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“That doesn’t mean he’s my boyfriend.”
“Just because I told you that you couldn’t have a boyfriend until you were sixteen doesn’t mean that you have to lie to me now.”
“I’m not lying. Ugh, I can’t believe you.” Lexi stomped toward her bedroom.
“Hey, don’t try to make this about me!”
Lexi had inherited her father’s talent at turning every argument around to make it seem as though Maggie was the one at fault.
“It’s always about you. You can’t let go. You can’t let me live my life. You have to be in every part of my business.” Lexi slammed the door to her bedroom.
Maggie was right behind her and the door almost hit her in the nose. “Lexi, open this door. I have something I need to tell you.”
“Go away!”
Great, she had no idea how to do this. A teenage daughter was a phenomenon beyond her mere human abilities.
Lord, I need You now. A little guidance would be nice. It’s a good thing You make house calls.
The phone rang, intruding on her silent prayer. Maggie took a breath and answered it, only to find Paula on the other line.
“How is everything? You both OK?”
The woman had some sort of honing radar when it came to Lexi. “Fine, Paula. What’s up?”
Paula’s voice was quiet and tentative. “I wanted to ask you if Lexi could spend the weekend with us. We don’t see her often enough.”
“We’ve been over this. I don’t feel comfortable given everything that happened.” How quickly Paula seemed to forget.
“Maggie, when are you going to forgive us?” Paula’s voice grew harsh, tinny.
“I have forgiven you.”
That much was true. She was required to forgive, and she’d done that. Reluctantly.
“In two weeks there is an art show in Sonoma, and Richard and I would love to take her. We’d make a weekend out of it; maybe take her to San Francisco, as well. You know she’d love it.”
Paula had pulled at the string of guilt perpetually attached to Maggie’s heart. She knew full well how much her daughter would enjoy the show, but she had more important matters to deal with at the moment. None of which she would share with Paula.
“Of course she would enjoy it, but that’s not the point. I’ll have to talk to you about this later. I’ll call you back.”
Maggie hung up, unable to deal with Paula right now.One fight at a time, Maggie, one at a time.
She’d given Lexi enough time to cool down. Taking deep breaths, she calmly opened the door to Lexi’s bedroom. Her daughter lay on her trundle bed, ear buds in, back facing the door.
“Ready to talk?” Maggie nudged her daughter’s shoulder.
Lexi pulled the ear buds out. “Are you ready to listen?”
Well, maybe she deserved that. “Sure.”
“Anton is mostly just my friend, but I think he likes me. Still, I don’t like him. Not that way. Last Sunday he asked me if he could go to church with me, and I told him OK, that I’d meet him there. Because of all the kids I know, Anton needs church the most. And that’s about it. Not that you’ll believe me or anything.”
“OK. I believe you. Just be sure that you don’t keep the truth from me just because you think I won’t like it.”
She had a strong sense of déjà vu since she’d done the same with her own mother and failed to confess that she and Matt were dreaming about getting married and spending too much time alone together.
And then came Lexi.
