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This would be easier with Harper by my side. Her presence always soothes me. Not that I want to subject her to dinner with my broken family, but I can acknowledge she would make this easier for me.

After a day of almost-normalcy at the school—not so much the assembly or urine tests, but everything else—and football practice, things appear less tense than before. Zach and Tanner are gone. And hopefully they stay gone.

The sex last night didn’t hurt in leveling me out. I needed to control something.

Sitting down with all of us in one room helped. We don’t know how to make William let go of whatever he’s looking for or release his hold on Luke. We’ll get there. It’s just going to take time.

As I walk into the dining room, my parents are already seated at the table, waiting for me. Even though I’m surprised, my footsteps don’t falter. I nod to my father. Usually they wait to come to the table until I’m here, so they don’t have to talk to each other. Of course, lately my father doesn’t bother to come to dinner at all.

Tension rides my shoulders as I walk to my chair, but I try not to let it show. Even though I want this to be over, part of me still has hope they can work this out. That somewhere in them is the family I had as a child.

Dad leans back in his chair. He seems aware of the tension in the room but is perfectly at ease with it. It’s what makes him dangerous in a courtroom. “How are you and your friends?”

I take the seat across from Mom. My gaze flicks over her features. She’s as put together as always, but her eyes are rimmed with red, and her hands are in her lap. She looks down at her hands.

“We’re doing okay.” There’s food on the table, but no one’s served themselves yet. I don’t reach for it. Suddenly my appetite vanishes. I’m almost afraid to hope that they’ve come to some kind of agreement. Whether it’s to go to counseling to save their marriage or surrender to the inevitable, that’s the question.

Dad clears his throat. “Look, I’m not going to bullshit you. We know the past few years have been rough. We talked, and we know we made it that way. For that, we’re sorry. Our problems shouldn’t have been your problems. You should have never been caught in the middle.” Dad inhales and looks at Mom like she might want to interject.

She doesn’t return his gaze, but turns her face to look away from him, tipping her chin up almost defiantly. His gaze drops to the table before he returns it to me.

He looks determined. “Your mom and I have filed for divorce.”

A weight lifts off me. Fucking finally.

“You can choose to live with either of us when this is finalized. We realize you only have this year left before college. So we aren’t filing for custody, but will do a fifty-fifty split. You can decide who you live with.” Dad glances at Mom again, and his eyes soften.

There’s regret when he looks at her. I’m sure at some point they loved each other. There was a time when we were all happy. I don’t know what happened to change that. But I’m done with this tug of war. Finally.

“We’re trying to keep this as amicable as possible. For your sake.” He sighs and his attention returns to me. “For now, I’m going to move to an apartment close to my office. You and your mom will live here while we finalize the divorce. We’ve already negotiated a separation of assets. So this won’t take long.”

Mom doesn’t look at Dad and tips her chin up proudly.

He scrubs his hand over his face. “We both agreed to put your college fund in a trust for you that neither of us will be able to access. We don’t want you to have to worry about your future.”

This is it. What I’ve been waiting for since sophomore year, but it’s not the explosion I thought it would be. It’s less of a bang and more of a whimper. It doesn’t matter though. To me, it’s just a relief.

“When are you moving out?” I reach for a dish to serve myself. Might as well eat.

Mom turns at my blasé tone. Her eyes narrow on me. Maybe she wanted the drama, the storm. Maybe she expected me to rail at both of them, but fuck, I’m so done with all this. I can see her winding up to say something.

I cock my head and lean forward, anticipating the barbs. She can hurl them my way if she wants. She helped to make this house hell. If she wants a fight, I might be tempted to give her one back.

The doorbell rings, deflating all of us. We all turn to look toward the foyer.

“I’ll get it.” Dad stands and walks to the door.

Mom sighs and picks at the salad in front of her. I’m guessing none of this was her idea. Maybe she planned to attack my dad in front of me. Without him in the room, it would be useless.

“Evening, Cam.” A man’s voice echoes into the dining room.

“What’s going on, Doug? You usually don’t make house calls.” My dad’s tone is purposefully light, but there’s tension underlying it. It’s not uncommon for Dad to get calls during dinnertime but not usually visits.

Is it part of Zach and Tanner’s case? Is there some new development?

“Sorry to spring this on you, Cam.”

I hear the rustle of paper in the foyer and then footsteps. Doug Spears, the sheriff, enters the room and glances at me before focusing on my mom.