Raising Teens

Chapter 24

Rose

When Dad left, I lost all hope.

Everyone is glum. Mom's hands aren't as bad as I thought, just a bit red.

It's eleven at night, and the house is calm.

Mom is looking at the divorce papers again.

Silently, she throws them into the fire.

"I'm not going to sign them." She says, sitting back down.

Elliot is here now. I told him what happened, and I was crying, and he came over and he's been here since.

He feels responsible.

It's Dad's fault. He overreacted.

Mom reaches out, grabbing the coffee table, she flips it back.

I take a deep breath.

"Mom...the chances of a plan working now..."

"I don't know, Rose." She whispers. "I'm sorry this is happening guys." She looks down at her hands. "And I'm sorry I don't have a better answer."

When Dad left, she handed him the rings. She keeps looking down at her bare hand.

"He's not going to give in." Uncle Liam says. "He's probably already got a plan to fix this."

Nobody says anything.

Mom doesn't look so convinced.

She sighs slowly.

Nobody says anything.

Brecklyn

I feel really shattered.

All the kids look miserable.

Everyone looks miserable.

Everyone says we're the soul couple, that if we break up, they all break up.

Everyone looks bummed.

We all jump when loud music blasts outside.

It's a guitar. A country song.

Confused, Rose gets up and walks to the front door.

"Oh my god." She says. "Mom."

I sigh slowly, standing up. Everyone follows, confused.

Rose is on the porch now.

I step outside.

It's late September, so it's chilly outside.

All of us step outside.

The song starts singing.

We didn't care if people stared

We'd make out in a crowd somewhere

Somebody'd tell us to get a room

It's hard to believe that was me and you

There's flower petals all over the ground. The only flowers I like are daisies.

They're covering the ground.

There's black poles in the ground, and it's strung white twinkling Christmas lights all through the front yard.

Now we keep saying that we're OK

But I don't want to settle for good not great

I miss the way that it felt back then