Further, it appeared a small town didn’t extend to the bubble of the high school world.
“Okay, Auden,” I said when he stopped talking.
“That’s why I wanted to talk alone,” he continued. “I figured, you and me both having a go at her about Polly, she might actually listen. It sucks she had to go through that today, but you were right not to back down. If she’s in on it, that’s not cool. But it’s still a good thing it happened because she needs to be far away from Polly when the real mean girls make their move to show that girl her place.”
I forgot how many political minefields there were in high school.
This was a good reminder. I had two kids in it and three and a half years left of guiding them through it.
I felt badly for Polly, and her mom, who I liked, who would be next in line to deal. But Polly needed to learn a lesson too.
I just hoped the timing was right that my baby girl didn’t get caught in the crossfire.
Then again, if her past association drew her in, I had a feeling her brother would be at her back.
“You make me proud,” I told him. “You being you but also you looking out for your sister.”
“She isn’t a bully,” Auden told me, his voice softer, telling me my compliment meant something to him. “Pip and me talked after you went to bed and she told me Ash didn’t know Pip was your daughter because her name is Moss, not Hathaway. And she didn’t know Ash was Mickey’s, because, well, no one knows who kids’ parents are until they meet them or see them with them.”
“I should have probably shared more information with you before the meeting,” I admitted. “I was just nervous. I’ve never done this before. It didn’t even occur to me they were in the same grade and might know each other. My main focus was it all working out, you all getting along, making it safe for you, all of you, my two and Mickey’s two, when we tried blending. It’s a big thing, honey,” I said softly. “It means a lot to me, to Mickey, to all of us. So I guess I didn’t think beyond that.”
“It isn’t your fault, Mom,” he assured me. “We get that. This isn’t about you messing up. What I’m trying to say is Pippa was tight with her friends back home in California. She missed them. Dudes they adjust. New guy, they take him in. She’s a girl and it’s hard to find your way into a posse and they got so many games going on, it’s harder to know which is the right one. She messed up. Now she knows that and she’ll get it together.”
“I know she will,” I replied.
“Yeah,” he said.
“Thanks for sharing all this with me.”
“No probs, Mom.”
I waited to see if he had more and when he didn’t say anything, I said, “Okay, kiddo. I’m gonna leave you alone. Goodnight, sweets.”
I started to turn the door handle when he called, “Mom?”
“Right here, Auden.”
“Love you.”
The weight that had been lifting since Mickey called disappeared completely and I was again walking on air.
“Love you too, baby,” I replied and shifted out the door, closing it behind me.
I moved through the hall of my house toward my bedroom and did it shouting, “’Night, Lawrie. Love you.”
“’Night, MeeMee,” he called from the log room (more masculine, I’d put him in the beach room when he was there after he hooked up with Robin). “Love you too. Now stop shouting!”
I heard a giggle from Pippa’s room, a loud snort from Auden’s.
And my world was again happy.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Stem the Bleed
I was in my kitchen in slouchy, drawstring, gray yoga pants and a soft green lightweight sweater that drooped off my shoulder and had sleeves so long they had a hole in them that I could hook over my thumb.
It was an outfit I bought over the Internet that Josie had never seen to cast her disapproval.
I loved it. It was perfect for wearing it in my kitchen with my boys with me.
Or, two of them.
Though, I’d never wear it to the diner for lunch with Josie. She was the fashion queen and she’d shared her wisdom with me. It wouldn’t do to fly in the face of that. She might stop sending me links to fabulous shoes (etc.) if I did.
It was the next morning and Lawr was leaning against the counter wearing track pants and a tight long-sleeved wicking shirt. He was sipping coffee. His silvered dark hair was wet around his neck and ears because he’d had his morning run, come back and done his sit ups and pushups out on the deck.
This was why he was lean and I was curvy.
My son had just gotten up and he was in pajama pants, a long-sleeved tee, his hair was a mess and his eyes were still drowsy.
He was also sipping coffee.
This was a new thing for him since I moved to Maine.
My boy was definitely growing up.
This caused me to feel a strange euphoric melancholy. It was good and it was bad.
It was also life.
I was getting breakfast orders, walking on air that I had a house full (almost) of people I loved and I got to make breakfast for them when the doorbell rang.