Page 73 of Creed

It was you! They overheard you two talking. And when Austin asked me about it, I tried to make light of it. I even told him you had every right to be happy.

Brian:

You just love playing the victim, don’t you? It’s always the same with you.

You’re so self-righteous.

Me:

Says the man who moved his girlfriend in before the ink on the divorce was dry.

Brian:

Wouldn’t have had to move her in if you’d tried a little and stuck around.

Me:

While you banged your new girlfriend. Seriously?

And you told the kids I was the confused and unstable one. Priceless.

Brian:

You’re pathetic.

Me:

And yet you’re the one texting me at 7 in the morning trying to control what I say in my own house.

Brian:

You’re not getting away with this, Devin. You can count on that.

Me:

Don’t text me again, Brian. I’m done talking aboutthe choices you made.

I hit send beforeI could think about what I was doing.

Before the guilt could sink in, I tossed my phone onto the bed and went back to the bathroom to dry off and get dressed.

I should’ve never read that first message. It was too early. I should’ve known that it was going to be something ridiculous, but I never would’ve imagined that he would go off the deep end like he did.

But he always has a way of surprising me, and never in a good way.

His words still lingered in my mind:

You did this.You left. You broke this family. That’s on you.

You’re pathetic.

He’d calledme pathetic many times before. I could almost hear him saying it. It was like he didn’t know that I hadn’t spentyearsswallowing every betrayal, every lie, and every long night he didn’t come home. He knew I’d done it to keep the peace, and he knew, deep down, I simply didn’t care what he did. And that made me the villain.

My mind was a blur as I fixed my hair and put on my makeup. I made myself a bite to eat and drank some coffee before going to check in on the kids. They were on summer break and were both sleeping soundly and completely unaware of theconversation I’d just had with their father. I wanted to crawl in with them, close my eyes, and forget everything.

Unfortunately, I had class in less than an hour and had to get moving.

I left them sleeping, turned on the alarm, and forced myself out the door. By the time I got to campus, I was a mess. I tried to shake it off and focus on getting the day started right.