“I wonder how you’ve made her feel?” he said. “She might be too immature right now to recognize what’s going on, but when she grows up and realizes you prevented her from having a relationship with her father, she’s going to resent you.”
“Get over yourself, Andrew,” she said. “What makes you think she even wants a relationship with you? She’s doing just fine without you, now that she’s adjusted to you being gone. She probably doesn’t even miss you.”
“Oh sure, which is why she rushed into the arms of the first available boy,” he said, getting up from his chair so he could look down on her. “You’re setting her up for a lifetime of abuse. I know how men are. They’ll take advantage of her every chance they get.”
Lisa couldn’t bear to listen to them anymore.
“Stop!” she said.
They looked at her in surprise, as if they had forgotten she was there.
“Neither of you know anything about me,” she said. “You don’t know how I feel or what I think. How could you? You’ve never bothered to ask me. I wish you’d stop fighting. What difference does it make if one of you is worse than the other? You’re both guilty, as far as I’m concerned—guilty of being selfish.”
She stopped because she was out of breath.
“You’re right, Lisa,” said her mother. “I can’t let this continue.” She faced Lisa’s father. “Andrew, I consulted with an attorney a few weeks ago, but I didn’t have the courage to proceed with the divorce until now. There are obviously some decisions that need to be made, but I want full custody of the girls, and I want enough money to send them to college. I also want the house and one of the cars.”
“Put a document together, and I’ll look at it,” he said.
“Oh, I will,” she said. “You’ll sign it, too, without arguing. I don’t want to have to drag you into court, but if you try to make things difficult for me, I will. It shouldn’t take more than a couple of months to finalize everything. It will be better for everyone if we end this chapter of our lives and move on.”
Lisa’s father didn’t reply. Shaking his head, he opened the door and went out. Lisa’s mother sat down and covered her face with her hands.
“So that’s it?” said Lisa in bewilderment.
“Lisa, please just go upstairs,” said her mother. “I feel absolutely sick to my stomach when I think about what just happened. I shouldn’t have let your father confront you about your grades, I shouldn’t have quarreled with him while you were there, and I especially shouldn’t have mentioned the divorce.”
“Do you really want to divorce him?” said Lisa.
“No, but I don’t want to be married to him either,” she said. “I wish I could forget I ever loved him. Oh, Lisa, if only you knew the truth about him. I don’t want you to hate him, but he’s done things that can’t be forgiven. That’s the best explanation I can give you right now. I’m a horrible mother.”
She started sobbing. Lisa was too exhausted to comfort her. She started to go upstairs, but to her horror, she saw Veronica’s face peering over the banister. They stared at each other for a moment, and then Veronica dashed away. Lisa hurried after her. Veronica tried to slam the door in her face, but Lisa stopped her.
“Go away!” shrieked Veronica. “Stephen’s gone, and Mom and Dad are getting divorced. You lied to me. You said it wouldn’t happen, but you were wrong!”
“Veronica, it’s not my fault,” said Lisa.
“Yes, it is,” said Veronica. “They were talking about their problems until you butted in and ruined everything. You should have let them figure it out. They would have stopped arguing eventually.”
“Shut up,” said Lisa. “If I hadn’t said anything, you would have had a fit about me letting them fight. You’re never satisfied with anything I do. How am I supposed to know when you want me to get involved and when you don’t?”
“I don’t know,” said Veronica. “Why couldn’t you have waited just a little bit longer?”
“I was tired of listening to them,” said Lisa. She sat down at Veronica’s desk and put her head in her hands. The adrenaline rush subsided, and she became numb with despair. “They weren’t just arguing. They were using me to hurt each other. I couldn’t let them do that.”
Veronica sat down on the edge of the bed. Her hysteria faded, and her face became uncharacteristically solemn.
“It was pretty bad,” she said.
“I hope they don’t really believe those things they said about me,” said Lisa. “Dad probably thinks I hate him now. Mom tried her best to convince him I didn’t care about him being gone—which is completely false—and he basically said I’m only interested in Josh because I want his attention.”
“Is that true?” said Veronica.
Lisa didn’t answer right away. Her parents’ angry words had distorted her perception of herself, and she began to wonder if they were correct. Maybe there was a deficiency in her character that she hadn’t noticed before. She knew her feelings for Josh were real, but at the same time, she realized she wouldn’t have been so grateful to him if he hadn’t provided something that was missing from her life.
“Everything is so different now,” she said. “I used to trust myself, but I don’t know what’s going to happen anymore.”
“I do,” said Veronica. “You’re going to fix this mess.”
“How?” said Lisa. “Mom’s already made up her mind.”
“But the divorce will take much longer if Dad doesn’t agree to give her everything she wants,” said Veronica. “You saw how upset he was when he left. Mom’s trying to steal everything from him, including us. She’s basically kidnapping us. It shouldn’t be allowed. How is Dad going to survive without
