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“Hunter, can you put your sister on?” I ask sweetly.
“Yep! Izzy, Mommy wants you.”
“Why?” Her groan sounds more like a sixteen-year-old than a child who’s only eleven.
“Because she just does.” Hunter, on the other hand, is easy-breezy and silly.
I hear the sounds of the phone being passed over and his padded footsteps scampering away on the hardwood.
“Hello?” Izzy answers with an annoyed huff.
“Good morning, Isabella.”
“Hi.”
I might not be able to see her, but I can picture her curled on the couch with her knees up to her chest. Her strawberry-blonde hair unruly from her waking not too long ago. Her mouth pinched with her bottom lip out. She gets her full mouth from her father. He’s always had great lips.
“Did you have fun in the bounce house this morning?”
“It’s okay. It’s small and for little kids.”
“It’s something new to do.”
“I’d rather be on Roblox, but Maisie and Dad have ano iPadrule when it’s nice outside.”
“That’s a great rule.”
“It’s stupid because there’s nothing to do here.”
“That’s why they bought you a bounce house. Plus, they’re taking you out.”
“The zoo’s boring.”
I clench my jaw. “Izzy, the attitude is really uncalled for. Daddy bends over backward for you. Don’t be ungrateful.”
“I’m not ungrateful.”
“Stop saying everything’s boring!”
There’s a small pause, and I rub my fingers against my brow. Izzy breathes into the receiver.
“When can I go home?” Her voice is low, as if she doesn’t want anyone to hear her talking. That annoyed preteen tone is swapped with one of a little girl.
I sigh at the sound. “Tomorrow.”
“I wish I had a phone. I could call you whenever I wanted.”
“You can call me on Dad’s phone. You just want a phone so you can play games and talk to your friends.”
“You moved me away from all my friends, and I don’t get to talk to them like I used to. Dad won’t let me see them while I’m here because he says it’s his time with meand he doesn’t want to share. At least if I had a phone, I could talk to them. This is so unfair, Mom!”
“Your father and I discussed this. You’re not getting a phone until high school.”
“You’re not even a couple anymore. Why do you have to do everything Dad says?”
“It’smyrule.”
“I hate your rule!”
