Always Been You

“I’m the one who is selfish?” she asked him. “Are you really going to play the victim card right now? After everything I had to do through in the hands of your ex tonight. I have told you what I want. It’s up to you now Jensen. I want her gone, with immediate effect”

She turned and left the room angrily and then bumped into Tim.

“Oh, I’m so sorry honey,… ” she began, and then she stopped and looked at him. “Tim, What are you doing here? Have you been listening to my conversation with your dad?” she asked.

Tim stared at his feet, then nodded. “I’m sorry, mom,” he said. “I know that I’m not supposed to, but I just heard you guys yelling and…. I thought you guys had fixed whatever the problem is? Why are you yelling again? I don’t like the way I feel about this”

Katherine placed a hand on his shoulder, “It’s fine, Tim” she said. “Your father and I are just having some issues. No big deal. It happens sometimes. We will get over it. No need for you to be concerned”

Tim stared at her. “But you are crying, mom,” he said.

“It’s fine, Tim,” Katherine repeated. “I’m fine. Go to your room. And don’t think that I don’t see how hard you have been trying at school. Tomorrow you can have your car keys and phone back” she said as she forced a smile.

Tim frowned. “Are you trying to bribe me so I stop asking questions?” he asked.Published by Nôv'elD/rama.Org.

“Is it working?” Katherine asked, still smiling.

“Yeah a little bit,” Tim replied. “I will be going to my room now, but can you and dad please fix this. I hate it when you guys fight. You guys have been doing that a lot lately”

Katherine nodded. “We will be fine, good night honey” she said, kissing his cheek.

“Goodnight mom,” Tim replied.

When Katherine returned to the room, she was surprised to see Jensen packing some of his clothes into a suitcase. She stood at the doorway and watched him for a while, then she asked, “What are you doing, Jensen?”

“Leaving” he replied simply.

Katherine’s heart began to beat faster, he wasn’t really going to leave because of this. “What for?” she asked.

He turned around to face her. “What do you mean by what for?” he asked angrily. “Because we clearly need some space. I’m tired of fighting. I know I screwed up. I’m not denying that fact, but you won’t even listen to reason and I’m tired of trying to explain shit to you. I’m going to kick Shay out of my company like I said. But I need my space, away from all of this. I thought after this project was complete things would go back to the way it used to be, but I guess I was wrong ”

“You are the one who decided to spend every hour of every day at the office, away from your family” Katherine snapped back. “No one made you do it. You had to choose and you choose your work. Don’t put this on me”

He suddenly stopped throwing clothes into the briefcase and walked up to her in a few strides. He grabbed her by the shoulders and she gasped. “And do you think that I enjoyed being away from you guys so much? I didn’t. But I just thought you would be a little more understanding. You know I love my job. I just thought my family would understand that I love them and I’m just going to do something I care about. I needed your support. I screwed up, I know that, and I will fix it ”

He released her suddenly, not wanting to look at her as the tears streamed down her face. He hated seeing her this way, but now he was just tired. He returned to his suitcase.

“And you honestly think that the best way to fix this is by leaving?” Katherine asked, she hesitated and when he didn’t reply, she added. “It’s fine. You can have your space. Take all the time in the world and come home whenever you want. Good night”

Katherine slept in the guest room that night, and when she woke the next morning, a part of her hoped that Jensen would have changed his mind. That he would have stayed. But when she got to their room, he was gone, and so were some of his clothes and the suitcase he had been packing.

Her heart broke into a million pieces, but she wasn’t going to cry. Not again. She had done enough of that the previous night. She wasn’t going to overthink this. At least not yet Right now, she had to prepare Deanie for School. She had kids to take care of.

“Tim, breakfast!” she called from the kitchen, “Your food is getting cold. Hurry up you do not want to be late for school”

When Tim came down for breakfast he looked round the table and then he finally asked the question she dreaded. “Mom, where’s dad?” he asked.