byaprilwinters

A new chapter of The Brennans: Uncomplicated is out — The Shave.  An ordinary Saturday. Or so it seems.
          
          A year after where we left them in CHOICE... only they wouldn't leave me. Dylan and Catherine kept showing up at the edges of my day, the way people you've lived with do. So I followed them into the bathroom one Saturday and stayed longer than I meant to.

Whether you are a person that despises cheaters and would never forgive or a person who believes that sometimes in life betrayal happens despite loving your significant other - reading about this type of betrayal is painful and uncomfortable when it is portrayed as raw as it was in this book. If I were to try and understand Dylan - I think he has prided himself in always being in control, and taking care of everyone around him. The dependable person. The rock, the steady one. It may not have been face front in this book, but there were many snippets of how he took care of Catherine and his kids throughout the yrs. So when big changes started happening, Elizabeth leaving, Catherine going on her trip, his kids not needing him as much, mid life crisis -  him being the dependable one, he started feeling not as needed anymore, he started to lose his sense of self. In walks Riley. He made the choice to explore something (deluding himself that as long as he keeps this to himself and contained nobody gets hurt)  and let himself do something for himself and only. Not as the rock of the family, not living as how his family views/depends on him. And it unlocked something he didnt foresee. Not changing his love for his family, but realizing things about himself. The problem is - him being the steady one was just as much part of him as the new things he realized were missing from him. He realizes that his choice to do something for him - is no matter how you explain it an unfathomable betrayal to the people he loves the most. He realizes he should have made a different choice when he started to feel uneasy. And in the end he chooses his family again while sacrificing parts of him he never realized were there. On top of that he now has to carry for the rest of his life, that he failed being what he always was to his family. The loyal one, the caretaker, the steady one. All because of wrong but human (forgivable or not) choices.
          
          

I need to talk about this story because I went into it thinking I knew exactly who I was supposed to hate.
          
          Older married man. Younger woman. Affair. Midlife crisis.
          
          Easy, right?
          
          Except it was not easy at all, and that is what made this story so uncomfortable.
          
          Because Dylan does betray Catherine. There is no way around that. But the part that messed with me is that he does not feel like a cartoon cheater. He feels like a man who loves his wife, loves his family, has built an entire life that looks successful from the outside… and still somehow feels like a stranger inside it.
          
          And honestly? That made it worse.
          
          Catherine is not written like a clueless wife or a flat obstacle in the way of the affair. She feels real. Their marriage feels real. Lived in. Familiar. Heavy with years and routine and tenderness. That is what made the story hurt more, because it did not give me the comfort of fiction where everything is dramatic enough to judge easily.
          
          This felt too real.
          
          It felt like watching people make choices that damage everyone, while still understanding exactly how they got there.
          
          And Riley… I ended up feeling sorry for her.
          
          Because by the end, I was not only asking, “How could Dylan do this to Catherine?” I was asking, “How many people did Dylan have to hurt just to feel alive again?”
          
          The ending hurt because Dylan choosing Catherine made sense, but it did not feel clean. It felt like he put himself back together in the shape everyone needed him to be.
          
          But what happens to the part of him that woke up with Riley?
          
          And what happens to Riley after being someone’s awakening, but not their choice?
          
          I liked this story. I did not enjoy reading it. 
          
          When is your next story? 

I think Catherine choosing to move forward is what guts Dylan. He might have expected an explosive reaction but Catherine wants to move past that and is challenging him to choose to be all in or not. He might not recover of the fact that he chose to cheat in a time when everything in their life was going well. He alluded it himself, Catherine might have cheated but they were both in the darkest moment of their life, contrast that to where he is. He had it all but chose to start something with Riley. He might have some affection for Riley as she represents a world with no responsibilities and accountability like his, but he knew she was temporary. Still, I feel that he wouldn't have ended the affair had Riley stay after their conversation, after telling her blatantly that he wouldn't choose her over his family. Nonetheless, cheating is hurtful, whatever the context is..may it be like I assumed what happened to Catherine or what happened with Dylan. It's truly devastating. I also imagine what will it entail for the children, they always suffer the brunt of it. Thank you author for this story! it's one of the most raw and real I've read so far 

I truly believe Dylan  didn't love Riley.  He loved the world she represented. I think Dylan was a man who realised that he was getting older. And he got scared. That fear created feelings inside of him that Riley's actions,not Riley,the woman, filled. If he had gone and talked to someone about his fears,this story wouldn't have been born. But the idiot didn't.  He grabbed onto the world that Riley represented (youth,vitality,thrilling, etc) and arrogantly told himself that the affair was what he was owed. Dylan realised,and he said that himself,he let their (Catherine and his) partnership down. Dylan didn't love Riley. Despite what I read,and the inferences he made about how he felt whenever he was with Riley,Dylan was able to let Riley go quite easily. The affair was the sympton,not root cause as devastating and wrong as it was. I'm probably the minority in my thoughts,and I'm ok with that. .

Hi Author, I know a lot of readers are not happy with Chapter 18. They'd like to see the aftermath of the affair when she finds out. I was looking for that too,waiting to see if she finds out.  And I was really wanting to see how this was all going to pan out. And then chapter 18 hit,and I thought Bravo. I really liked that. You're right. It's not a neat ending,but for these characters,it was the right ending for them. Catherine and Dylan chose to put their love for each other, their children, their marriage and their history above their flaws. Affairs are symptoms of what's missing inside. I'm  going on the premise that Catherine had an affair,so these characters had something missing inside of them when they did what they did. It's not an excuse,but for me,it is an insight as to why. Dylan's affair was about him,not about his love for Catherine.  It was risky, and I don't think he thought she'd not know. But he soon found out she knew. And he readily accepted her terms because he does,deeply love his wife. I'm actually in awe of Catherine and how she chose the terms of what the rest of their future would look like. It must have been so hard for her,but as she said, they'd already gone through that process, and she chose to start a new,making sure he understood that she would not tolerate or accept him coming back into the marriage without all of him. That's why she said, go talk to someone else about it. 
          I know I'll probably get some feedback on this and probablynot good ones. But that's my perception of your story,and I'm sticking to it. I'm hoping that they continue growing stronger in the last chapter.Thanks for a great story.  
          
          
          

Love your writing  

I was wondering if you might share your opinions on Riley and her general character as a person. It’s easy to hate the OW, but if I take that out of the equation, I still don’t like her. I struggle with that feeling because my lifestyle and travel habits were close to hers for many years in my life. I don’t judge her for her inability to put down roots at all, but I do find her to be very selfish in a lot of her actions. Like shagging a client in her workplace and stating that her days will be her own in Japan/India when the company is paying her to be there.  Not to mention asking a married man to leave his family. I know you see these characters as having many layers like most people have, but she just seems lost and has a crappy moral compass. I was just curious if you had intended her to come across that way.

Hi, if I may ask is Catherine a rich man's daughter? What's the position of Dylan early on their marriage that he was only with his family during weekend, coz he just turned CEO only lately, correct me if I am wrong. Why didn't he uproot his family by buying a house near his work instead of buying a bachelor's pad? He was already thinking it will b used to other purpose someday. Whatever is the ending whether to leave and walk away from Dylan by Catherine/wife is brave and strong. However, if she choose to stay that's strength/ courage to accept and stomach even being back stabbed for almost a year by your husband.
           Dylan was thinking if all his effort he contributed on their 30 yrs of marriage will be forgotten or erased w/his Choice to betray/ cheat on Catherine. His children I think they will easily forgiven him bcos he's a good father that shows up and good provider.
            However, for example, for 29 years you were helping somebody but on the 30th year you didn't able to give something bcos you lack of funds would that someone forget his generosity he made? Of course not, they will understand and still b grateful despite not helping this time. 
          It's another thing, when Dylan on their 30th year he decided by Choice to betray and become unfaithful to his wife in w/c should Catherine forgive or forget?Thanks.

The story ignores the fact that the life he enjoys was built through years of sacrifice - his own and Catherine's. His heartbreak over losing Riley is portrayed as sad, he's heartbroken, yet there is very little acknowledgment of the betrayal involved of Catherine who helped create the life he now takes for granted. I can't help but wonder how different she might seem if she were twenty years younger, free from obligations, and allowed to live entirely for herself.
          
          His affair isn’t one of growth, it's an escape from responsibility. Riley is a lot younger than Dylan, so let's be real, that is why he was initially attracted to her to begin with and then he found that she was different than him and has fallen deeply in love with her and out of love with his wife. Riley is opposite of him - of course she is, she is everything different becuase she isn't carrying the weight of a spouse, children, and decades of shared commitments. Whatever both are just really horribly selfish people, any way you slice it.