AllFreeNovel
Share Us
''That's not what I meant," Abigail said, slowing down so she had a little time before Cal invaded their world again.
"I know you're still mad at me for that whole spying thing. I embarrassed you."
"I'm not mad at you. I'm confused."
"Because I want to know things?" Birdie asked, her mouth thinning into mulishness.
Abigail had no idea where the conversation was going. Mothering Birdie was like playing a game where you chose what was behind door one, two, or three. Scary.
"You know, I looked at those magazines because I wanted to know things. That's all. You treat me like a baby, never talking about sex and stuff. You always act like a person's body or sex is dirty. But it's not. It's natural."
Abigail felt her legs get weak at the accusation in her daughter's tone. "I don't think you're a baby. Look, it's hard being a mama. I want to protect you, and I probably messed up the whole 'birds and bees' talk. You're right. Being interested in the differences between a man and woman or being interested in sex is normal for someone your age. And, honey, you can talk to me about sex or ask questions any- time you want."
Her daughter looked straight ahead even as she shifted on the seat. Perhaps, when it came down to it, talking to her mom about sex didn't seem like such a bright idea after all. But then Birdie stilled. Jutting her chin out, she glanced at Abigail. "So, I have a question."
Abigail parked the car behind the house. "Okay. Shoot."
''Are you having sex with Mr. Lively?"
“What?"
"You said I can ask questions about sex, so I am. You told me not to have sex until I was married. So I want to know if you've had sex outside marriage." Birdie crossed her arms and leveled a look at Abigail that would have made a detective proud.
"Frankly, Birdie, that's none of your business."
"That means yes," Birdie said, opening the car door.
"No, it doesn't. It means there are lines in life and you just crossed one."
"But it's okay for you to know everything about me? It's okay for you to tell me what to do even if you don't do the things you preach?" Birdie said, slamming the car door.
"Hey, wait a minute, young lady," Abigail said, trying like hell to find the right words... and not look guilty. After all, she told Leif she'd be over later... to have sex with him. "You can't talk to me like that."
"I'm not being disrespectful. Besides you said I can ask you anything about sex. Remember?"
"Do you really want to know about my sex life? Do you? Because I could make your hair curl with the sex I haven't had because I've been busy raising a daughter. Is that what you wanted to hear? Or maybe you want all the details of the sex I've been having? It goes pretty much like this..." Abigail tilted her head.
Birdie watched her, eyes wide, looking a bit alarmed.
After a few seconds, Abigail righted her head. "Did you hear it?"
"No."
"Exactly, because when your father left, I ceased to have any sort of adult fun." Abigail wanted to stop herself, wanted to be the mother she'd always aspired to be for Birdie-careful with her words- but she couldn't stop this time. "You want to be treated like an adult? Well, that's how the mop flops because being an adult means you don't go off and do whatever feels good. You give it up because there's something more important at stake. And for me, that was you. Up until this year, I felt like I was doing a helluva job, but maybe I wasn't because lately you've been rude, disrespectful, and selfish."
Cal came around the comer of the house, looking concerned. "Hey, what's going on? Glad you don't have any guests because it sounds like a hen party out here."
"It's none of your concern, Cal. Your daughter is being difficult as usual," Abigail said, brushing past him, heading inside. She needed to calm down before she said something else she'd regret. She'd already done a bang-up job. Things felt so outside her control. Never in a million years would she have expected to lose her cool that way. For heaven's sake, she'd just talked about her sex life with her daughter. Okay, so she technically hadn't, but she had essentially blamed Birdie for the drought in her love life, which wasn't fair because Birdie had nothing to do with that. The fact that Abigail had used her daughter as the excuse to put off dating wasn't anyone's fault but her own.
Exactly.
And she'd remedied that last night. Abruptly, she changed directions.
"Where are you going?" Cal shouted.
"Out," she said as she stomped toward the path she'd taken last night. "You’re her father. You deal with her. She wants to know about sex. Good luck.”
“Wait,” Cal called.
