Opening the door, praying that everything would go smoothly, Reba greeted Brock. "Hey Brock." Just hearing her say his name again brought a smile to his lips. "Hey Reba, sorry I'm a little early." Reba smiled at him and gestured for him to come into the house. It had been awhile since they had seen each other and silence was quickly filling the sir.
Reba went into the kitchen to do the final preparations for supper while Brock sat on the couch not fully paying attention to what was on the tv. She tried to gather her thoughts, but the haunting question of why she was making dinner for her and her ex-husband kept re-entering her mind. As Reba was thinking she realized she hadn't actually invited Brock for dinner. After about five minutes Brock made his way into the kitchen where Reba was. "Reba it smells great in here am I interrupting your dinner?" Reba could feel herself blush just by being in the same room as Brock. "Oh no I was going to ask if you wanted to join me for dinner." Brock could not believe that after the fight they had she would want to invite me to dinner. "Yeah that would be great."
Reba set the dinner table and Brock got two wine glasses down from the cabinet. Before they ate Reba went upstairs to check on Jake making sure he didn't need anything. While she was gone Brock had a chance to collect his thoughts and decided how he wanted to tell Reba the big news that was weighing on his shoulders. When Reba walked into her room where her son was sleeping she carefully sat on the edge of the bed. "Is this wrong to do Reba? Have your ex-husband over for dinner when you had his wife over during breakfast." These were the questions that were overwhelming Reba's mind. After assessing Jake's needs, Reba made her way back downstairs.
When she finally arrived in the kitchen she was relived when she saw Brock starring off into space. The next ten minutes felt like an eternity to Reba. As she sat at the table across from Brock, she desperately wanted to know what was making him so quiet and what he needed to tell her. "I hope you like the spaghetti." Reba said trying to break the silence that was suffocating the air. "Oh yeah its great. Thanks for letting me stay and eat with you, I really appreciate it." Reba gave him a soft smile and continued to eat her dinner. When they were both finished Brock figured it would be the best time to tell her what he dreaded.
"So Reba, listen I really need to discuss something with you." Shifting her attention to Brock so he would know she was listening, he started his news. "Well as you noticed Barbara Jean and I have been having major problems and some of those are ones we can not fix no matter how hard we both try." Reba didn't say anything knowing last time she did it ended up in a fight, so she sat silently listening to her ex-husband explain his battles with his current wife. "Reba I have tried so hard and Barbara Jean and I have done a lot of talking and we have made a big change in our life."
As Brock was telling Reba about his marital issues, she listened intuitively to what he was saying. Everything that was being said was nothing new to Reba because unknown to Brock, Barbara jean had already told her of the couple's problems. In a way she kind of felt sorry for Brock. She couldn't quite explain why, but she just did. "Reba I need to know that what I'm about to tell you won't affect our relationship and that you won't judge me nor Barbara Jean." Reba nodded and the words that were about to come out of Brock's mouth would change her so much. Brock waited a second wanting to tell Reba in the perfect way.
"Barbara jean and I have secretly been separated for over a month now, and we are sending in the papers tomorrow to make it official." Brock waited for some emotion from Reba or even her yelling and calling him a mo-roan. But nothing came from her. Not a sigh, slap, or even words. "I know we don't need your permission, but it was important for us to know that you knew before we told the kids." still nothing from Reba, and it was kind of getting annoying for Brock. It was like looking at a breathing statue when he starred at Reba waiting for something from her. "What is wrong with her? Does she not understand what I just said? Did I not give enough information?" Brock repeated these questions to himself as he starred at his ex-wife wanting for her to say or do anything. "I know you are probably mad at us, and you don't think we gave it enough thought, but Reba believe me when I say that god knows we tried to save our marriage. We truly did." At that last statement, Reba looked at her hands. "I don't understand what you're trying to say Brock." Reba and Brock met each others eyes and deep down she knew what he was saying, but for her sake she needed to hear it from him. Taking in a deep breath and rubbing his hands down the front of his torn and painted jeans Brock was about to change everything. " Reba, Barbara Jean and I are getting a divorce. I'm living at the condo and she is living at the house. We will share custody of Henry, but its over with me and her. " "A divorce Brock?" "Yeah a real divorce. It will be finalized in a couple of weeks, but its real Reba."