Part Six

Donna was sitting at her kitchen table with her family, quiet and detached from them. She felt bad, she probably should be talking to her kids, but no one seemed to bother with conversation. They were all just eating their bland chicken that Donna had made, trying out a new recipe that would never be used again. Shaun was not trying to make conversation either, so the table was deathly silent.

"Shaun, what is wrong with us?" Donna asked, seeming to forget her children were there.

Shaun looked up at her. "Not here."

"If not here, where? We're out of sync, Shaun."

Marissa spoke in lieu of her father. "You've been distant lately too, Mum."

Caleb only pushed his peas around the plate, wondering why his family wasn't happy like they used to be. He could remember when his mother would laugh and smile all the time, his father would kick around a soccer ball with him, and his sister would spend the entire afternoon blabbering about what her friends said or did. He had found all of this rather tedious, but now that it was gone, he missed it.

"Mari, Cal, why don't you two go upstairs and get ready for bed," Donna said gently.

"Cal? Why are you calling him Cal? You hate when people call him Cal," Shaun pointed out.

"It just felt right," Donna replied hastily because she didn't know why she had done it.

The two children shuffled out of the room and Shaun looked at Donna. "We are falling apart here," Donna murmured to him.

"I'm losing you."

"I lost you ages ago. I know about the affair, Shaun," Donna snapped.

"Well, I certainly hope you weren't surprised about it," he replied, voice full of malice.

"I thought you loved me," Donna hissed.

"I thought you loved me!" Shaun countered. "But all you ever do now is ignore me!"

"Because you've ignored me. I've tried so hard."

"That's hardly the truth, and you know it."

"Well, what are we going to do?"

"I don't know."

"Shaun."

"Donna, there's nothing to do. I love her."

"And you don't love me? You don't love this life we've built?"

"Donna, it's over. It's been over for a long time."

"Well, we still have the kids. It's not over for them. I would like us to stay together for them."

"I don't know if I want to do that."

"Right. You want her."

"Donna."

"No… you don't get to go back and forth with this. If you want her, have her. Be with her. You don't get both. And you don't get to stay here if you're going to be with her. Either you're with me and the kids, or you're with her. You won't get both."

"Are you kicking me out?"

"Yes."

"Donna… let's talk through this!" Shaun suggested, suddenly quite aware of what this could mean for him.

"There's nothing to talk about. Really, there isn't."

Donna marched upstairs and started packing Shaun's bags. And strangely enough, she didn't care. She wasn't sad. She was concerned about how the kids would take it, but beyond that, there was nothing. It really was over.

There was a strange sense of excitement that sat in her belly, something that promised something bigger, something better beyond the boundaries that her marriage set her in. She could hardly wait to see what it was.