She laughed, but I could tell she was frightened.
We arrived at Daniel’s apartment at seven.
He had ordered pizza and set three plates on the kitchen table.
For the first twenty minutes, we talked about work, the bookstore, and an upcoming football match.
It was awkward.
Painfully awkward.
Finally, Daniel put down his glass.
“Okay. We need to talk about the obvious thing.”
Karen straightened in her chair.
“Daniel—”
“Mom, please. Let me finish.”
She nodded.
He looked at me first.
“Alex, you’re my best friend. You’ve been there for me more times than I can count. I don’t want to lose that.”
“I don’t want to lose it either.”
Then he turned toward Karen.
“And Mom, you’re my mother. Nothing about this divorce changes that.”
Her eyes filled with tears.
Daniel took a breath.
“But I need both of you to understand something. I’m not going to pretend this relationship is easy for me. I still have moments when it feels strange, and I don’t know how long it’ll take for that feeling to disappear.”
