“I just don’t understand,” Kyra told Tig as they lay in bed that night. “I know Dad still loves Mom. I even asked him outright. I said, ‘Do you still love Mom?’”
“What did he say?”
“Nothing. He just looked away and started crying. Then Mom said that I needed to stop. So I asked her point-blank, ‘Do you still love Dad?’”
“And what did she say?”
“She said no,” Kyra said. “It was so . . . I don’t know. . . . Like it was nothing. Like I’d just asked if she wanted sausage on her pizza.”
Tig almost laughed. She’d never seen Aunt Laurie eat a slice of pizza in her life, and if she did, Tig was sure it would have been on a whole grain pita with low-fat cheese and some sprinkling of wheat germ or something. Aunt Laurie would never have risked her thighs to sausage pizza.
“What did your parents tell you?” Kyra asked. “Did they tell you the reason?”
“No,” Tig replied. “They said I was too young to understand. That it was an adult thing.”
“That’s such a cop-out,” Kyra said. “Look, people don’t just fall out of love and decide to tear their family apart, do they? There’s got to be a reason.”
“I don’t know,” Tig said. “Adults are weird, Kyra. They don’t make any sense.”
“That’s the part that kills me,” Kyra said. “I need it to make sense. At least then, if I could understand, I could deal. But this whole ‘Poof! It’s over!’ stuff . . . I just can’t.”
“Just know I’m here for you, Kyra. And our friends will be too. They’ll be so sorry to hear about this.”
“No!” Kyra sat up in bed. “You can’t tell them!”
“What? Why not?”
“It’s too humiliating!” Kyra said. “No one can know!”
“How is this humiliating?” Tig asked. “You didn’t do anything. These things just happen. Take Will, for instance. His folks divorced when he was little. Lots of people at school have divorced parents. Olivia’s dad is her stepdad. Her real dad moved away when she was a baby. You know that.”
“That’s fine for Will and Olivia and whoever else,” Kyra said. “But this is me. These are my parents. And I’m sure that when they realize what a huge mistake this is, they’re going to get back together. And when they do, I don’t want everyone talking for the rest of my life about how they almost got divorced.”
“Kyra, it doesn’t sound like they’re going to get back together. My mom said it was over and there was no saving it.”
“No offense, Tig, but Aunt Julie doesn’t know everything.”
Tig didn’t even try to defend her mom. Part of her hoped Kyra was right. And the other part of her was just glad to see Kyra riled a little bit. Because at least when she was riled, she wasn’t crying and heartbroken.
“Promise you won’t tell anyone?” Kyra asked.
“I promise,” Tig said.