I tried to see Dad’s reaction, but he looked down at the floor. Christ. I could tell Dad didn’t want this.
“How dare you…”
“How dare I?” I screamed back. I was beside myself. “He has one setback, and you leave him in the lurch! Things get a little complicated, and you can’t go to the spa, you can’t blow money every day at the mall, Dad merelysuggestsyou might need to get a cheaper car, and bang! You want a divorce.”
“That’s enough, Kamila,” Dad said.
“I don’t know what makes you think you can talk to me like that, you spoiled little brat,” Mom hissed.
I roared back at her incredulously, “Spoiled! I’m the one who’s spoiled?”
My mother’s mouth opened to respond, but then Dad’s fist struck the coffee table, and we all fell silent.
“That’s enough!” he shouted. “This isn’t up for debate. We’ve made our decision, Kamila, we’re getting a divorce, and we know perfectly well that you don’t like it. But we need to talk about how things are going to proceed and—”
“I’m going with you,” I told him without hesitation. “I’m notliving with her. And I’m sure as hell not leaving you alone, Dad.”
“No. You’re staying with your mother.”
I looked over at Cam, who was frozen and listening attentively.
“We want to do this in the most civilized way possible. And right now, I’m not even sure where I’m going to be living. There’s not much work for financial advisers in Carsville, so I’ll have to go somewhere else. I’m trying to stay as close to home as possible, but there are no guarantees. You and your brother are halfway through the school year, and you don’t need the disruption, especially now, when you’ll have to start applying for college. You need stability, and that means staying here at your home with your mother is the best thing.”
“What?” My eyes were filling with tears. “Dad, I… I don’t want you to go.” I felt like a little girl, completely unequipped to deal with my emotions.
“I’ll try to come see you guys on the weekends…”
“Maybe, Roger. Don’t get ahead of yourself. There’s a lot that’s still up in the air. You shouldn’t go making promises to the girl you can’t keep.”
I looked at her with hatred. “Don’t call megirl. And don’t come at me with any bullshit about promises and whatever. He’s my father, he loves me, hewillcome see me, won’t you, Dad?”
“No one said you won’t see him,” my mother said with irritation. “But as long as you’re in this house, I’m your guardian, I make the rules, and visitation is something your father and I need to work out together.”
I laughed bitterly. “I’m eighteen, Mom. Try me with your rules and see if I don’t just move out.”
“Kamila…” my father rebuked me.
“Don’t you start in too,” I told him. “If I want, I’ll move in with you right now. There’s not a damn thing she can do about it legally.”
I stood up, walked around the coffee table, and stompedupstairs.
I couldn’t believe it.
Just when I thought my mother couldn’t fall any lower.
I cried, hugging my pillow, scared of the uncertainty I was facing. How could she leave him? She was the one who had been unfaithful. She was the one who had lied to all of us. Now she had split two families apart. It was her fault Taylor and Thiago’s sister was dead. It was her fault Katia Di Bianco had lost the thing she loved most…
Mom was the one who should leave. This house was my father’s.Shehad never worked a day in her life. She was nothing more than a kept woman. She’d grown up in a wealthy family, and her biggest aspiration in life had been to find a husband who would pay for all her trips to spas, spiritual retreats, and discounted Chanel bags.
She was pathetic.
I cried myself to sleep and opened my eyes a few hours later. It was nighttime, and the wind was bellowing against my windows.
I sat up on my pillows and heard a knock at the door. I didn’t answer, but it cracked open, and in peeked the person I loved most in this house.
“Kami,” Cameron said, walking over now. “What’s divorce?”
I closed my eyes and hugged him.
