Page 153 of Feels Like Home

“Answer me, you piece ofshit!”

“We’re cool, right Bri?” Dawson says, glaring atme.

“GRADY!” Blake shouts. “Get your ass over here,now!”

“Preston really wasright.”

I still don’t understand what he means by that but it doesn’tmatter.

Grady shut him up and came to myrescue.

Just like he alwaysdid.

“What about that night, honey?” my mom asks, bringing me back to thepresent.

“Um. Well, I guess I remember Dawson kept saying these weird things about how his brother was right, but it all kind ofblurred.”

“Preston wasn’t the first guy she’d had an affair with. Heather was with another man, well — several — but one inparticular.”

“What are you saying,Mom?”

“The day we found out your dad had cancer, I also walked in on himwith…”

“Heather.”

She nods and looks away, swipes a stray tear and clears herthroat.

“Dad cheated on you?” I whisper the words like they’re unbelievable. Because — they are. Unbelievable. Dad loved mom like she was his lifeline. At least, that’s what I always knew. Now I don’t know what tobelieve.

“You need to know that it was his onlytime.”

Scoff.

“It’s true, honey. He was in a bad way. You know that. He was feeling fantastic one day, and the next day he wasn’t. We had gone to the doctor and knew the possibilities. He was supposed to wait until I was with him to find out the results. He decided to go alone. You know what he found out. Shewas…”

“What? Mom. Justtellme.”

“Obviously, I wasn’t there, but he got home and had a few drinks. Well — a lot. He was upset. Rightfully so. And she saw his car in the driveway. She’d been kind of coming around wherever he was for a while. Trying to get his attention. You need to understand what a horrible place he was in. And drunk. Not that it makes it okay,but…”

She pauses, and I watch as her eyes close. As if trying to block out thememories.

“I walked in on her on top of him in the livingroom.”

I gasp. I can’t help it. If I walked in on Grady thatway…

“But. I just don’t get it. Dad was crazy overyou.”

Her eyes soften, and she reaches over and clasps my hand betweenhers.

In the corner of the room, I hear Hazel squeak, but she quiets down rightaway.

“Hewas.”

“So, he just, what, decided his love didn’t matter? Your love didn’tmatter?”

“No. See? This is why I didn’t want you to know. Hedidlove me. It wasn’t about that. His head space was messed up, and he just… made amistake.”

“Oh, so it’s okay to cheat on the person you devote your life to if they’re drunk and in a bad way? Mom. Do you know how messed upthatlogicis?”

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