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My jaw fell open in shock as I gaped at him. Both he and my mother had snapped their eyes to me, silencing their voices as they stared at me. It was clear they hadn't expected nor wanted me to find them like this, in the middle of a raging argument.

Not a word was uttered as we all looked at each other. If it hadn't been for Harry's reassuring hand on my back, I don't know what I would have done. I was so confused by the sight in front of me I was having trouble processing what was going on.

"Joey..." my mother said, the first to recover her voice. I tore my gaze from my father and tried to close my mouth, which was still hanging open.

"What's going on?" I asked, surprised at how steady my voice sounded.

'Honey, can we talk later? I need to finish talking to your father," she responded, shooting an angry look at him in the corner.

"No, I want to know what's going on and why there are shattered dishes everywhere," I demanded, quickly growing frustrated. I refused to be treated like a child.

"No, sweetie, I swear we'll talk to you as soon as we're finished here," she said. My father had yet to say a word. I looked back and forth between them, both of them seeming to be on the same page. About this, at least.

"Fine," I huffed angrily. "Nice to see you, dad," I said sarcastically. I hadn't seen him in months and this is what happens the first time he comes home? Great. I turned sharply and almost ran into Harry's chest, surprised how close he had been standing behind me. Grabbing his hand, I drug him behind me up to my room, making sure to slam the door as hard as I could behind me.

"What the hell is that about?" I seethed, not really asking Harry as much as I was venting. I paced hurriedly across my room while Harry hovered by the closed door, watching me with a look of concern spread across his face. "Why were they fighting?"

"I don't know, babe," he said calmly. I continued to pace back and forth, barely hearing him.

"Was my mom throwing dishes? At him? What did he do?" I turned sharply on my heel, frowning at the ground as my mind raced a thousand miles per hour.

"He hasn't been home for months... but it's for work, so she can't be mad about that, right?" Harry continued to watch me, not interrupting my monologue. "What if... oh my god, what if he cheated? What if they're getting a divorce? What if he has another entire family somewhere and we're not good enough for him anymore and-" I was cut off by a sob cracking out of my throat, which surprised me. I had been so angry, I hadn't been aware I was about to cry until that had happened.

Instantly I felt Harry's arms around me, pulling me tightly against his chest as my hands flew up to my face, swiping at my eyes vigorously as tears started to fall. I had never seen my parents fight like that before, and it scared me. Harry hugged me to him, shushing softly in my ear as his hand stroked the back of my hair soothingly, allowing me to sob uncontrollably into his chest.

"It's okay, babe, you're alright..." he whispered, trying to calm me down. "You don't know what happened yet, remember."

I sniffled and took a deep breath. "I know but it's gotta be bad, Harry. I mean I've seen them fight before but never like that... they usually stay so calm..." I trailed off, my mind reeling with the few memories I had of them fighting.

Just like all couples, they would get into spats, but never like this. They would fight about normal middle-aged couple things: bills, work, taxes, cars, normal things. Whatever this was, it was something else, something worse.

Looking up at him, I could see the pained look in his eyes, believing what I was saying but wishing it was different. He just continued to run his hand through my hair and hugging me to him. He kissed the top of my head before saying softly, "It will be okay, Joey."

I took in a shaky breath and nodded slowly, wanting to believe him. At least he was here with me now. I'd be loosing it completely if it weren't for him. My arms fell from my face to wrap around his waist, hugging myself as tightly to him as possible, resting my head on his chest, beyond thankful that he was here for me.

A knock at the door made me cringe, my eyes squeezing tightly shut before muttering, "Come in."

The door creaked open, and I saw my mother's face peeking through when I managed to open my eyes. Harry's hold on me didn't let up. Cautiously, she entered the room, followed by my father. He looked confused when he took in our embrance.

"Is that... You're not... You're not Harry, are you?" he asked, speaking for the first time. My eyebrows pinched together in confusion. How did my dad know Harry? I glanced up at my boyfriend, examining his face. He didn't look surprised that my dad had recognized him.

"Good to see you, James," he said evenly.

What?

"You've grown quite a bit since I last saw you," my dad said, acting as though I hadn't just seen he and my mother in a massive fight downstairs and this was just a friendly reunion. Harry cleared his throat to speak before I cut him off.

"How do you two know each other?" I asked. My voice sounded weak, which irritated me.

"Um, your dad and my dad were friends," Harry explained.

"They were?" I asked, shocked. How had I not known that?

Harry made eye contact with me and nodded, his lips set in a flat line before returning his gaze to my father.

"Are you two together, then?" my dad asked, directing his words at me for the first time.

"Yes," I said firmly, pleased that my voice hadn't betrayed me again. I hugged Harry tighter to me. My dad just nodded, expression unreadable.

"Harry, I think you should go," my mother said suddenly, clearly fed up with this strange, inappropriately timed small talk.

"No," I said immediately, clinging to Harry's waist. I needed him.

"Shh, babe," Harry whispered, leaning down to hug me and pressing his lips to my ear so only I could hear. "You need to talk to them."

My arms wound around his neck, hugging him tightly, knowing he was right but not wanting to let him go.

"You'll be okay, I can come right back when you're done if you want," he said, reassuring me. I nodded, my face pressed into his neck. "I love you," he whispered before releasing me and pressing a kiss to my forehead, giving me one last optimistic look before waving goodbye to my parents and muttering an awkward parting phrase to my father and leaving.

No one said anything until they heard him open and close the front door, exiting the tense confines of our house. I stared back and forth between my parents, who were both staring back at me.

"Are you going to treat me like an adult now and tell me what's going on?" I asked firmly, still irritated with them for refusing to speak to me right away.

"Joey, let's sit down," my mom said, forcing calm into her voice.

"I'm fine," I said, neglecting her offer.

"Okay, well... I don't really know how to start," she said, shooting a quick glance at my father.

"I want to hear it from him," I said sharply. It was becoming more and more evident he was the guilty party here, and the sadist in me wanted to hear him admit whatever he had done. "Don't beat around the bush, just tell me."

He let out a heavy sigh as he looked at me with a pained expression, his hand rubbing harshly across his jaw and the stubble that had formed there. He used to be so handsome, with dark, thick hair and glowing blue eyes, just like mine.

Now, however, he looked like he had aged ten years in the last two; his hair was speckled with grey, his jaw unshaven, wrinkles formed around his eyes, accentuated by bags darkening the skin underneath them. He clearly looked reluctant to say whatever he was about to tell me.

"Okay, Joey, listen... I messed up, but it doesn't mean I don't love you or your mother, okay? I just need you to know that before I tell you," he said.

"Just tell me," I replied, surprised by the coldness in my voice. I already knew I would probably never look at him the same way after he revealed whatever it was he had done.

"I regret it so much, Jo," he started before pausing. I rolled my eyes at his persistence to stall. "When I was working in Phoenix, I... I had an affair with a woman who lived there. But it was only for a few months and it's completely over now, and it's never going to happen again, I swear," he said, rushing his words, as if I wouldn't be able to hear them if he spit them out fast enough.

My heart felt like it was crashing through my chest. It was just what I had feared. Worse, even.

"A few months?" I spit, too angry to cry right now. "You fucking cheated on mom for 'a few months'?!" My nostrils flared in anger as I glared, shooting daggers at him with my eyes. "How could you?!"

"I don't know, Joey," he said hollowly, staring at the ground as he spoke. Too cowardly to look me in the eye anymore.

"When?" I demanded.

"I ended it last week."

"Oh my god." Last week. He had been with another woman only a week ago and here he was now, crawling back to us. Despicable.

"I'm so sorry, Joey, please forgive me," he pleaded pathetically, raising his gaze off the ground to look at my feet now.

I shook my head slowly. "No," I said, voice deadly calm.

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