to you as soon as we're finished here," she said. My father had yet to say a word. I looked back and forth between them, both of them seeming to be on the same page. About this, at least.

"Fine," I huffed angrily. "Nice to see you, dad," I said sarcastically. I hadn't seen him in months and this is what happens the first time he comes home? Great. I turned sharply and almost ran into Harry's chest, surprised how close he had been standing behind me. Grabbing his hand, I drug him behind me up to my room, making sure to slam the door as hard as I could behind me.

"What the hell is that about?" I seethed, not really asking Harry as much as I was venting. I paced hurriedly across my room while Harry hovered by the closed door, watching me with a look of concern spread across his face. "Why were they fighting?"

"I don't know, babe," he said calmly. I continued to pace back and forth, barely hearing him.

"Was my mom throwing dishes? At him? What did he do?" I turned sharply on my heel, frowning at the ground as my mind raced a thousand miles per hour.

"He hasn't been home for months... but it's for work, so she can't be mad about that, right?" Harry continued to watch me, not interrupting my monologue. "What if... oh my god, what if he cheated? What if they're getting a divorce? What if he has another entire family somewhere and we're not good enough for him anymore and-" I was cut off by a sob cracking out of my throat, which surprised me. I had been so angry, I hadn't been aware I was about to cry until that had happened.

Instantly I felt Harry's arms around me, pulling me tightly against his chest as my hands flew up to my face, swiping at my eyes vigorously as tears started to fall. I had never seen my parents fight like that before, and it scared me. Harry hugged me to him, shushing softly in my ear as his hand stroked the back of my hair soothingly, allowing me to sob uncontrollably into his chest.

"It's okay, babe, you're alright..." he whispered, trying to calm me down. "You don't know what happened yet, remember."

I sniffled and took a deep breath. "I know but it's gotta be bad, Harry. I mean I've seen them fight before but never like that... they usually stay so calm..." I trailed off, my mind reeling with the few memories I had of them fighting.

Just like all couples, they would get into spats, but never like this. They would fight about normal middle-aged couple things: bills, work, taxes, cars, normal things. Whatever this was, it was something else, something worse.