don’t know where we’ll live. I don’t know who will take care of you.”
“Mom …” Tim said plaintively. “Mom—it’ll be okay.”
“No it won’t!” she screamed, pounding her fists against her thighs. “Your father is going to take everything we have away from us because he doesn’t love us.”
The family room was a shambles, and Debora had worked herself into a frenzy. There was no point in Mike’s trying to talk to her, nor would Tim let his father comfort him.
“It was awful,” Mike said.
It was awful. But it only solidified his decision that he and Debora could no longer go on together. Continuing their farce of a marriage would only destroy their children.
He moved out of the house into an apartment in the Country Club Plaza. The name did not denote plush quarters; the area was an older neighborhood in Kansas City, Missouri, halfway between Mike’s office and the street where Debora and the kids still lived in the brick house they had bought with such high expectations six years before.
Surprisingly, things did improve after Mike moved out. He talked to Debora almost every day. “Nothing had changed—I still supported them, of course,” he said, “but I just wasn’t there.”
He took Tim, Lissa, and Kelly two or three times a week, and they had “pretty good times.” Tim and Lissa were very angry with him at first, but he wasn’t surprised at that. He was sure that Debora was talking to them as confidants and not as children bewildered by the breakup of their parents’ marriage. Lissa, in particular, was furious with her father. It took her a long time to admit that her world had not really changed that much. She still had her ballet lessons, the same friends, the same school, and the same house; the kids had their beloved Lab, Boomer.
In fact, things seemed to be getting better all around, so much so that Mike even began to wonder if he and Debora might reconcile. He really did want to hold his marriage together, if they could avoid Debora’s histrionics and temper tantrums. However, the one thing he could not see himself doing at that point was going to marriage counseling. “Debora wanted to go, but I knew I wouldn’t open up—I couldn’t see myself sitting there and opening up to a counselor and it wouldn’t have done any good.”
Even so, he and Debora began to talk about getting back together. She was calmer and it began to seem that they could somehow be together and raise their children without the anger and bitterness that had sullied every facet of their marriage. Mike became hopeful enough to tell Debora, “One of the things I’m unhappy about is that house. If we got back together, we would have to move out of that house. It’s too small for us—it needs too much work.”
Debora agreed at once. If they had more room, she felt, and if Mike could come home to a clean house without dozens of chores that needed to be done, their marriage would be so much better. She immediately began searching for more suitable houses and found the beautiful mansion on Canterbury Court in Prairie Village. Mike caught her enthusiasm and looked at the huge house with its six bedrooms, den, exercise room, pool—everything a family could ask for. He agreed that it seemed perfect, if somewhat expensive. It had gone on the market at something over $600,000. In California, it would have listed at $3 million. Even so, in Prairie Village, Kansas, $600,000 was a lot to pay for a home.
But the house had been empty for a while and the owner—who had built many of the luxurious houses in the Canterbury development—accepted Debora and Mike’s bid of $400,000. They were getting a tremendous bargain.
Then Mike began to get cold feet. He had been swept up in Debora’s fervor and in her promises that everything would be different. Now he realized that he had been rushed into a commitment that he didn’t truly believe in. Nothing had really changed, except that they had been apart for four
“Mom …” Tim said plaintively. “Mom—it’ll be okay.”
“No it won’t!” she screamed, pounding her fists against her thighs. “Your father is going to take everything we have away from us because he doesn’t love us.”
The family room was a shambles, and Debora had worked herself into a frenzy. There was no point in Mike’s trying to talk to her, nor would Tim let his father comfort him.
“It was awful,” Mike said.
It was awful. But it only solidified his decision that he and Debora could no longer go on together. Continuing their farce of a marriage would only destroy their children.
He moved out of the house into an apartment in the Country Club Plaza. The name did not denote plush quarters; the area was an older neighborhood in Kansas City, Missouri, halfway between Mike’s office and the street where Debora and the kids still lived in the brick house they had bought with such high expectations six years before.
Surprisingly, things did improve after Mike moved out. He talked to Debora almost every day. “Nothing had changed—I still supported them, of course,” he said, “but I just wasn’t there.”
He took Tim, Lissa, and Kelly two or three times a week, and they had “pretty good times.” Tim and Lissa were very angry with him at first, but he wasn’t surprised at that. He was sure that Debora was talking to them as confidants and not as children bewildered by the breakup of their parents’ marriage. Lissa, in particular, was furious with her father. It took her a long time to admit that her world had not really changed that much. She still had her ballet lessons, the same friends, the same school, and the same house; the kids had their beloved Lab, Boomer.
In fact, things seemed to be getting better all around, so much so that Mike even began to wonder if he and Debora might reconcile. He really did want to hold his marriage together, if they could avoid Debora’s histrionics and temper tantrums. However, the one thing he could not see himself doing at that point was going to marriage counseling. “Debora wanted to go, but I knew I wouldn’t open up—I couldn’t see myself sitting there and opening up to a counselor and it wouldn’t have done any good.”
Even so, he and Debora began to talk about getting back together. She was calmer and it began to seem that they could somehow be together and raise their children without the anger and bitterness that had sullied every facet of their marriage. Mike became hopeful enough to tell Debora, “One of the things I’m unhappy about is that house. If we got back together, we would have to move out of that house. It’s too small for us—it needs too much work.”
Debora agreed at once. If they had more room, she felt, and if Mike could come home to a clean house without dozens of chores that needed to be done, their marriage would be so much better. She immediately began searching for more suitable houses and found the beautiful mansion on Canterbury Court in Prairie Village. Mike caught her enthusiasm and looked at the huge house with its six bedrooms, den, exercise room, pool—everything a family could ask for. He agreed that it seemed perfect, if somewhat expensive. It had gone on the market at something over $600,000. In California, it would have listed at $3 million. Even so, in Prairie Village, Kansas, $600,000 was a lot to pay for a home.
But the house had been empty for a while and the owner—who had built many of the luxurious houses in the Canterbury development—accepted Debora and Mike’s bid of $400,000. They were getting a tremendous bargain.
Then Mike began to get cold feet. He had been swept up in Debora’s fervor and in her promises that everything would be different. Now he realized that he had been rushed into a commitment that he didn’t truly believe in. Nothing had really changed, except that they had been apart for four
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