She looked to me and I went for it.
“This is not a lie, cross my heart,” I did the motions that went with my words, “your decision will have no ramifications. You mean a lot to me, honey, and I want you comfortable with me and in my home. Pippa’s apologized. She had a tough time out there she deserved. But if you’re not okay with having Thanksgiving with her, then her father takes her home. And,” I grabbed her hand when her eyes blanked against me, “I’m being serious. This is serious and Pippa has to learn that. I’m not putting you on the spot. If you want to leave and be safe at home, that’s your choice. If you want Pip to leave and be here with your dad and brother and my brother and me, that’s your choice too. If this is too big of a decision for you, I’ll make the choice and I’ll send my kids home.”
“It’s not her,” she stated.
“I’m sorry?” I asked.
“She helped make school suck, but it’s not her. She told the truth. She never said anything. Cill’s right, she did laugh, but she never said anything. So it’s not her who did it. Not fun, going to school and having them make it suck. It was more not fun going home when we were with Mom and watching her drink until she was passed out on the couch. Getting her to bed. Trying not to let Cill see it or hear it. And when we were with Dad, it was just a week away, going back to that. It’s not Pippa. It’s Mom and it’s you.”
“Me?” I whispered, again my stomach twisting, at all her words, including the last one.
“We messed up and told Mom about you. It got worse. I didn’t wanna make Cillian feel bad because he didn’t get it so he kept talking about you. So I know why she missed Cillian’s birthday and got caught drunk driving. Because of you.”
“I…don’t know—” I started.
She waved her hand, appearing flustered. “It’s not you. I don’t mean it’s you.” She looked into my eyes. “But it’s you.” She seemed intent on my answer when she asked, “Do you get what I mean?”
I squeezed her hand. “I get what you mean.”
“But she’s not drinking now, which she’s never done, and I don’t get what that means. But, whatever.” She shook her head, dismissing her mother’s efforts at recovery and I again thought that it might be a good idea for Rhiannon to share. “I took advantage of her being, you know, just her so when she was all, you know, there she could meet you when we went out shopping and see you’re really cool and it could all be good. Does that make sense?”
I nodded. “It does, blossom.”
“Polly’s never going to stop picking on me,” she went on. “Even if Pippa isn’t at her back acting like she’s the greatest thing since Beyoncé. She’s going to keep coming at me because that’s how she is. She picks on people who have things she can pick on. Like me being fat.”
“You’re not fat,” I told her.
For once, she held my eyes steady.
“I’m fat, Amy,” she whispered.
“You’re not fat,” I stated firmly on another hand squeeze. “I mean that. You’re beautiful and I don’t think this Kellan whoever-he-is would like you and defend you to the resident Queen Bee Meanie if you weren’t.”
She looked away. “I didn’t know about him.”
“Now you do,” I said and she looked back at me. “So if you don’t believe me, which you should, or your father who thinks you’re gorgeous, or your brother who loves you like crazy, then believe in some sophomore junior boxing league prizefighter who wants to go out with you.”
Her eyes twinkled with teenage girl thrill at that very idea.
Now, that was what I liked to see.
I lifted our hands out to our sides, swayed back and gave her skirt a glance. “Too bad he isn’t here to see how cute you look in that skirt.”
She lifted a shoulder in a slight shrug, which was the first time I thought it was cute and not troubling.
Then her hand tightened in mine and she gave me her eyes. “If Pippa breaks with Polly, it’s gonna be extreme.”
I held her eyes. “That’s not your issue.”
“You were…” She looked to my closed door then back to me. “You were tough on her out there.”
God, Mickey’s girl was sweet.
“She needed that lesson.”
“Maybe. But seriously, Polly can be really bad.”
“Dogfight,” I said.
She stared at me then looked at my shoulder and said, “She gets the cute guy.”
“She did but his name isn’t Kellan,” I replied.
She looked back to me.
There was a knock on the door but before I could call out, Mickey came in and closed it behind him.
He looked to me then his eyes went to his daughter and stayed there. “You okay?”
I let her go as she answered, “Yeah, Dad.”
“You wanna go home?” he asked.
She flipped a hand out to me. “We were just deciding that.”
Mickey looked to me and I felt the weight of all that had happened start crushing me. “Should take my kids home, babe.”
I nodded. “Of course,” I mumbled.
Without hesitation, he turned to Aisling. “Let’s go, baby.”
Ash glanced at me and back to her dad. “Maybe we should—”
“Amy’s family needs to sort themselves out without an audience.”
She did a mini-shrug that was not cute before looking to the floor and muttering, “Okay, Dad.”
Mickey turned his eyes to me. “Call you later.”
“Right,” I whispered.
He moved to Ash, threw an arm around her shoulders and guided her out of the room.
Feeling leaden, I followed them.
“We don’t need it from you too!”
This was shouted angrily from Auden and even still heavy with the weight of the day, I went faster and so did Mickey and Aisling.
When we got out to the great room, I saw my son facing off against his father inside my closed door.
Lawr moved right to me.
Mickey, however, did not.
And more weight crushed me.
“Don’t buy yourself more than your mother dished out, Auden. You’re already grounded for two weeks. You keep going, I’ll make it three,” Conrad returned.
“We sorted things with Mom.” My son looked to me. “Tell him, Mom.”
“We need to let Mickey and the kids—” I started.
“You cursing at your mother, her friend, and your sister bullying kids at school?” Conrad asked over me. “I hardly think you can sort that out in ten minutes.”
“We did,” Auden snapped.
“Auden—” I began again.
“That’s three weeks, son. Keep going,” Conrad retorted.
It was then my beautiful boy leaned into his father and his face twisted in such pain and rage, every nerve end I had zapped painfully and it took herculean effort not to go running to him.
“Like I give a crap what you do to me,” he snarled. “Like I give a crap about you at all. You’re a fu…loser cheat.”
“Oh no,” I whispered.
“Jesus Christ,” Lawr muttered.
“I think—” Mickey started.
“No,” Auden bit out, his eyes going to Mickey. “You should know. You should know what you saved my mom from.”