"Don't ever say such a thing!" Kevin exclaimed.

"Why? It's true," she said. She turned around to face him and screamed at the top of her lungs, "I HAVE NOTHING!!!!!!!"

"Oh, God, please help me," Kevin whispered.

"Don't give me that, you know it's true and I don't want to hear any of your damn LIES!!!!"

"Beth, just because things didn't work out the way I wanted doesn't mean it's the end of us."

"Why wouldn't it mean that?"

"Why would it?"

"Don't you dare answer my question with a question!!!"

"AAHH!!! You sound like my grandmother!!! She used to say that all of the time...until she passed away." Tears rose in his eyes. "She was so close to my dad. My grampa was already...gone. All I have left of my dad is in my mom and she isn't even part of his family. Well, not a blood relation. She hasn't known him his whole life. Every time I see any family with their father and the son and the mother and a daughter or however it works, it's just....indescribable....painful." Then he broke down. He ran into the house and Beth grabbed her bags out of the trunk. She reluctantly followed him. She knew he needed help, but if she helped him, then she would back to her friendship with him, but she felt guilty about not being to him what he wanted her to be.

She walked inside to see him sitting in the family room looking through an old photo album. She sighed heavily. She knew that the tables just flipped on her. She had to be the strong one. She dropped her bags and walked over to the sofa. She sat down next to him and draped one arm across his shoulder and then squeezed his knee with the other. She rested her hand on his leg. Knowing that she was there, Kevin did his best to stop crying. His crying turned into a series of hiccups before finally stopping.

"Look, Kev, he wouldn't want to see you like this. One day you will see him again in heaven, but until then you are here. Live in the present. He would want you to be strong and that is what you have to do. Maybe when I die, I will see my parents together again, the way God intended them to be, the way I have hoped for. You have to keep pushing on."

"Thanks. You have to keep pushing on to. Everything that you think you have lost may have in your mind left you with nothing, but it also might just be some curves and obstacles in the road of life. You know, to keep life interesting. It just makes you put your priorities in order."

"Thanks, as usual, Kev. You're right."

He dried his eyes with the bottom of his shirt, then pulled Beth in for a hug.

"We have to stick together, always." Beth said.

"Always," Kevin agreed.