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She followed my orders then, after a count of ten, exhaled and nodded. “There’s like a bubble in my chest.”
I nodded. “Good. You’re quick. Now think of your father betraying our family while you inhale then hold that anger in that bubble.”
She scowled at me. “I don’t want to think about him.”
“Do it anyway.”
She pursed her lips then took a deep breath and held it, but she struggled to contain the anger and hurt. It took half an hour of practice until she contained the anger and kept her face smooth.
I nodded. “Enough for tonight. Now go play that anger into something beautiful. The piano probably isn’t in tune, but that’ll just add to the ambiance of playing angry.”
“Is the pizza here?” James asked from the top of the stairs.
Sage smiled at him, a sweet smile. “Not yet.” Then she went into the living room, leaving me sitting on the marble, aware that my butt was numb. Her playing made me flinch. So much rage.
I pulled out my phone, saw another call from Clark that I hadn’t heard, then searched for pizza. I called them and ordered enough pizza to have leftovers and hung up. As I clicked off, I accidentally clicked on Clark’s call.
“Sweetheart, are you there?” he asked, concerned.
“Clark,” I said, stupidly. I didn’t need to deal with him at that moment. Magic was enough for one night.
“I haven’t been able to get through all day.”
“Right. My phone’s been acting up. I should take it to a shop. It isn’t sending me messages and the calls aren’t going through. Maybe it’s offline unless I’m actively using it.” That made some kind of sense.
“Are you sure you’re okay?”
“Sage got in a fight at school, so I’m dealing with that.”
“I wasn’t able to call her.”
“No? She probably blocked you so you couldn’t lecture her. I’ll have to talk to her. Again. I had her clean the oven.”
“With all those toxic chemicals?”
A flutter of irritation made it through the numbness. “Yes, Clark. With all those toxic chemicals. But I didn’t make her bathe in them, so you can count it as a win.”
He was quiet for a long moment. “Of course you didn’t make her bathe in oven cleaner. You must be tired.”
“I am. I’m very tired.”
“I’m sorry about leaving everything on your shoulders. You’re so strong and capable, holding up the fort while I’m gone.”
“Yes. I’m amazing. I need to go clean the oven again.”
“You don’t want to talk?”
“About what?”
He was quiet for another beat. “Well, you usually talk about the kids, their classes and things. And about other mothers and their kids.”
I did spend a lot of time criticizing other people.
“I guess I’m not perfect enough to feel like complaining about other people’s imperfections.”
“But you are the perfect mother. The perfect wife. I miss you so much.” His voice was low and compelling.
I almost snorted, but somehow kept it in. “Thanks. I’m going to take my phone to the shop tomorrow, so don’t worry about calling me.” And maybe after that, I’d go get my palm read by Gloria. And never mind the irony that I was over here taking people’s injuries and giving them to Sage to give her empathy when I’d mocked Gloria for her amorphous magic of fortune-telling.
