Ashley stepped back into the kitchen and began to hum to herself. “The weather is nice out. Why don’t you all go and sit outside, and I’ll bring you all some freshly squeezed lemonade?”
Lucas and Sylvie were mumbling under their breath as Lily took each of their arms and steered them in the direction of the sliding glass doors. After a brief pause, Amy hurried after them, pausing to give Ashley an apologetic look over her shoulder. Outside, the sun was high in the sky, set against a backdrop of clear blue skies, and a warm breeze drifted past. In silence, Lily helped Amy retrieve a few foldable chairs, which they set in the middle of the backyard.
Lucas and Sylvie pushed their chairs closer to the wall, with a few overgrown trees leaning over from the neighbors’ house. Lily waited until Amy sat down and pushed her chair closer. Amy’s heart was still doing odd little somersaults, and her mind was still racing to come up with an explanation.
But all she could think about was the document she’d left open on her laptop for her art project. A document she wasn’t ready to share with anyone just yet.
“We’re sorry we just showed up,” Lily began with a quick look at her siblings. “Lucas and Sylvie thought this was a conversation they’d better have in person.”
Lucas glanced up and cleared his throat. “We want to know why you left.”
Amy blinked. “Oh, well, I already told you both why I left. I wasn’t happy anymore—”
“How come you never said anything?” Sylvie interrupted, her eyes boring into Amy’s. “You and Dad have been together for a very long time. How could you just…leave?”
“Sweetheart, there’s a lot you don’t know about your father and me, and there are things I am not going to discuss. Private things, but it has nothing to do with either of you.”
Lucas and Sylvie looked at each other and said nothing.
Lucas looked away first, a myriad of emotions dancing across his face, starting with anger, hurt, and confusion before settling on frustration. “If it had nothing to do with us, then why didn’t you tell us in person? Or even over the phone? Why did you send us an email?”
“I shouldn’t have done that,” Amy admitted with a wince. “But I was afraid I wouldn’t have the courage to leave otherwise, and I had to. I couldn’t spend one more second in that house.”
Sylvie leaned forward, and her breath quickened. “But don’t you see how much it’s hurting Dad? Can’t you see how much he misses you?”
“You’re all he talks about. He barely even goes to work anymore,” Lucas added with a frown. “And the other day, he got into a fight, and I had to interfere to stop him.”
Amy froze. “I—I had no idea, obviously, and I’m sorry, but it doesn’t change anything—”
“He’s spiraling because of you,” Sylvie snapped in a thick voice. “He’s a complete mess, and it’s not fair that we’re being asked to choose sides.”
“Sweetheart, I would never ask you to choose sides. He’s your father too.”
Sylvie stiffened. “That’s not what Dad said. He said you’re trying to drive a wedge between us, so we’d choose you.”
Amy’s stomach dropped. “That’s not true. I love you both, and I don’t think either of you deserves to be in the middle.”
She shouldn’t have been surprised Eric was using them like this.
She’d expected it, but it still felt like being punched in the gut repeatedly.
Of all the roads he could’ve chosen, of all the ways to retaliate, Eric had chosen the one method he knew would get her to listen.
All of the money and the property didn’t matter to her.
But her kids?
She’d go to the ends of the Earth for them.
“Lucas, Sylvie, I understand the two of you are upset, and I’m sorry to have to bring this up, but Er—Dad is trying to manipulate both of you right now,” Lily responded, her eyes darting back and forth between the two of them. “He knows he won’t be able to get Amy to go back any other way.”
Lucas folded his arms over his chest, and his expression hardened. “Why shouldn’t she go back? Why shouldn’t she find it in her heart to forgive him?”
Amy swallowed past the lump in her throat. “Because some things, you just can’t forgive, and again, this has nothing to do with either of you.”
Sylvie’s eyes were filled with tears when she peered at her. “Then why didn’t you come to us with this? How come you didn’t even think about staying with either of us?”
“Instead of coming all the way out here.” Lucas made a vague hand gesture, his gaze dropping and his lips pursing together. “We’re your family too.”
