him •jack avery

19

Grayson POV

My mom and I walked into her room and shut the door. We hadn't even spoken yet and I could practically feel her pain already. I paced around for a second before saying anything. I didn't want to upset her anymore than she already was. She insisted she was fine but I could tell she wasn't. She broke down late at night in her room, I could hear it sometimes. The next morning I could always see the puffiness of her eyes too. She always denied it. She wanted to be the strong one.

I wanted to know the truth, was my dad cheating on my mom? What were these "business trips" really?

"Mom?"

"Yes sweetie?"

"Whys dad always gone?"

"You know he has a lot of business trips"

"Mom. I'm not 7 anymore. I know something going on"

"it's complicated Grayson"

"Mom please." I begged. I couldn't take it anymore. He didn't seem happy with us anymore and I had to know why.

"I don't want to upset you"

"Please mom, I can handle it"

"Grayson.."

"No, please mom. Don't "Grayson" me. I need to know why this family's breaking apart faster than we can glue it back together"

She was now on the verge of tears. This had to be really serious, my mom never cried in front of me. She wiped her eyes and sat down. "He-he has another family Grayson"

Tears welled up in my eyes before I had even fully processed what she had said. I thought for a minute and it finally all made sense. I sat down beside my mom and started crying. She hugged me and explained the whole situation.

"You see, you were born and he went mad. He started saying things like 'he never wanted you' and things like that, but it was his idea to have you.
One day, he got fed up. You were in your crib crying and I was trying to calm you down. He stormed into your room and started yelling. He was throwing things and just going crazy. He packed a bag and I didn't see him for a week. He finally came home and apologized for everything.
I was young and stupid, I forgave him. When you were a few years old, he started going on all these business trips. One day, I called his boss and he told me that there were no business trips.
Your father didn't know that I knew until he came back from one of them. I confronted him and he denied everything. On his next "business trip" I followed him. I sent you to your aunts and I followed him. I drove for hours a few cars behind him and then I watched him go into a random house.
I watched a lady and two kids greet him at the door and jump into his arms. I waited a while and then I knocked on the door. A woman answered the door with her kids behind her. I asked where he was and he walked up to the door. I swear I'd never seen him look so shocked. I screamed and yelled for a while then I got back in the car and drove home.
I wanted a divorce. I really did. But if I did that, we wouldn't be able to afford all of your lessons and classes. I would've left him but I wanted you to have the best life possible. I wanted you to be able to have all these amazing opportunities. Without him, you wouldn't be able to have any of those.
I did it for you Grayson. I love you so much and I didn't want you to have a horrible life. He came home and we agreed to keep it from you so you could have a great life. Please don't be mad at me Grayson London. I love you so much"

Hearing all of this literally shattered my heart. He treated her so horribly and she still stayed with him. I felt so bad. If I hadn't wanted to so many different activities then my mom wouldn't have had to stay with him. But no, I was determined to do every hobby I could. Why was I so selfish? I didn't stop for a minute and think about my mom. All I did was think about myself. I felt like such a horrible daughter. I should've known. I should've known she wasn't happy.