Strings Attached

Chapter Eight

As soon as we arrived home, Theodore excused himself, telling us he was very tired and wanted to sleep very badly. Mom smiled at him and told him that he deserved a rest, so he said goodnight and rushed upstairs, not even giving us time to say it back.

I stared at the stairs and decided it was also time for me to go to sleep, but before I could do that, Mom walked towards and me and placed her hand on my shoulder.

"Do you mind giving us a moment, sweetie?" she asked Brianna, who simply nodded and left the room without saying anything.

I stared at Mom, confused. "What's going on?" I asked her.

She sighed. "Theo told me about your crying at the pool."

I frowned. Why had he told her? Who did he think he was? I had tried my best to keep it as a secret, and then he came and told her without even talking to me about it first. Now I understood why he had gone upstairs. He wanted for Mom to talk to me about it, but I did not want to talk about it. I hated to even mention Dad to her. It was too painful for both of us.

"I wasn't crying," I lied.

Mom shook her head, clearly not buying it. "You know you can tell me anything, right?"

Of course she would say that. Every mom tells that to her daughter when she wants to find out about her daughter's new boyfriend or her ultimate crush, but we were not talking about a

boyfriend or a crush. We were talking about my dad here, and it was a very touchy subject for me.

I did not want her to know how much it actually hurt me to think about him. I did not want for my mom to know how hurt I truly was. She just could not know. I wanted her to think of me as the strong daughter she always thought I was, even when I knew that deep inside I was nothing but a coward.

My mom and Brianna deserved someone who would protect them, but that someone had cowardly left us. Once my dad left, no one was left but me. I was left to pick up the pieces. I was left to heal Mom's broken heart and wipe away Brianna's tears, but no one was left to heal my aching heart. No one was left to pick up the pieces of my life.

All I could do was try to mend Mom's and Brianna's hearts and hope no one would ever break them again. All I could do was be strong for them because they could not be strong enough for themselves.

Of course, Mom and Brianna did not understand that. They simply thought I was a bitter and moody girl with social problems.

"Tina," Mom said, staring at me with pain in her eyes. "Is this about your dad?"

I shook my head stubbornly, but I could feel a lump rising in my throat. Every time I heard Mom or Brianna talking about him, my heart would start racing, and my eyes would get watery, and this time was no exception.

I turned around so that my mom would not see the tears that were about to make their way down my face. I simply could not let her see me like this. She needed to see me as the strong person whom I always led her to believe I was.

"It has nothing to do with him, Mom," I said, trying my best not to cry in front of her. "He stopped being my dad the day he walked out that door."

I pointed at the house's front door and shrugged in an attempt to show her that I did not really care, even when I knew I did.

"Don't say that, Tina. He's still your dad. He's no longer my husband, but he will never stop being your dad. You know that, don't you?" she said, placing her gentle hands on my shoulders and caressing them sweetly.

I clenched my fists. "He is not my dad anymore!" I exclaimed angrily. "He chose her over us!"

She sighed. "Sometimes adults make mistakes, sweetheart, but that doesn't mean we don't love our children. He loves you. He really does. He just made the mistake of marrying the wrong person. I made that mistake, too."