The moment Joey saw me, he stood. His eyes flashed back to where Ethan stood behind me, and a look of rage crossed his face.

“What is he doing here?” Joey demanded.

“Not that it’s any concern of yours, but I’m cleaning up the mess you made.”

I looked Joey over. His face had been cleaned up as well. Maybe his new girlfriend had taken care of him. It gave me a smidge of satisfaction to see that he looked worse than Ethan.

“We need to talk,” Joey said, tearing his eyes away from Ethan to look at me.

“No shit,” I said, keeping my tone cold.

“Can we talk in private?” he asked.

My father took a step closer to me. “After what happened today, I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

“No, it’s fine,” I said. “We can go out onto the porch.” I didn’t want Joey to think I was afraid of him. I refused to give him an ounce of power over me.

“Caley—” Ethan started.

But I held up my hand. “I’ll be fine. If I need something, I’ll yell.”

No one seemed happy about letting me walk away with Joey, but they didn’t stop us either. We walked out onto the porch together. I sat down on the porch swing while Joey leaned up against the banister. Neither of us spoke. Joey seemed to be trying to avoid looking at me altogether.

“We’re alone, so talk,” I finally said when the silence became too much.

“Yeah, I guess we are.” Joey sighed. “I don’t even know where to begin.”

“How about her name? That’s a good place to start,” I said.

“Amanda,” he replied, sounding embarrassed. “Her name is Amanda.”

“How long have you two been together?”

He shrugged.

“Come on, Joey. All of this shit is out in the open now. You might as well tell me the whole truth. You gain nothing by hiding things.”

“Six months, or close to it,” he finally said after a moment.

“Was there anyone before her?” I asked.

He ran his hands through his hair. “About a year ago. It was the same deal as Amanda. I met her through work. The other one only lasted a week or two.”

I nodded. “Okay, this is good. We need to be honest with each other.”

“What about you and that guy in there? Ethan? Anything going on?”

Now, it was my turn to squirm. “He’s been there for me for the last few months. He’s a good friend.” I paused. “But I think he could be more once you and I are free to move forward. I care about him.”

He frowned. “Wow, we’re a stand-up couple, aren’t we? Both of us have been fucking around on the other.”

I didn’t deny his words, but I couldn’t bring myself to say the truth outright. Instead, I turned the conversation back to him. “We’re both miserable. That much is obvious,” I said, “My question is, do you love her? Or at least care about her?”

“I do,” he said.

“Then, why did you fight me so much about the divorce?” I asked, exasperated by the whole situation.

“Honestly? Because I thought we could still work shit out. We have a life together, and we have Amelia. Walking away with no fight at all felt like I was throwing that away.”

“Joey, you’ve treated me like shit for years now. You’ve been an awful husband. You drove me so far down into a depression that I was sure I’d never be able to claw my way out. To be blunt, you ruined just about every good part of my life. If it wasn’t for Amelia…” I trailed off, unable to finish my sentence. I’d never really dealt with the depth of my depression over the last few years, and I certainly wasn’t going to talk about it with Joey.

“I’m sorry,” he said simply.

“Sorry isn’t good enough. I think we both know that,” I said.

“I know.” He sighed. “So, what happens now?”

“Now, we move on from each other. We file for divorce—together. Amelia needs both of us in her life, and things will be so much simpler if we work together to make that happen.”

“You’re really not going to try to take her from me?” he asked skeptically. “Especially after today?”

I shook my head. “She’s your child, too, Joey. I wouldn’t do that unless you started treating her the way you treated me. The way I see it, you’re gone all week. I can have her then, and you can have her every weekend.”

He nodded. “I think that’s our best option. What happens if I find work locally and can spend more time with her?”

“We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it,” I told him.

“This is really it, isn’t it?” he asked. There was no anger in his voice, only defeat.

“Yeah, it really is,” I said.

For a moment, I felt a pang of sympathy for not just him, but for myself as well. We’d spent years together, growing from teenagers into adults. We’d transitioned into this world of adulthood together.

“We had some good times, Joey, but the bad outweighed the good. Now, we can both move forward and find happiness.”

“I want us to be friends. Is that even possible?”

I hesitated before answering, “Yes, I think it’s possible, but it will take time. I’ve spent so long hating you that it’s all I know. For now, I think we should just aim for being cordial with each other, especially where Amelia is concerned.”

“It’s a start,” he said.

“It is,” I said. “Why don’t I come over to the apartment tomorrow, and we’ll fill out the paperwork together? We can file next week.”

“All right,” he said as he pushed away from the banister. “I guess that’s my cue to make myself scarce, isn’t it?”

I grinned. “Yes, I believe it is.”

He stood there awkwardly for a moment before nodding and turning away. I watched him walk down the porch steps and across the lawn to where his car was parked.

As he started the car and pulled away, I felt a tiny bit of loss. Deep, deep, deep down, Joey was a good man. Unfortunately, he’d lost that part of himself somewhere along the way. I hoped that he could find it one day and be the kind of man I’d always hoped he could be.

I sat out on the porch swing long after his car had disappeared from view, my mind too full to think of anything else but the way my life had changed so dramatically in such a short amount of time.

It was dark when the front door swung open. Ethan stepped out and walked over to the porch swing. He was silent as he sat down next to me. I noticed that he’d found a new clean shirt, free of blood. From the size of it, it looked like my father had loaned it to him. That made me smile. If my dad approved of Ethan, I knew I’d have no problem with my mother.

“Joey and I are over,” I told him after a while. “He has agreed to the divorce. I’m going over to the apartment tomorrow to fill out all the papers with him.”

“How do you feel?” Ethan asked.

I shrugged. “Relieved. A little bit sad, too. I mean, we’re both walking away from years we’ve spent together. That’s hard to swallow.”

“You have every right to be sad,” Ethan said. “But just know that you’re definitely not alone in this. You have me. Your dad is there for you, too.”

“I know, and I’m thankful for both of you. I hope you know that.”

He smiled. “I know.”

“Maybe, one day, my mom will come around, too. But I’m not holding my breath on that one.”

“I don’t know. The way she was muttering about Joey, you might just have her on your side, too.”

“It has been a crazy day full of surprises. Maybe she’ll shock me and actually be decent,” I mused. “Still, I can’t wait to get away from this house. It’s only a matter of time before one of us kills the other.”

Ethan laughed. “She can’t be that bad.”

“You just wait. You’re going to be around her a lot more now. You’ll see what I’m talking about.”

We fell silent, both of us simply enjoying each other’s company and the moment of peace after so much havoc today. After a while, I knew it was time to go inside.

I looked over at Ethan, a shocking revelation crossing my mind. “You’ve never met Amelia, have you?”

He shook his head. “No. Well, I saw her today for the first time, if that counts.”