Chapter 28
Lacy’s POV
“Have you settled down in your room? And your family?” Mom asked Jim, swiping a napkin gently over her lips. I looked up at
her with interest.
I gave Mom a questioning look and she nodded at me before
speaking up.
“His family moved to France, so he would be staying with us for the summer vacation” she explained.
“It seems you are finally adopted” Kol joked, causing everyone except David and I to laugh.
“Thank you, Melina I’m very grateful.” Jim thanked Mom amidst
the laughter.
“How about you Kol? Are you happy to be back for vacation?” Mom smiled, turning her attention to Kol.
“Of course, I am. Another summer vacation to be spent with you” Kol replied happily, fawning at Mom as usual
It wasn’t faked as well.
Chapter 28
He has always been closer to Mom, sometimes I envy their
relationship. I watched her scolded playful with glossy eyes. She
really missed him. As she looked at him, her smile faded, tears.
welling up in her eyes, making her blink.
The later conversation had mainly focused on Melina’s movie,
as she, Yve, and Matt had discussed the details for the next day.
Even though we had all been home for the summer, this had
been our only chance to see Melina before she flew off to
Greece for months of shooting. Normally, family would join her
at some point while she was on set, but there had been no talk
of that that summer, and I had been grateful. I had wanted to
spend as little time as possible with the family.
On nights like that, when the family had been around her and
she had been anticipating how much she would miss us, it had
been normal for Melina to feel sentimental. But I had sensed a
strong air of melancholy around her. As her daughter, I had had
a trained intuition, and I had been sure that tonight’s dinner
table would turn into a scene. Kol and I had used to call it “live
drama“… back when we had talked to each other about it. There
had been a moment when I had almost wanted to glance at him,
to see if he had been thinking the same thing, but I couldn’t. Any
attention towards him could have been used against me.
As we had drunk coffee and eaten dessert, the tension around
the dinner table had become palpable. Kol, Jim, and I had sat
Chapter 20
quietly, each probably having their own reasons for the silence.
David had eaten quietly as well. When Melina had finally
stopped speaking, I had sighed with relief, like the rain after
weeks of oppressive heat.
“Kids-“she had suddenly said loudly. She had paused, pressed
her lips together, and closed her eyes.
“Not now, Melina” David cut her off.
Yve and Tyler looked away, avoiding my eyes. They were closer
to Mom all night and I thought they would have an explanation
for what was going on.
I had no choice but to turn to Kol in confusion. He was looking
at me with a questioning frown.
“For god’s sake, David. No time is ever right for you!” Mom
retorted glaring at David. His nostrils flared. Whatever Melina
was insinuating has hit its mark.
“Yeah, as I was saying, we have something to tell you guys
Mom went on anyway, disregarding David.
“We are getting a divorce” It was David who dropped the
bombshell. There was half a minute of silence.
“We have some issues” He continued as Greta protested this
assessment by sucking her teeth irritably.
Chapter 28
“This divorce is a result of our own problems and has nothing to
do with you two” David added, ignoring Mum’s annoyed huff.
“Of course we’ll always be a family,” said Melina, picking up the
narrative. “I know you must have so many questions, and I’m so
sorry we had to tell you this way.”
There was a dead silence as everyone paused, more like Kol and
me trying to process the information we just got. Out of
nowhere, just when I thought it couldn’t get worse, they were
getting a divorce.
On either side of Melina, Ive and Tyler had sympathetically placed their hands on her back, their eyes respectfully lowered. Despite the sudden announcement he had made to us, I had.
still felt sorry for my stepfather, sitting at the far end of the table, without any supporters of his own, looking so lonely.
“Wow, so the so–called family dinner was to announce your selfish decision to divorce” Kol broke the dreadful silence,
sending an accusing glance toward Mom and David.
“I didn’t want to, but it’s as it was.” David rolled his eyes tiredly.
“I just feel we should talk about it before I leave, while we are still together as a family” Mom defended.
