After the doctor gave him the news…there was a moment of silence. Then Stacey broke down with a loud wail, and I couldn’t even blame her. I wanted to cry, too. But her dad looked like he had frozen in place, and I didn’t like hearing her cry her heart out like that because it was painful for the both of us. I turned her and brought her into my arms, not complaining when she practically strangled me.

I didn’t say anything because I didn’t think I could. My throat itched and constricted as my eyes blurred with tears, and I squeezed my eyes shut, burying my face in her shoulder as I let the tears fall. I rocked us gently from side to side, hoping it would comfort the both of us.

Then out of nowhere, a pair of arms came around the both of us. I would have been startled, but I realized pretty quickly that it was Stacey’s dad.

I could hear the doctor still talking.

“If you would like to see your wife, I can lead you to her room. I’m afraid she’s asleep, though, and only one of you will be able to go in.”

“It’s fine, I’ll go,” Paul said.

He gave us both a squeeze then let go. Stacey pulled away from me as soon as he did, reaching a hand out to him, but he was already walking down the hall with the doctor.

“I’m so sorry, Stacey,” I whispered, holding her sideways against me. I wiped my eyes and brought her close again, her head falling onto my chest as she watched her dad move further away until he was out of sight.

She just whimpered and hugged me tight again. I drifted over to the wall, guiding Stacey, and leaned back against it as I held her to me. My mind was still blank, trying to process what the fuck I’d just heard.

“I don’t know how this happened,” Stacey whimpered like she was reading my mind. “Or why. My brother was just fine this morning, so how could he be…”

She didn’t finish the sentence, but I didn’t need her to, either. I thought of the last time I talked to Rod, and suddenly, I was so fucking guilty. I should have tried to talk to him that time, really talk to him. Because I could tell he needed me, but he wouldn’t talk, and I gave up on him.

And now, that would be the last conversation I had with him—Rod reaching out to me for help, and me practically ignoring it as I went home to fantasize about his sister.

“I’m so sorry, Stacey,” I repeated in a whisper. “I don’t know what to tell you.”

“It’s all right,” she whispered, her voice muffled because she was pressed against my chest. “I know it hurts you, too.”

We spent some more time in silence, trying to comfort each other. When it was broken again, it was the last person I expected.

“Kevin? Kevin!”

I looked up, surprised to hear my mom’s voice. She was still dressed how I’d seen her that morning, only her coat was gone, and her hair was slightly ruffled. She was running down the hall toward us.

Stacey buried further into my chest at the intrusion. I patted her hair.

“Mom, what are you doing here?” I asked once she got to us. “Who called you?”

Her eyes were trained on Stacey. After a moment, she looked up to meet my gaze, and her eyes looked devastated.

“Paul called me,” she admitted. “Do you know what happened?”

I sucked in a sharp breath, and Stacey whimpered. I held her tighter. I didn’t think I could say the words, and she obviously didn’t want to hear them. So I just shook my head and ducked down to bury my face in Stacey’s hair.

“Jenny!”

Stacey’s dad was back. I looked up as he jogged down the hall toward us. My mom rushed forward to meet him.

“Paul! I came as fast as I could. Please, can you tell me what happened? How bad is it?”

Paul floundered for a moment, eyes meeting hers and looking dazed. Then he glanced over at us and took her by the arm to drag her a bit away. I watched as he gave her the news, and my mom’s face was frozen in shock. Then her hands rose up to cover her mouth, and her eyes overflowed with tears.

After a while, she slowly walked back to Stacey and me.

“Kevin, I am so sorry,” she whispered.

She reached out her arms, probably to hug me, until she remembered I was still holding Stacey. Then she just wrapped her arms around herself. Paul came up behind her, wrapping his arm around her shoulders and pulling her close. He was looking down at her, and I frowned at the look of almost pained affection in his eyes.

What the fuck. I thought they weren’t talking, so why are they suddenly acting so close?

Immediately, I was suspicious. Stacey, as always, seemed to be in sync with my thoughts. She pulled away from me and wiped her face as she sniffled. I tugged the sleeve of my jacket lower and held onto it, my other hand on Stacey’s face as I wiped at her face for her. She gave me a shaky smile in thanks, then sniffled again, and turned to her dad.

My heart was breaking all over again just seeing her face. Her face was blotchy; her eyes were red and puffy. And I knew this was only the beginning. Her brother had died. She was calming down now, but Stacey was an emotional person. It would hit her later for the second time, and she would break down crying again. I wasn’t sure how long it would take for her to calm down.

“Dad?” she called, her voice small.

Paul turned to her; his expression pained as he took her in. “Yeah, Stacey?”

“Do you know what happened? I thought Rod already left for school, so why were he and Mom in a car together in the first place when he should have been at school already?”

Immediately, Paul’s expression turned guilty. And, it was a bit of a surprise when my mom mirrored his expression. She wiped the tears from her eyes and Paul slowly pulled his arm away from her, taking a step toward Stacey.

“Look, honey…”

“Dad,” she said, her voice hard. It startled me, because she never acted like this, especially not to her dad. “I know there is something you and Rod were keeping from me. I tried to ask him, and he didn’t tell me. My brother is dead, so I want to know whatever it was, and if it has something to do with all this.”

Not for the first time, I was impressed with Stacey. Even with her heart weighed down with grief, she was still thinking and making connections while my mind was pretty much still blank.

Paul and my mom glanced at each other, and I narrowed my eyes at the two of them, my suspicions growing.

“Uh,” he started, turning back to Stacey. “I think this is something we need to talk about at home, all right? Let me just talk to the doctor about your mother, and we can all go for now. Is that okay?”

Stacey pursed her lips, and after a moment of deliberation nodded. Paul and my mom shared another glance; then he walked away. We were left in silence. Stacey pretty much ignored the fact that my mom was there and hugged me again, burying her face in my chest.

Ten minutes later, he was walking down the hall to us.

“Okay. I think we can all go home now.” He glanced at my mom. “Jenny, follow behind us, okay?”

I frowned at my mom. What was it he wanted to say, and why did my mom have to be involved?

Then he turned to me. “You’re going to want to be there, Kevin. You deserve an answer, too.”

I nodded, even as my confusion only grew even more.

We all left the hospital, going back to our respective cars. Stacey and I were silent the whole way, with my car following her dad’s, and my mom’s car coming up behind us. When we arrived at her place, we all stepped out and went into the house.

Stacey took my hand as she dragged me over to the love seat. Then she pushed me down, sat beside me, and took one of my hands. Our parents followed slowly behind us, both of them moving to sit on the sofa, in synch, as if they’d planned it. Their eyes met, and they sat down close together, hands clasping.

Just like Stacey and me.

She sucked in a sharp breath. She hadn't missed it, like I hadn't, and when I turned to her, our gazes met. She opened her mouth as if to ask when her dad spoke.

“All right,” he said, breathing out. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you this before. I know you want to know what’s going on, so please just listen quietly to what we have to say, okay?”

Even though he said ‘we’, he nodded his head at my mom, and she took a breath as she met my eyes, then Stacey’s. Then her eyes dropped to where she was holding onto Paul’s hand with a vice grip between both of her own.

“The thing is… I’ve been sleeping with Paul,” she confessed.

Stacey sucked in a sharp breath next to me, her hand tightening around mine to the point of pain, but I barely reacted to it. For the second time in one day, I’d received some life altering news. I was frozen in place.

Her eyes met mine, and they were full of apology, but I couldn’t react to it at all.

“I left early this morning, and all the times before that, but it wasn’t because I was going into work early,” she admitted. “It’s because I…was going out to meet Paul. We went to a hotel…and then out of nowhere, Carol and Rod were storming into the room. She started screaming at us, and Paul tried to get her out of the room. She started beating on him, and he tried to control her. But then Rod shoved him away and punched him.”

She paused to take a breath and shoot a quick glance at Paul. Then she continued, “I tried to follow them when they left the room, to try and talk things over. But they weren’t listening. I don’t remember who got behind the wheel, but Rod was mad, and Carol was crying, and they both jumped into the car and drove off. To where… I had no idea. I went back to the room, and…that’s it.”

I listened, and I did my best to ignore the obvious implications of her words. I fucking refused to even acknowledge it all at that moment.

What I did think, was how this would have been happening around the time I was fucking Stacey on my living room couch, and suddenly, it was like I couldn’t breathe, the guilt was so heavy in my chest.

“I’m so sorry to the both of you,” she went on, her voice trembling. “This isn’t how you should have had to find out, but the whole thing just turned into such a fucking mess out of nowhere…”

A fucking mess, I thought and snorted. Mom, that isn’t even the half of it.