... She found him incosolable

Linda rushed into the house to find Albert sitting on the sofa in tears. He had an icepack over the area on his face where Samantha had hit him.

"Albert... honey, are you alright?" Linda asked.

"No... No..." He sobbed "I'm worthless. I'm stupid..."

"No, stop that." Linda said, putting her arms around him. She held him close, letting him sob between her breasts. "Carol gave me the day with pay... I'm here, baby."

"I tried to do right... I tried to be good for her... I tried to help... I tried to take care of her... I'm not cut out to be a father... we should just stop now..."

"Shush with that, dear." Linda said "You're raising two teenagers with no prior experience and you haven't lost your mind... I'd say you're doing great as a parent."

"You think so?" Albert sniffed

"Yeah. I do."

The couple just sat there on the sofa, her whispering in his ear every so often about how everything was going to be alright.

Eventually, Albert's brother Michael came home.

"Do I even want to know..." the boy said as he headed to his room.

"I think, I want to lay down." Albert said.

"Okay." Linda said. She scooped him up like a bride carries her groom and brought him up to their bedroom.