Hello everyone!
So, this chapter I wrote it and it was too long, so I divided it into two parts. The good news is that the other one is already done, so I'll just give you guys time to read this one and update it by the weekend.
Thank you again for your fantastic and so helpful reviews! They are always a delight.
One quick answer:
Hillrate: I loved your review, and actually I am not sure when to place this, but if I'm pressed I'd say it's the break after finishing season 6. Haven't really thought about it. Playing with the timeline on both sides is tricky LOL.
Enjoy!
Love,
A
Exes. Part I
Lori just stared at Rick as if he had grown another head. She was sitting across from him at the dinner table. She had been avoiding whatever conversation he said he wanted to have with her since he got back from filming. She had a bad feeling about it and Rick sounded too serious. Lori was not in the mood for serious talk. Rick let her be for a few days but she noticed that he was extra cold with her. He'd never been a man to talk about his feelings, not a man to talk much at all; she was always the one doing the talking and now he wanted to talk? Something was up, she was certain. But she needed time to figure out what could be. The kids were already sleeping upstairs. Rick had decided that he was having one conversation and one conversation only. Tonight. He was tired of Lori eluding him and making him look like the bad guy every time.
"Excuse me?"
"You heard me perfectly well. I want the divorce." He repeated the words as calmly as he could.
"I heard that but… I thought it was a mistake."
"We are not playing this game, Lori." She scoffed, stood up, and walked to the sink throwing the kitchen towel that was on her shoulder in it. She grabbed the border until her knuckles were white and closed her eyes to breathe in and out. This was not happening. Rick was not gonna leave her. No fucking way. Trying to control her anger for a moment she turned around. Rick had followed her to the kitchen now, not the best place to have a conversation that could go wrong any minute.
"Do you really think I am going to give you the divorce, Rick? Think twice."
"You don't have to give me anything, that's what lawyers and judges are for."
She looked at him defiantly. He was so annoyingly calm. Lori squinted her eyes.
"Who is she?"
"Really? Are you blaming some ghost for our problems?"
"WHO is SHE? I know you, Rick, you would never abandon me and the kids if it wasn't for another bitch!"
"Lower your voice," he hissed. "I never said I'd abandon the kids. This is exactly our problem, you keep putting words in my mouth. I just want to divorce you. My children will always be my children."
"How are you gonna do that with a new girlfriend? Huh? I bet it's that blonde bitch from makeup, isn't she?"
Rick just pinched the bridge of his nose and exhaled deeply. She was a one-track-minded woman and she was getting on his nerves now.
"Obviously you didn't hear me the first time either: this is nobody's fault. Stop looking for an outside responsible party. This is between us, we have our problems, don't act blind about that. I have been trying to work on them, on us but nothing seems to work with you."
"So, it is my fault now? And what? You just decide for the both of us!? What am I gonna tell the kids? My family, our friends? NO! We are not getting a divorce!"
"Shhhh," Rick didn't want to awaken Judith or Carl, there was a reason why he chose this time to talk to her. "You are going to wake them up."
"You know what? I don't care! Carl can come down and then you can explain to him why you want to divorce his mother, who has been nothing but supportive of you and your career!"
"Don't be so selfish!", she gasped. "We need to talk about this first, before letting the kids know."
"I've been here at home all the time Rick! I've put a stop to my life to take care of our kids and our family and this is how you repay me?"
"Lori, I never asked you to put a stop to your life for me! You decided to do that!"
"Because I love you!" She shouted and Rick looked to the stairs. He felt Carl was gonna come down any minute to see why his parents were yelling at each other. He felt so guilty over that but there was no going back at this point.
"I never asked that. You know I never did."
"You didn't have to! It was my place as your wife to do it!"
"God, Lori, stop turning this into something that it's not! Don't put that on me. I told you I'd help out whatever decision you made."
"And who was gonna take care of Carl? Judith? Some stranger?"
"Judith is almost two years old now, we had troubles way before that and you know it. I thought maybe having Judith was gonna help us overcome all that but it didn't happen. And I tried, Lori, you know I've tried."
"Not hard enough, Rick. You are still over there, doing what you love so much and I'm still at home with the kids. By myself!"
"Because I am over there", he dragged the words in that drawl of his, "you can treat yourself the way you do. Your expensive trips to the malls, expending way too much money on things we clearly don't need. So don't act like you are not getting anything and you're just this magnanimous martyr."
"Those trips are also for your children, Rick!"
"Oh, please. Neither Judith nor Carl need so much jewelry! Or they don't need to redesign the whole house every goddamn season!"
"You are such a…", Rick cut her off with a hand. The whole conversation was going off the rails. Again. He didn't have the patience for this.
"Listen, I don't care about that. I never did! But stop making excuses and bringing things into the conversation that has nothing to do with what I am trying to say! And stop trying to imply that I only care about my job and not my kids!"
"It is very clear you never cared! You are asking for the fucking divorce!"
"Mom! Dad! What's going on?"
They both turned their heads to find a confused Carl looking back at them from the bottom of the stairs and then they looked at each other. Lori was the one who reacted first and went to Carl and started to attempt to soothe him but he wasn't having it. Not after all that screaming woke him up.
"Baby, it's... It's ok. We are just talking."
"No, you were yelling at each other. What is going on?" She looked at Rick for answers. She threatened to say it to Carl earlier but she'd never had the heart to actually do it. Rick was trying to come up with something but he decided to follow his wife's lead.
"Like your mom said we were talking, maybe we forgot it was so late and we didn't realize we were being loud."
"Dad, please. I'm not stupid. It didn't sound like a normal conversation. It was a fight. You guys rarely talk, instead, start yelling or give each other the cold shoulder. I am not a kid anymore. I've noticed."
"Baby, listen..."
"Mom, save it. I heard you say the word divorce? Is that what this is? Are you guys getting a divorce?" Carl looked at each other but they both remained silent. Of course, this was unplanned but with their raised voices Rick thought it was only a matter of time before one of their kids would wake up. "Well?"
"Baby, this is not the time. Your father and I need to talk about things…", said Lori while she slightly ruffled his hair.
"If you are going to talk things out that's fine. But please, talk, not yell at each other. And if divorce is actually on the table… that's fine too. I think I'd rather have divorced parents than have miserable married parents.
"Carl…" The teenager sighed. He was tired of the weird environment at home.
"You think I don't get it but I do. Mom, you wouldn't give Dad a break since he steps a foot into the house. I hear you complain to him almost every day about every single thing: the way he dresses Judith, how he cleans the kitchen after breakfast, even about his playlist when he wants to listen to music in the living room, or that time he ordered take out for us because you were out with your friends and he didn't cook. You raised hell over some pizza when the truth is we were just having a good time because he was at home with us. You make a big deal out of everything and it's like you don't like what he does, no matter how hard he tries."
Lori looked at his son and her eyes filled with water. Carl was not being disrespectful or using a harsh tone, but sad. Her heart broke feeling that her son could be unhappy for them. She remembered that specific night when she got home and found them all in the living room still eating pizza and smiling and talking. Even Judith was still awake in her father's arms. She saw the happy family but she could only focus on the messy living room, the smell of pizza all over the house, and Judith way over her sleep time.
She hugged Carl and looked at Rick over her son's head. They shared a worried glance. Rick couldn't say anything. He felt like his heart was in pieces after listening to Carl's words. Lori took his son's head between her hands and leveled her eyes to him; she didn't need to bend so much because he had grown a lot lately. His son was not a kid anymore. His words just proved it.
"Baby, I promise we will talk. Whatever we decide, know that we will always think about what is best for you and your sister because we love you both very much, no matter what. You need to know that."
"Your mother is right, Carl." Rick approached them. "Just, let us figure things out before."
The teenage boy looked between his parents and nodded slightly.
"I just wanted you to know that I understand."
Lori hugged Carl and kissed his forehead.
"Go to bed, baby. We got this".
Carl felt a bit of dread in his stomach, whenever his mom said that phrase usually involved his father in an endless discussion for him trying to give into what she wanted. He looked at Rick but saw the equal confirmation in his eyes, so he decided to trust them on this and headed back to bed.
Rick and Lori stood there watching their son leave. She wanted to fight him because now Carl knew about the divorce and that was not in her plans. Even though in her heart she acknowledged that they were not the same people they were when they got married, she was not going to give up so easily on her rights to being Mrs. Grimes.
"So now what, Rick?"
"You need to get a lawyer. Mine will talk to him over the process."
"Are you even going to stay here with us?"
"Why are you assuming I am going to live somewhere else right now? My children are right here, Lori."
"You eventually will", she shot with venom.
"I'll cross that bridge when I get to it. In the meantime, I will be where my kids are, I'll sleep in the guest room from now on." Rick moved to go past her to the bedroom to get his toiletries and some of his clothes so he could move into the other bedroom.
"Carl knows. At least I don't have to be so diplomatic about it."
"You've never been. Don't flatter yourself."
"Who is she, Rick?" He sighed heavily. Not again. "Is she worthy?"
"For the last time, this is nobody's fault but ours. Own it as I did."
He walked out and left Lori there thinking about how she was going to lose everything she had always thought to be hers. Someone was making him rethink his life. She was sure someone else was involved.
"I'm not owning shit, Rick. If you think this will be so easy, you have something else coming," she whispered to an empty room.
Thanks for your reading! Let me read your thoughts. Keep staying safe everyone!
