Some Kind of Wonderful (sequel to Give Me the Greenlight, Mr. Clifford)

Ch 20 - Worse Than Bad

Mom and Dad were arguing when I went back inside. Mom was accusing Dad of being mean and unreasonable, and Dad was accusing Mom of being on Ashton's side. I had seen them have disagreements before, but I had never heard them yell at each other. It literally hurt my heart. I finally had enough and stood between them.

"Mom! Dad! It doesn't matter! Please stop. I'm sorry. This is all my fault. I should have just kept it to myself. If I knew it was going to lead to all of this, I would have."

Dad ran his hands through his hair and sighed loudly. "God dammit. I've had over eighteen years to prepare for this moment. I never imagined it would end up going to shit like this."

"It went to shit because of your attitude," Mom pointed out. "Until we both calm down, I have nothing else to say to you. Kate, if you want to talk, I'll be upstairs," she said, storming off to her bedroom.

Dad didn't say anything else to her. He wrapped his arms around me, kissing the top of my head, and said, "Katey Bug, I'm so sorry for keeping it a secret. You should know that it was my idea. Your mom just went along with it."

"Dad, it doesn't matter. Nothing is really going to change, right? We all love Ashton and he's always been part of our family anyway."

"It was still wrong. The more time that passed, the more I realized we never should have gone with that decision. But it was already done. I just love your mum so damn much and I was afraid that she'd choose him over me if you were raised as his daughter. I was only thinking of myself, not Ashton, or Dani, or you. I'm so damn selfish."

"It was wrong. But you realize that now. That's something, right?"

Dad let out a short laugh. "Look at you. You're the one affected the most by this, yet here you are comforting me. There's something wrong with this picture."

"It would probably be different if I hadn't known it was a possibility for a little while. It's not like a big shock right now, because I overheard Ashton and Mia talking about it at the birthday party. And I asked Ashton about it yesterday. So, yeah, I pretty much already knew. He just confirmed it for me. For us."

We talked a little bit more, both of us calming down the more we talked. Mom stayed in her room. And Dad eventually had to pick Xander up from swimming practice. When I was alone all I could do was worry about Ryder. I called several times, but of course he wouldn't answer. So I texted him.

Me: I didn't tell you because I wanted to make sure it was true first. I didn't want to upset anyone over nothing. I'm sorry.

It took twenty minutes for him to respond. I was shocked he responded at all.

Ry: I've never kept anything from u. I thought u trusted me.

Me: It wasn't a matter of trust. I didn't want to upset you unnecessarily if it wasn't true.

Ry: Cal told me u were asking him questions. u talked to him, but not me????

Me: I'm sorry. I don't know what else to say. I don't want to fight with you.

Ry: I don't want to fight either. Just leave me alone for now.

As painful as that statement was, I took that as a "goodbye" and left it at that.

The next several days were miserable for everyone. I felt like I was walking on eggshells constantly around my parents. They still weren't getting along. Dad was even sleeping in the guest room. Ryder was mad at me. Dad was mad at Ashton. And then to top it off, Mia called Mom to give her a piece of her mind. I was sitting next to Mom when she called, and heard most of the conversation because Mia was yelling.