Chapter 4

Dad did not leave with Marissa.

For the first time since I had known her, she looked shocked.

“Daniel,” she said sharply. “We are going.”

Dad stood on our porch like a man finally seeing the trap around his ankles.

“No.”

Marissa blinked.

“What did you say?”

“I said no.”

Tyler stared at him.

Lily stared too.

So did I.

Dad’s voice shook, but he kept going.

“You made me believe Tyler needed me there more than Ethan did.”

Marissa folded her arms.

“I didn’t make you do anything.”

“No. You didn’t. I chose it. That’s on me.”

She nodded like she had won.

Then Dad added, “But you knew what you were doing.”

Her face hardened.

“Careful.”

“Or what?”

The question surprised all of us.

Maybe Dad most of all.

Marissa’s voice dropped.

“Don’t embarrass me in front of them.”

Mom laughed once.

“Oh, now embarrassment matters?”

Marissa ignored her.

She looked at Dad.

“After everything I’ve done for you, you’re going to stand here and accuse me?”

Dad looked tired.

“What have you done for me?”

“I gave you a home when Claire threw you out.”

Mom stepped forward.

“I did not throw him out. He left after cheating.”

My stomach dropped.

Lily whispered, “What?”

Dad closed his eyes.

I looked at Mom.

Then at Dad.

The air changed.

That was the thing about family lies.

They never stayed in their boxes.

Marissa smiled.

“Oh. They didn’t know?”

Mom’s face went pale.

Dad said, “Marissa, stop.”

But she was already bleeding poison.

“Your father didn’t just move on after the divorce. He moved on before it.”

I looked at Dad.

My voice came out flat.

“Is that true?”

Dad’s silence answered.

I stepped back.

For months after the divorce, he told us the same line.

Sometimes adults stop being good together.

I had believed him.

I had even defended him to Mom once.

Now I felt stupid.

Mom’s eyes filled.

“I was waiting until you were older.”

“I’m seventeen,” I said.

“I know.”

Dad took a step toward me.

“Ethan, I made a terrible mistake.”

“Which one?”

He flinched.

“Because I’m losing track.”

Marissa grabbed Tyler’s arm.

“Come on.”

Tyler pulled away.

“I want to stay.”

She stared at him.

“No, you don’t.”

“Yes, I do.”

His voice was shaking, but he stood straighter.

“I want to tell Ethan I’m sorry.”

“You have nothing to apologize for.”

“Yes, I do. You used me.”

That sentence hit her like a slap.

Dad looked at Tyler with grief written all over his face.

The kid wiped his eyes fast.

“I liked when you came to my games,” he told Dad. “But not if it made Ethan sad.”

Dad’s face broke.

“I’m sorry, Tyler.”

Marissa’s expression went cold.

“Get in the car. Now.”

Tyler looked at Dad.

Then at me.

Then at Mom.

Mom sighed.

“He can sit inside until things calm down.”

Marissa snapped, “Absolutely not.”

Mom’s voice turned steel.

“You brought a child into a confrontation on my property. He is not your prop.”

For one second, I saw why Dad had loved her once.

Mom could be quiet for months, then cut through a room like lightning.

Marissa reached for Tyler again.

He stepped behind Dad.

That did it.

Marissa’s mask slipped.

“You ungrateful little brat.”

Tyler flinched.

Dad turned on her.

“Do not talk to him like that.”

She laughed.

“You’re defending him now? After your son poisoned him against me?”

I had barely spoken to Tyler.

But in Marissa’s story, someone always had to be guilty except her.

Dad said, “Leave.”

Marissa stared.

“What?”

“Go home.”

“Our home?”

“My apartment,” he said. “And I’ll come get my things tomorrow.”

Her face went white.

“You’re choosing them?”

Dad looked at me.

Then Lily.

Then Tyler.

“No,” he said quietly. “I’m choosing to stop making children pay for adult selfishness.”

Marissa’s eyes filled with tears.

For a second, she looked wounded.

Then she looked at me.

“This is your fault.”

I almost laughed.

“No. I’m just the one who stopped pretending.”

She left alone.

Tyler stayed on our couch for two hours while Dad called his grandmother to pick him up.

His grandmother arrived angry at Marissa, apologetic to Mom, kind to Tyler, and confused by all of us.

Before Tyler left, he stood in front of me.

“I really am sorry.”

I nodded.

“You told her he should come to my game?”

“Yeah.”

“Thanks.”

“It didn’t work.”

“Still.”

He looked down.

“I watched your touchdown online. It was awesome.”

That should have felt good.

Instead, it hurt.

“Thanks.”

After he left, Dad stood in the foyer.

Nobody knew what to do with him.

Mom finally said, “You can sleep in the guest room tonight. One night. Because you’ve been drinking and I don’t want you driving.”

Dad nodded.

“Thank you.”

Lily whispered, “Is Dad coming back?”

Nobody answered.

That night, I lay awake with too many new truths.

Dad missed the championship.

Dad cheated before the divorce.

Marissa used Tyler.

Tyler was not my enemy.

Mom had protected us from one truth and accidentally made room for another lie.

At 2 a.m., I heard Dad crying in the guest room.

I did not go to him.

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But I did not hate him as cleanly as I had the night before.

That made everything harder.