“But like Aunt Casey ever uses algebra now, Mom.”
“True,” I say. I can feel John’s eyes on me. He’s wondering how I’m going to handle this. “But if she hadn’t passed algebra, she couldn’t have graduated from high school. And if she hadn’t graduated from high school, she wouldn’t have gone to college. And if she hadn’t gone to college, she wouldn’t be where she is today.” I think about Rachel not finishing college, not getting to where she wanted to go.
“I guess that makes sense,” Sophie says, then pulls her phone out of her pocket and starts to play with it.
“I’ll take that.” John grabs it from her without argument. “You can have it back in a week.” He puts it onto the kitchen counter and turns back around. “Do we need to hire you a tutor?”
“Maybe.” Sophie seems embarrassed. “I’m just so lost. I don’t even want to try. It’s useless.”
“Maybe your mom can help you with your homework each night,” John offers.
“I think the tutor thing sounds good,” I say quickly, the thought of trying to determine what X is making me feel queasy already. “Right?” I ask Sophie. She looks at me oddly but nods, obviously wanting the conversation to be over.
John gently pulls her up from the couch by her arms for a hug. “Listen, I love you. But if you do this again, I’m taking away your phone for good.” He pulls back and looks her directly in the eye. “Do you understand?”
“Yes.”
“Okay, go to your room and start on your homework.” He dismisses her and she runs up the stairs, taking them two at a time.
“Well, that went well, don’t you think?” I ask when she’s gone.
“We’ll see,” he says. “You never know with these kids.”
“Tell me about it.” I laugh and walk over to the kitchen counter and grab an unopened bottle of red wine. “Care for a drink?”
“Seriously?” he asks, looking at his watch.
“It’s five o’clock somewhere.” I smile.
“Are you just trying to distract me from the fact that Sophie’s been ditching school and you chose not to tell me?”
“Maybe.” I smile again, trying to charm my way out of this the way I’ve seen Rachel do before. “I don’t know about you, but after that, I need a drink.”
It works. “Can’t argue with that reasoning,” he agrees.
I pour each of us a full glass and he raises his for a toast. “To not completely effing up our kids.” He smiles and I’m reminded of the John I used to know. The one that used to be a lot more fun.
“Cheers to that.” I toast him against my better judgment and pray we don’t switch bodies too. Then things would really start to get confusing.
Then he startles me by leaning in and kissing my cheek before whispering in my ear. “And by the way, I love your hair.”
CHAPTER 12
* * *
rachel
“Tomorrow on GossipTV we’ve got an exclusive interview with the dancer who’s making some shocking accusations about Ryan McKnight.”
“That’s a wrap. Let’s break for lunch,” Charlie says into the microphone on his headset.
“What are you doing for lunch today?” I ask him.
“The usual, I’ll hit the craft service table and eat at my desk,” he replies with a smile. This past week, I’ve noticed he smiles a lot. When Dean throws a tantrum. When Fiona complains. Even when I ask for yet another retake because I know I can be better.
Again, I wonder why Casey never mentioned Charlie to me. I can tell by the way he talks to me that they have a rapport. Maybe I’ll join him for lunch and try to squeeze some conversation out of him. He’s always friendly, but also a little standoffish at the same time and I wonder why. I look toward the table. “I think I’ll head over there and see what they have today.”
“Really? It’s all carbs and junk over there. I thought you had a policy against eating refined sugar.”
I almost laugh out loud. If he only knew who he was really talking to. I eat what I have time to eat, which is usually leftovers off a teenager’s plate.
“Rules are made to be broken,” I say with a laugh.
I wait for him to laugh but instead he hesitates and scrolls through his phone. “You know what, I forgot I have a script meeting. I’ll have to skip lunch. See you this afternoon at the taping.” He walks away before I can say anything.
“What are you up to? You know you’re only going to confuse that boy if you have lunch with him,” Destiny says as she walks up.
“Really? How so?” I ask, then remembering I’m supposed to be Casey. I’m supposed to know what she’s talking about. But I don’t. When I’d pressed Casey about Charlie she’d told me there was nothing I needed to know about him. “He’ll be nice to you. Just be nice back,” was all she’d said.
She laughs. “You know how so. Do I need to remind you how things ended last time?”