Ali broke the news to Luca at dinner. As one could imagine, he didn’t react well to learning this was his last night in the only home he’d ever known. Tomorrow, after school, he will get on a different bus that will drop him off in Evergreen Harbor. Ali thought it would be easier to live closer to his job. But…yeah. “Mom’s house” and “dad’s house” is a thing in my kids’ life now. Naturally, he wanted to know why, and Ali glanced at me. I was too distraught to glare at him and show my true feelings. You wanna take my kids and expect me to explain why our family is breaking up? The audacity! Ali simply said sometimes mommies and daddies can’t live together anymore. I didn’t expect he would throw me under the bus, but I appreciated the discretion anyway.
He didn’t say this to Luca, but he submitted an application for divorce this afternoon. In a few days or a week, we won’t be married anymore. I knew I lost Ali the night he forced a confession from me, but I didn’t expect him to choose the nuclear option so quickly. He said figuring myself out would take longer than he was willing to stick around, but still! I figured we would just be separated for a while and reevaluate things later. But a divorce? That’s so…permanent! The distrust goes that deep? I’m sick. Literally sick. I’ve been so caught up in being angry and distraught over him taking the kids to think straight when I could have been trying to fix things, though I don’t know how. I mean, I can’t un-cheat. Still, I’ve wasted time, and now my husband is leaving for good.
But my baby is sad. I will have to unpack that stuff later. Making him feel better about the situation was the priority now. I pulled him into my arms and said everything would be fine. If Ali doesn’t think I’m trustworthy, maybe I’m not. If he’s so concerned about the kids living with me, maybe they will be better off with him. Ali is the best parent they could ever have. He’s smart, fun, and has strong values I’m sure he’ll pass onto them. They’ll grow up to be responsible, compassionate, and well-mannered sims because of him. My anger and anxiety about them leaving has nothing to do with being worried about their well-being and everything to do with me. So when I said “everything will be fine,” I meant it. Sure, they’ll have some bumps in the road because being a single parent is difficult. But I know Ali, and he will ensure Luca and Alessia’s lives are as best as he can make them. I just hope he doesn’t cut me out of it.
