“How nice,” Mrs. Fields says, crushing her baby against her chest like she needs to protect him against us—?or maybe wants him to protect her. “At any rate, yes, it’s true—?Ethan is going to boarding school. He’s really excited to be trying something new.”
“No, he isn’t. He said he’s sad he’s going.” Ivy’s hands are fluttering at her sides, but she’s speaking up, which I know is hard for her around people she doesn’t know. “At school. I was there. He said he doesn’t want to go. He said he wasn’t crying, but Diana said he was. And his face was wet, so I think he was too. He was lying, I guess.”
There’s a pause. Mrs. Fields says uncomfortably, “Saying goodbye to your friends is always difficult, but that doesn’t mean—”
David cuts her off. “Ivy’s right: he wants to stay home. And you know it.”
“He’ll feel differently once he sees where he’s going.”
“I doubt it. What do we even know about this place?”
“It comes highly recommended.”
“By whom?” he says. “The National Association of Parents Who Want to Get Rid of Their Children?”
“David!” says his father. “You’re out of line. Your stepmother and I worked hard to find the right place—”
“How much work could it have been? It’s only been a few days.”
“We had to move quickly,” Mrs. Fields says. “We can’t continue to have the kind of crazy situations that bring the police into our lives.” She kisses the top of Caleb’s head. “I want a healthy home life for all of us.”
Ron says, “Can I just say something?”
She doesn’t give him permission, just waits, a cold smile frozen on her face.
He says, “You know, you and I . . . we’re kind of the same.”
“Excuse me?”
“We both married into families that were already dealing with some pretty heavy stuff.” He glances at me, his eyebrows raised. “It’s not always easy—?I’d be the first to admit that.”
“You’ve never had to deal with boys,” Mrs. Fields says.
“Trust me, girls aren’t exactly a walk in the park. And I’m not saying we’re right out of a Norman Rockwell picture or anything, but when I married Jeannie, her kids became mine. I want what’s best for them, and I always will.”
“Are you implying that I don’t feel the same way about my husband’s children?”
“Of course not. I’m just saying—”
She cuts him off. “I assume David asked you all to come here tonight. I know he’s not happy about this decision but—”
“He didn’t ask us!” I say. “He didn’t even know we were coming.”
“No?” She purses her lips.
Oh, great. She blames David for our intrusion.
“I know we messed up that day,” I say, looking back and forth between her and her husband. “All of us kids. David should have come in with Ethan, and I should have noticed he was missing, and Ethan shouldn’t have run away. We screwed up, and the whole thing must have been really awful and scary for you. But overall, hasn’t Ethan been doing great? I mean, he’s happy at school, and he’s totally sweet and tries really hard . . . Why give up on how well he’s doing because of one bad day? If you let Ethan stay, we’ll all do whatever we can to help. Like, I could watch him when David can’t.”
“Thank you,” Mrs. Fields says. The baby squirms, and she stands up and bounces him on her hip. “But we’ve made our decision. I really don’t see the point of all this.”
I turn to Mr. Fields. “You can always send him to school later, right? Keep him at home now but send him away if something else goes wrong? Can’t you give him one more chance?”
David steps forward. “Dad. Please. Listen to Chloe.” His hands are in fists at his side—?not in a threatening way, just like he’s squeezing something that isn’t there. “Punish me, if you want to. Ground me, take my car away, whatever. I screwed up. But don’t punish Ethan. Don’t send him away.”
“It’s not a punishment,” Mr. Fields says. He rises heavily to his feet. “It’s a school. A good school that will be the right fit for Ethan. It’s just not working here at home for him, or for us.” He looks around the room. “I’m sure you all mean well, but I’m not thrilled about being ambushed by strangers.”
“We just care a lot about Ethan,” I say.
“Not as much as we do,” he says. “Now it’s time for us to finish our dinner.” And he leads us all back to the front door.
In the car, Mom says, “I think we planted seeds of doubt. Maybe they’ll take root?”
I don’t even call her out on the stupid metaphor. Her optimism is just sad. There’s no way Mrs. Fields will change her mind—?it’s clear she’s decided the safety of her baby is in some way dependent upon Ethan’s being exiled. It doesn’t make any sense, but her husband doesn’t seem to care that it doesn’t. He’s just going to do what she wants.
I lean my head back, stare up into the darkness at the top of the car, and listen to Mom and Ron talk.
Inside the house, I’m about to head up to my room when I stop. “Hey, Mom? Ron? Thanks for trying.”
“Did Chloe just thank us for something?” Ron asks my mom. “Pinch me, I’m dreaming.”
“You’re welcome,” Mom says, rushing over to give me a hug. “I’m sorry it didn’t help more.”
“I told them Ethan was sad to be leaving,” Ivy points out.
“It’s good you said that,” I tell her.
“I know he’s sad now,” Mom says. “But maybe he’ll end up liking the school. The father said it was a good one.”
“What else is he going to say? That he’s throwing his son to the wolves?”
“I’m sure he cares about his son.”
“I’m not.”
Ron says, “The important thing is that you girls know this would never happen to you—?we would never send you away anywhere you didn’t want to go.”
Maybe Ivy and I didn’t exactly win the lottery in the stepparent department—?Ron manages to annoy me with every word out of his mouth—?but I guess we could have done worse. He may criticize and try to change us, but he’s never once made either of us feel like our home isn’t our home or that he wishes we were gone. And that’s something.
Actually, after this last hour, I’m willing to admit that it’s a lot.