“Good.” He nodded. “I thought I would take a half day tomorrow, help you get everything loaded up, then all of us could drive up to Sundham and make sure everything gets squared away.”
“That sounds good,” Harper said. “I know that Daniel had wanted to come. Do you think it’d be okay if he rode back with you guys? He’d ride up there with me.”
“Um, yeah.” Brian thought for a minute, then nodded. “Yeah. That should be fine.” He looked across the table at Gemma. “Does that sound okay with you? You’ll have to sit with him in the truck.”
“It’s fine by me,” Gemma said. “Daniel doesn’t bite.”
“I should hope not,” Brian said, almost under his breath.
“So…” Harper said when they lapsed into silence again. Gemma was barely touching her food, preferring to munch on chips instead of really eating. “It’s the last family dinner. For a while anyway.”
“Yep.” Brian smiled at Gemma. “It’s just me and you now, kid. Think you can handle it?”
“Yeah.” Gemma smiled back at him.
“I think we’ll manage,” he assured them with a lopsided grin.
The conversation ran dry again. While they weren’t the most chatty family on the planet, they usually talked freely. The tension of things to come was bearing down on them, though, and it was hard to make cheerful small talk.
“Part of the reason I wanted this dinner tonight was because Harper is leaving tomorrow,” Brian said, his eyes fixed down on his half-empty plate. “But that’s not the only reason. I knew this was my last chance to talk to you girls together for a while, and, um … I needed to talk.”
“What’s wrong?” Harper asked. “Is it cancer?”
“Harper!” Gemma said, appalled. “Why would you even ask that? Why is that the first place your mind goes?”
“Calm down.” Brian held up his hand. “It’s not cancer. I’m not sick. Everybody’s fine.”
“Sorry,” Harper said. “Just when I hear ‘sit down and talk,’ I immediately think bad news.”
“Well … stop that. Everything can’t be bad all the time.” Gemma leaned back in her seat, then turned to Brian. “What is it, Dad?”
“I’m divorcing your mother,” Brian blurted out.
Harper and Gemma instantly fell silent and just stared at him.
“Why?” Gemma asked, and once she spoke, the questions came out rapid-fire.
“What about Mom’s health insurance?” Harper asked, leaning forward on the table.
“The accident was almost ten years ago,” Gemma said. “Why would you stay married to her for so long just to divorce her?”
“Where is she gonna live?” Harper asked. “You can’t leave Mom out on the street.”
“Is this because Harper is going to college?” Gemma asked.
“If you can’t afford her insurance and college, you don’t need to give me any money. I already told you not to,” Harper said.
“Why did you go see her? Did you already know you were going to divorce her?” Gemma asked.
“How long have you been planning this?” Harper added.
“You both need to stop talking,” Brian said calmly but firmly. “I’ll explain everything to you if you just listen.” He waited until they were both quiet before continuing. “Thank you. I love Nathalie. Or I did. The way I feel about her is very complicated, but … we’re not a real married couple anymore. She’s not a wife.”
“She’s your wife,” Gemma said pointedly.
He shook his head. “I can’t talk to her.”
“Yes, you can,” Gemma persisted. “We talk to her. We see her every week.”
“I can talk to someone who looks like my wife and sounds like my wife, but she isn’t,” Brian said sadly. “I can’t tell her about you, or about my job. I can’t ask her questions. I can’t share my worries or concerns. I can’t laugh with her.”
“But Dad, she hasn’t changed in years,” Harper said, her tone softer and less accusatory than Gemma’s. “She’s been like this for a really long time, and you knew that. Why now?”
“I stayed married to her partially for you,” Brian admitted. “I knew it would upset you if I divorced her, and I didn’t want to abandon her. She’s sick. I know she is, and I didn’t want to be the guy that left her or couldn’t hack it.”
“But you can’t hack it,” Gemma said, and Harper shot her a look.
“No, there’s nothing to hack, Gemma,” Brian said. “This hasn’t been a marriage for a very long time. She is still family. She’s your mother, and she will always be a part of this family. That will never change. We just won’t be married.”
“Why now?” Harper asked.
“You’re getting older. And I see you girls, and the way you struggle to find a place. It feels like things have been in flux for a long time, like we can’t move forward and we can’t go back. And I need to make sure you feel like you have someplace strong, someplace safe to come back to, so you feel confident to venture out into the world.”