He thought of cars

Round 16: Days 76-80

last update/next update/Anna's next update

Narrated by Anna Carmody

I woke up to this on Saturday morning.



Apparently, Mum heard that Dad was seen with another woman at a restaurant the other night. She assumed the worst and went completely ballistic at him.

Dad tried to insist nothing actually happened but Mum wouldn't listen.

I couldn't believe it but she actually slapped him.

I didn't want to see any more after that so I bolted off to my bedroom.

Curiosity got the better of me though and I peeked into the dining room just in time to see Mum telling Dad to leave.

Again, he insisted he'd done nothing wrong and that Mum was being unreasonable but she ignored him. He was packed off into a taxi within the hour.

I am so sad about this. I haven't been able to stop crying for days.

After Mum had calmed down a bit, she explained to me that she and Dad weren't divorced, just separated. Good. That might make it a little easier for me to hatch a scheme to get them in the same room together!

In the meantime though, I have a date with Emil! He called me from university and offered to take me out for dinner.

If Mum wasn't so preoccupied, I probably wouldn't have been able to go. She thinks Emil is too old for me because he's in college.

I'm going to college myself really soon so I don't pay any attention to her. So far, getting away with murder is the only perk of my parents' separation.

Anyway, it was fun to see Emil again. I hope I get to live in his dorm at university. There's only two more rooms left and I'm hoping they don't get snapped up.

Mum claims she doesn't miss Dad but I don't believe her. I mean, if they broke up because they were fighting all the time then maybe, but it was so sudden. I think she just doesn't want to admit she acted rashly. That's why it's up to me to get them back together.

I met up with Betsy at Aspirational Laboratories, a kind of club for people who are interested in science-type stuff. Betsy is helping me earn an extra scholarship for university.

I decided to ask Betsy what she thought about me getting Mum and Dad back together.

She suggested that the best way to get them together would be to invite them both over to visit once I was at college. That sound perfect. I've already been studying couples counselling in preparation!

My cousin Trent's wife Megan came to visit us the other day but ended up leaving after just a short time when she started feeling sick.

She did not look happy when Mum suggested she might be pregnant. She and Trent are going on their honeymoon soon. It would suck to have morning sickness on vacation.

Even with all the turmoil at home, I'm still expected to keep up with my schoolwork. I do it, but I used to be able to get it all finished before I went to my after-school job, but lately, I've been more distracted.

I've been talking to Dad every night on the phone but it was nice to actually see him in person again.

We went to the pet store and he bought me my new black lab, who I've named Nacho. Mum has agreed to take care of him while I'm at college but he's my dog. Apart from his tendency to roll in puddles in the bathroom, I love him already.

Notes:

• So this is the result of the ROS I rolled for Joseph, which I mentioned at the beginning of this round - "Dumped!" As you can see, I went through with it but it killed me. Hated every minute of it. Initially, I had planned on making him have an affair with Arianna but he was so not having any of it which I was secretly happy about. I didn't want to make him into a bad guy.
• As you can also see though, I'm still a bit of a wuss about it. I am hoping Anna's attempts at a reunion are successful. I'm going to try the Couples Counselling skill from AL for the first time. I was going to let them stay apart but Anna was so upset when Vivienne slapped Joseph and I thought she might be the type to get a scheme happening. Suddenly my blog has turned into The Parent Trap.