Reba and Brock Hart had been married for twenty years and had three children when their lives changed drastically. Brock, a dentist, and his hygienist, Barbra Jean Booker, had an affair that lead to a pregnancy, therefore causing a divorce between the Hart's. The divorce didn't mean that Reba no longer loved Brock, in fact she was the one that was trying to fix their marriage, but Brock was too busy being with Barbra Jean that he hardly did anything to help save their marriage.
Reba kept the kids during the week and every other weekend. Reba hated the fact that this was how they had to deal with their kids seeing both of their parents. She never wanted this for them, which is one reason why she held onto the marriage as long as she had. Yes, she loved him more than anything, but it takes a lot more to make a marriage work than just love, and Reba knew that.
She looked at her three kids; Cheyanne who was 17, Kyra who was 12, and Jake who was 7; and sighed. She didn't want to take her kids to spend the weekend with Brock. When they were gone it was so lonely at her house. It also meant that she had to face Brock, which was one of the things that she dreaded doing because she knew that if she had it her way then he would come home and work things out with the woman he had twenty years of marriage and three kids with. She knew that wasn't the case though, and it bugged her that she couldn't change that. The truth was she would do anything to change what was going on between them right now, but it would take a miracle for that to happen and the only miracles in Reba's life now was her three kids.
"Is everyone ready to go? Does everyone have everything packed?" Reba asked her three kids as they all nodded. Reba then led her family to the car and placed all of their backpacks in the trunk. When she closed the trunk she sighed. Another weekend that showed how much they had failed at a marriage. Reba then walked to the driver side of the car and got in.
"I'll miss you mommy." Jake said as Reba felt her heart break. When she heard him say this she wanted to keep the three of them at home instead of taking them to Brock's condo for the weekend, but she knew that she couldn't do. No matter what was going on between them, it didn't take away the fact that he was the father of the three children and he needed to be in their lives no matter what.
Reba smiled softly at her son in the rearview mirror. "I love you too, Jakey. I love all of you." She said softly before starting her car and driving to the park that they always met at. Brock's condo wasn't that far away from Reba's house, but she wasn't ready to see the condo, and Brock understood that. Reba felt that if she saw the condo and all of Brock's stuff there, then it would make it seem more real than she would like.
When they pull into the park the children get excited to see their father already waiting there for them. Reba let out a quiet and sighed softly. No matter how hard she was suffering, what really mattered was her children's happiness. She had to put them before herself just like she always had, and she had to make sure that they knew that everything was going to be just fine, even if she felt like it wasn't going to be sometimes.
When Reba parked the car she opened her door, while the kids opened the back door so they could run to their father. Reba popped the trunk of the car so she could grab their backpacks. When she had all three of them she closed the trunk, only to see her ex-husband and the love that they had made embracing in hugs, and all Reba could do was smile. Her kids were happy to be with their father, so Reba needed to be happy and thankful that she had wonderful kids.
Reba then walked over to where her ex-husband was standing and looked at him. "Hey Brock. Here are their bags." She said softly as she handed all three backpacks to Brock. "They already finished their homework before they came so you don't have to worry about that."
Reba wanted to tell Brock how she still loved him and wanted to work on their marriage still, but that was no longer an option. Not since Barbra Jean was now married to Brock. There was just way too much going on in their lives, and they were now at different places, that it wasn't worth bringing up anymore.
Brock looked at Reba, wanting to share with her everything that was on his mind, but he bit his tongue since he knew that it wasn't the right thing to do. Reba walked over to where their three kids were and hugged all of them. "I'll see you all Sunday." Reba said as she kissed their foreheads and watched them get into Brock's car. Reba then walked to the driver side of her car and gave a small smile to Brock, letting him know that she was doing the best that she could. "Goodbye." She said softly as she got into her car and started driving away. The one person that Brock had loved more than anyone else was driving away to her house that she had gotten in the divorce.
When Brock and the kids got to the condo he asked them what they wanted to do. They all decided that they would much rather just watch movies than anything else. "Well what do you all want for dinner then?" He asked, trying to get them to talk to him.
"Can we have grilled cheese?" Jake asked as Brock laughed a little. There was no doubt in his mind that Jake got his love for grilled cheese from Reba. When she was pregnant with him that seemed to be the only thing she would ever eat, and it had to be her special type of grilled cheese; Reba's famous grilled cheese.
Brock smiled and ruffed Jake's hair up some before agreeing that they, or he, could have that for dinner. He then walked into the kitchen and got everything that he needed to make the grilled cheese. He hadn't made grilled cheese in forever. Barbra Jean was always the one to cook and Brock would just bring the toast. Sure, he would feel like a hero when he brought the toast, but that was all he had to do.
When Brock finished making everyone grilled cheese he felt satisfied. He felt as if he was actually contributing something other than pain to his family. Lord knows he caused more than enough pain to his family. He was the person that should have never caused any pain to his children and to his beautiful wife, but he hurt them more than he ever thought he would.
Brock gave Jake his plate, and when Jake refused to eat the grilled cheese Brock wondered why. What was so different with his grilled cheese as the other grilled cheeses that he had ate. "It's not the way mommy makes it, daddy. I don't want it." Jake said as Brock felt crushed. Jake was so used to life with Reba and Brock being together that he didn't understand why his mom wasn't there to make the food. Why did he have to eat the food that his dad made when it was the farthest thing from what he liked?
"Cheyanne, Kyra, what do you think of the grilled cheese?" Brock asking hoping that they would approve of it and Jake was just being a little kid.
"It's good, but Jake is right. It's not the way mom makes it." Kyra says. Now Brock didn't know what to feel. The grilled cheese was good, but it wasn't as good as Reba's, and the same thing went with his life. No matter how good his life was going, it was never as good as it was when he was with Reba. He had made the biggest mistake of his life, but it was too late to changes things, no matter how hard things would end up getting.
The following morning Reba woke up, and the house was as quiet as a mouse. There was no noise coming from any of the rooms upstairs or downstairs. Reba hated the quiet because it meant that her children were with their father again. This meant that it was just Reba and her thoughts until she could find something to do to get those thoughts out of her mind.
Reba slowly got up and walked downstairs while in her pajamas. Like every Saturday Reba grabbed the remote to turn on the television. She didn't care what channel, or what was on the channel, but she needed some type of noise so it wasn't so quiet in the house.
How stupid could I have been, Reba asked herself knowing that she never should have believed that they were going to be together forever. Forever was a very long time, and Brock was a difficult person to spend that much time with, but Reba was willing to do it. She was willing to do anything for Brock. She was willing to give up anything to make him happy, but he showed her that he was willing to risk his family for a tall blonde that was the queen of the crazies.
Reba knew exactly why her marriage with Brock had ended, but she didn't want it to. She wondered why they had let their hard times go so far that it ended up costing them their marriage. How could their marriage gotten that bad that fast to result in an affair.
Reba felt like Brock didn't think of her or their kids, and a part of her knew that it was true. The other part wanted to give Brock the benefit of the doubt and believe that he just wasn't thinking straight, but now Reba wondered if he was ever thinking straight.
Fighting back tears, just like she did on most days, Reba sat on the couch. She wanted to do something that made her happy, but she wasn't sure what that was anymore. For over twenty years Brock was her happiness, and now he was gone. It didn't matter how she felt. It didn't matter that she wanted to scream at the top of her lungs for him not to leave her, at the end of the day Brock was going to do what he wanted, and what he wanted to do did not include her.
She was ready to see her kids so after she had ate a late lunch she decided to head back to her bed. Maybe she would find happiness if she could drift back to sleep again.
Sunday came quickly for Brock, but for Reba it seemed like it took forever to come. She was so relieved when it finally came because she would be able to see her kids again, but this also meant seeing Brock again.
Reba met Brock at the same spot and time that they always met on Sundays to exchange kids. When the kids got out of the backseat all of them ran over to Reba, wrapping their arms around her and attacking her in a group hug. Finally Reba could smile and know that it was real. Just like she had on Friday, she placed their backpacks in the trunk as they got in the backseat. Reba looked over at Brock and they kept good eye contact for a minute.
Every Sunday Brock wanted to tell Reba that he had made a mistake, but he knew that this was the best thing for them, no matter how painful it was for him. Even if it was just briefly, they felt like a family again, and they both wanted to reconcile and work on things. There were many problems that stood in their ways, and one of the problems was the fact that the other one thought they had moved on. The two of them barely talked other than how the kids were, and then just like she had Friday, Reba went to the driver side of the car and told Brock goodbye. "Goodbye, Reba." Brock said softly as Reba then got into the car and drove away, leaving Brock watching the four people he had loved and hurt the most go farther and farther away from him, while both of them kept their true feelings to themselves.