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“I know I didn’t do anything wrong,” Gia snapped.

Great, I was off to a good start. I cracked my knuckles while I waited for Jim to add something. When he didn’t, I continued, “We both love you, and we can all still do things together as a family. It’s just your dad and I need time apart to work on some stuff.”

“What stuff?” Gia asked, her voice cracking. Neither of us said anything. “You aren’t going to tell me. You don’t think I’m old enough to handle the truth.”

“It’s not that,” Jim said.

“Are you having a fight?” Gia asked.

“No. We need to work on issues in our lives separately right now,” I said.

“That’s bullshit. You’re getting a divorce.”

“No one said anything about divorce,” I said. Jim didn’t say anything; he just looked down at his shoes.

“I don’t want to be from a divorced family,” Gia said.

Now I was close to tears. It broke my heart to see my daughter so torn up. “I said we aren’t getting a divorce.”

Jim put his arm around her. “I won’t be living here, but it’ll be okay, I promise. I’ll see you a lot. I’ll take you out to dinner, and we can see movies on the weekends.”

Gia scooted even closer to Jim, which I didn’t think was possible. “Are you ever coming back?” she asked, looking at him with eyes welling up with tears.

“We’ll see,” Jim said.

“Where will you live?” Gia asked.

“He’s staying at Sam and Ellen’s,” I said.

“Not anymore. I just rented an apartment,” he said.

“You did?” I said. Had it gone that far? Was this permanent? “Did you sign a lease?”Please say no.

“It’s month to month.” He didn’t look in my direction.

“I’m going to go live with Dad.” Gia wiped her runny nose with the back of her hand. “Dad, will you help me move?” Why didn’t she want to stay with me?

“I don’t have a bed in the second bedroom yet,” Jim said. “It would be better for you to stay here for now.” For now? He was taking her over my dead body.

“When can you get me a bed?” Gia asked.

“We don’t know how long your dad will be in the apartment. He may not need to buy one,” I said.

“Stop lying. Dad’s never coming home.” Gia ran out of the room, hysterical.

I turned to Jim. “You rented an apartment? Does that mean you don’t want to try to work things out?”

“Right now, no,” Jim said, standing up. “I have to go.”

“You’re going to leave me here to deal with all this?” I was incredulous.

“There wouldn’t be anything to deal with if it wasn’t for you.” He took his keys out of his pocket and walked toward the door. “I’ll talk to Gia again on the drive to the city.”

“You’re taking her to New York?”

“Yeah, for the weekend. It’s a surprise. I’m taking her to seeHamilton.”

“You got tickets toHamilton? Are you freaking kidding me? You knew I wanted to see that show, and you said the tickets cost a fortune?”