“Did she get hurt?” He sat up in bed and winced. He felt like someone had hit him in the head with a brick, but his adrenaline was pumping. What if she was dead? He felt sick at the thought of it. Even if she had left him, he still loved her, and would have been heartbroken if she died.
“She has a
“I'm sure he's not, sweetheart,” Mark said, trying to be fair, but in some part of him, he was relieved that Jessica didn't like him. Mark hated him. He had destroyed their family and stolen Janet. How great a guy could he be after all that? Not very, in Mark's estimation. And apparently in Jessie's as well.
“He's a creep, Dad. He tries to act like he's really cool, and he orders Mom around like he owns her. She says she just met him a few weeks ago, but I don't believe her. I know she's lying. He keeps talking about stuff they did six months ago, and last year, and Mom keeps acting like she doesn't know what he's talking about, and trying to make him stop talking about it. Do you think that's why she wanted us to move to New York?” The ceiling had fallen in on Jessica, and Janet had been very foolish to lie to the children. He had wondered how she was going to handle it, and when. Well, she'd done it, and badly, judging by Jessie's sobs.
“I don't know, Jess. You have to ask her.”
“Is that why she left you?” They were heavy questions for the middle of the night, and not any he wanted to answer, surely not with a hangover of the degree he was developing. He already had a headache of mammoth proportions. “Do you think she had a boyfriend? Is that why she went to New York all the time when Grandma was sick, and after she died?”
“She told me she was worried about Grampa. And Grandma was very sick for a long time, she needed to be there,” he said honestly. He thought Janet should level with her about the rest, eventually. If she didn't, Jessica would never trust her. And he couldn't blame her. He didn't trust her anymore either.
“I want to come back to California,” Jessica said bluntly, sniffing loudly. But she was no longer sobbing.
“So do I,” Jason said, echoing her words. He had gotten on the extension. He wasn't crying, but he sounded badly shaken. “I hate him, Dad. You would too. He's a real asshole.”
“New York hasn't improved your language. You have to discuss all this calmly with your mother, not in the heat of the moment. And much as I hate to say it, you have to give this guy a chance.” It was unlikely that they would be enthusiastic about anyone their mother dated. Or that he did, if he ever found anyone he wanted to date. He wasn't there yet. “He may turn out to be a very nice guy, no matter how long she's known him. And if he's important to your mom, you may have to get used to him. You can't make your minds up after five minutes.” He was trying to be reasonable with them, for their sake as well as hers, but they didn't want to hear it. But stoking the fires against the man their mother was in love with, and had left him for, was only going to make the children more unhappy. If she married Adam eventually, they would have to accept him. There was no other choice.
“We had dinner with him, Dad,” Jason said unhappily. “He treats Mom like he can make her do whatever he tells her, and she acts really dumb around him. She yelled at us after he left, and then she cried. I think she really likes him.”
“Maybe she does,” Mark said sadly.
“I want to come home, Dad,” Jessica said, sounding agonized. But there was no home to come back to. They had sold it. “I want to go to my old school, and live with you,” she insisted.
“Me too,” Jason echoed.
“Speaking of which, shouldn't you guys be leaving for school right about now?” It was almost seven-thirty in New York, and he could hear Janet saying something to them from the background. He wasn't sure, but it sounded like she was shouting. She would have been shouting even louder if she'd known what they'd been saying to him, but he suspected she had no idea. He wondered if she even knew that he was on the line, and they had called him.
“Will you talk to Mom about our coming back to California?” Jessica asked in an undertone, confirming his suspicions that their mother didn't know who they were calling.
“No. You two have to give it a chance there. It's too soon to do anything hasty. I want you both to settle down and try to be reasonable. And right now, I want you to go to school. We'll talk about this later.” Much later. When the hangover was no longer hammering right behind his eyes.
