I didn’t know what to make of his shocking show of support but at that juncture I had no choice but to roll with it.
“I want you to come and get them. I don’t know what you and Martine have planned for Thanksgiving but I will not have my children under my roof behaving this way. They can come back after Olympia apologizes to Aisling and ends her association with Polly, who’s the ringleader of the mean girls. As for Auden, he must apologize to Mickey and me.”
“We’re not going back there, Mom,” Auden called and I turned to him.
“You’ll do what I say. I’m going to rescue Thanksgiving for my brother and the other man in my life who’s never treated me like dirt and his kids who are good kids who are also unfailingly kind and sweet. And as much as it pains me to admit, my children being present will negate those efforts.”
Auden opened his mouth but I turned away when Conrad said in my ear. “I’ll be there as soon as I can.”
Of course he would.
“That would be appreciated,” I said acidly then hung up.
I whirled around. “Your father is coming. Go get your jackets,” I ordered.
“We’re not going back there,” Auden repeated.
“You most certainly are,” I returned. “Get your jackets.”
Now Pippa was cowering into Auden in a way that didn’t sit well with me but I couldn’t pay attention to that because Auden looked to Mickey.
“I’m sorry. I was out of line. It’ll never happen again,” he declared.
I drew a sharp breath into my nose.
“’Preciate that, bud, but you gotta turn that to your mother,” Mickey replied like Lawrie, firm, but calm, and disappointed.
Auden looked to me. “I’m sorry, Mom. I shouldn’t have said those things, but we had a really bad morning and last night wasn’t great either and we’ve both had enough.”
Other things were beginning to trouble me at his words but before I could latch on, Lawrie spoke.
“Whatever that is, Auden, you don’t take out on your mother.”
My son nodded and muttered, “I get that. I messed up.”
“I didn’t know about your mom.”
That came from Pip and I saw her looking at Aisling.
“So?” Cillian returned. “That doesn’t matter.”
Pippa bit her lip and pressed closer to her brother.
“High school is hard,” Auden put in lamely.
“It is,” I shot back. “It’s also when you begin to learn who you are, who you want to be and how to do the right thing.” I looked to my girl. “What you’ve done, I hope to God somewhere inside you, Olympia, you knew was the wrong thing.”
“If I went against her, she’d turn that on me,” Pippa told me, her voice shaky.
“I can imagine and that would be awful.” I swung a hand out to Aisling. “Ask Ash. She can tell you all about it.”
“I’m trying to explain.” Pippa’s voice was rising.
“And what your mother is telling you is that there is no explanation for that behavior,” Lawrie shared.
She turned eyes to her uncle, the tears forming. “Uncle Lawrie—”
He wasn’t immune. His face softened.
Even so, his lips said, “There’s no excuse, Pippa.”
Her lower lip started trembling and a tear slid down her cheek. It killed me to stay where I was but I had to. This lesson had to take from now until eternity.
However, I allowed her brother to put his arm around her.
When he did, heartened, she looked to Ash.
“I’ve been a bitch. You’re totally not anything Polly said you were. We even talk about it when she’s not around. It’s just that Kellan liked you last year and she liked Kellan and it all got…it got…she got…” She faltered then finished quietly, “Nasty.”
“Oh my God, Kellan liked me?” Aisling whispered.
My eyes shot to Mickey to see his brows drawn dangerously and he was staring at his daughter.
“Yeah, totally,” Pippa told her, lifting a hand to wipe the tears from her face. “He still does. Whenever Polly has a go at you and he’s around, he tells her to knock it off. Which, you know, obviously makes her target you more.”
“Kellan, like, Kellan Buckley?” Cillian asked.
“Yeah,” Pippa answered.
Cillian looked to his dad and shared excitedly, “Oh my God, Dad! He’s like, the best of his weight class in the league.” He looked to Aisling. “Now you gotta come to our matches.”
I turned from Cill to Mickey to see Mickey looking at the ceiling, not looking happy for what I knew was now a different reason.
“And he’s a sophomore!” Cillian went on loudly. “Total score!”
“I think I’d rather keep talking about Polly and her posse bullying me,” Aisling muttered, shifting and casting her eyes anywhere a human wasn’t.
But I felt the crushing weight of all that had just happened lessen because she had it in her to make a joke.