Backstage

The next day, Sami went to the sleep over to pick up Scott.

“Hi, Mommy!” Scott said as he ran up to hug her.

“Hey honey,” Sami said as she scooped him up and placed him on her hip. “Thanks a lot, Natalie,” Sami said to Matt’s (Scott’s friend) mom.

“No problem,” she said with a smile. Sami gave a weak smile.

“Do you have all of your stuff?” Sami asked Scott. He nodded and held up his power ranger sleeping bag.

“Ok, let’s go!” They waved and said their good-byes and got into the car. Scott was babbling about everything that they had done. Sami smiled, nodded and acted interested, but she was really worried about what she was going to tell Scott.

They pulled up to the house.

“Where’s Daddy? He’s supposed to be home today,” Scott said looking disappointed. This wasn’t the first time Max had disappointed his son. Sami led him inside. “Hey, Mommy?” Scott asked after he had put all of his things in his room.

“Yeah sweetie?” Sami asked shakily. She was still trying to figure out how to tell him.

“Why isn’t Daddy home?” he asked as he sat next to her on the counter’s stool. Sami looked at him. She was trying to figure out what to tell him. “Mommy? Are you mad?” Scott asked in his cute 6 year old voice. He looked worried. 'Ok,' Sami thought, 'I have to tell him…right now.' She took a deep breath.

“Scott, honey. I need to talk to you,” she said. Scott looked confused for a second and then stood up to follow Sami to the couch. She picked him up and sat him on her lap. “Honey, Daddy isn’t going to be coming home,” she said.
Bad way to start.
Scott immediately started to cry. “Daddy died, didn’t he!?” he cried.

“No no no no no….honey no! Your dad is still alive,” Sami said as she hugged Scott.

“Then why isn’t he coming home?” Scott said, muffled for he had his head buried in Sami’s shoulder.

“Honey, Daddy isn’t coming home because he did something bad,” she said as she stroked his head. He looked up at her. He had stopped wailing and just had a few silent tears coming down his face. “See, when Daddy and Mommy got married, we made a promise that we would only love each other and any one else in our family, like you,” she said as she kissed the top of his head. He nodded. “Well, Daddy broke the promise. He was…he loved someone else. Do you understand?” Sami asked hoping that he did. He didn’t. Scott shook his head. Sami nodded. “Ok, well, Daddy…”
‘Was a complete jerk!’ Sami was tempted to say but decided against it. “Daddy loved another girl. But he was only supposed to love me. So he broke the promise that we made. Daddy was…dating another girl and he wasn’t supposed to,” Sami said. Scott nodded.

“I understand,” he said sadly. He sat up and looked into Sami’s eyes. “Does Daddy still love me?” he asked.

“Yes honey he still loves you,” she said.

“Do you still love Daddy?” he asked.

“Well….” She hadn’t expected this.

“Are you getting a divorce?” he asked nervously. Sami was stunned. She didn’t think that he even knew what divorce was. Sami nodded.

“Yes, honey. We are,” she said. Scott looked down at the couch.

“Are you sad?” he asked still looking down. Sami didn’t know how to answer it. When Scott looked up, he had tears in his eyes. Sami was about to cry, but she had to stay strong for her little boy. “Did Daddy hurt your feelings?” he asked. Sami nodded slowly her eyes burning, but she would not let herself cry. Scott hugged her and started to cry. “I’m sorry Mommy,” he said. Sami rubbed his back and held him close. “I love you, Mommy,” he said. Sami felt the tears spill over her eyes.

“I love you too.”