“I’m serious,” he said.

Mom laughed and I braced for impact. Here we go, I thought.

“Sure, whatever, go,” she said. “Have a nice little vacation. I’ll see you in a few days. Can you take the recycling on your way out?”

The silence was heavy and cold. I shivered, pulled a coat over me, and lay down on the closet floor.

“I’m serious,” he said again, his voice drained of anger. “I can’t do this anymore.”

I became very, very still.

“Don’t make me laugh,” Mom said with a scoff. “You’ll never leave me. You need me. You need to be married to me. You need a villain in your story. You like making other people fall in love with this tragic hero you so love to play.” She projected strength at the beginning of her short speech, but now her voice shook with anger. “What do you tell them? Do you say we’re only staying together for the kids? You must sound so noble, so self-sacrificing. You love it. You love having a villain in your story, you need it. What would you be without me? A lonely, pathetic middle-aged divorcé,” she finished, leaving the house in an eerie silence. No angry footsteps or slamming doors. I didn’t hear Dad leave. For the first time after one of their fights, I didn’t hear anything at all, and that was somehow scarier.

• • •

I met Jack at the lake just as the park emptied for the evening. “Come here,” he said when he saw me, folding me into a hug. “What happened?” I’d told him I needed to see him, but not why.

“My parents,” I said. “It’s nothing new, it’s—” I couldn’t finish.

“Hey, it’s okay.” He took my hand, leading me to one of the swinging benches that overlooked the entire reservoir. “It’s okay to be upset.” We swung slightly with the breeze and I leaned into his embrace, resting my head on his shoulder. “Just tell me what happened.”

“My parents—I think my dad might really be leaving this time.” I told him some of the things my mom had said, how she’d laughed at him. They had a pattern, but this time they broke it.

“Jesus.” Jack ran his free hand through his hair in shock.

“It seems worse this time, but then again it feels worse every time. I don’t know why I even care anymore.”

“Of course you care.” He pulled me closer, kissed the top of my head softly.

“I wish I were stronger. Like Elise.” She almost never cried. She always seemed to know what to do. She was made of steel, unbreakable.

“You’re wrong,” Jack said. “You are strong.”

“No,” I began to protest.

“Let me finish.”

“Okay.”

“I wasn’t going to tell you just yet, but I went to the pool for the first time last week in almost a year, and that was because of you,” he said, pulling away to look at me. “I was in such a dark place when we met, but you inspired me, Remy.”