“Who is this?” Katelin demanded.
“This is Sarah…who is this?”
“This is Katelin. Can I talk to Mike?”
“Sure, hang on.”
She listened to the muffled voices as Sarah gave the phone to Mike. “You aren’t supposed to answer my phone! It’s my girlfriend!” Mike exclaimed.
“Sorry! You were in the bathroom. Just tell her I’m your cousin or something. Make something up.”
“You might as well have told her I took you here last night after I dropped her off and then I slept with you!” Then he actually picked up. “Hey, Kate.”
“Who was that?”
“My cousin.”
She smirked. “That’s funny. I didn’t know you had a cousin Sarah.”
“Sure I do.”
“Then why were you so mad at her for picking up your phone when it was your girlfriend? I heard everything you said.”
“Look, Kate, I can explain.”
“Screw you, asshole. I don’t even wanna hear it,” Katelin muttered, slamming her phone shut and storming back to her car. Now where was she going to go? Her best friend was out of town for the weekend, and most of her other close friends were going out to lunch today. All she wanted to do was go home and eat all the ice cream in the freezer. After a moment’s contemplation, she decided that even though her parents would probably be there, it was a better plan than anything else she could think of.
Ten minutes later, she was pulling into her driveway. She still wasn’t crying. Wow. She opened the back door, stepped in, and slammed it shut before going into the kitchen and opening the freezer. She grabbed a container of chocolate ice cream and stormed past the living room.
“Back so soon?” Nick asked. She ignored him and continued walking. “Katelin!” he called.
“What do you want?” she shouted angrily, bursting into tears.
“What’s wrong?”
“Mike slept with some other girl after prom last night,” she replied before going up the stairs.
Nick looked at Michelle. “I should probably go talk to her, huh?”
“No, let me. I’ve been in the situation before.” She followed her daughter up the stairs and knocked on the closed door. “Katelin?”
“Go away!”
“Please let me in, Katelin.”
“Why?”
“Because I know how you feel. Because the reason your father and I were ever together was because the same thing happened to me.” She tried the knob to find it unlocked and stepped into the room.
“Go away,” Katelin repeated.
“I’m sorry I left. You have no idea how much I regretted leaving. I seriously thought Nick didn’t love me and I was doing him a huge favor by not making him go through with the wedding.”
“Well, he loved you.”
“I know that now, and I hate myself for hurting him.” She paused. “Did he ever tell you anything about my ex, Brad?”
“No.”
“Brad was a jerk. He was the definition of asshole. We had been dating for almost two years when I moved in with your father. I moved here to be close to him. One day, I decided to surprise him with a visit, and I found him making out with some other girl, about to sleep with her. He wasn’t getting any from me, so I guess he had to make up for that.”
“So he was just like Mike, then, huh?”
“I guess he was, just a few years older.”
Michelle sat down on the bed and smoothed Katelin’s hair back. “I’m sorry I left. I’m sorry you had to grow up without me. If I could go back in time, I would. I made a mistake, just like you made a mistake in falling for Mike. It happens to the best of us. I’m so sorry.”
After a moment’s thought, Katelin sat up and hugged her mother tightly. “I forgive you.”