On the third ring, he answered it. “Hello?”
Christina’s voice squawked away, but she must have been in a bad area for reception. She was breaking up, and Tyler could barely understand her. He caught Brandon’s name and a tumble of words that clued him in that something had happened. So much for serenity.
“What? Where are you? You’re breaking up, Christina. I can’t understand what you’re saying.”
Finally, the line cleared just as she shouted into the phone. “Brandon got caught again for sexting!”
“What? Again? No, I can’t believe it. How is that possible? The cops took his phone.”
“Yeah, well, that was over a month ago. I got him another one.”
“Christina!”
“He has to have a phone. What if I need to get in touch with him or something? It’s dangerous for him not to have one.”
“This is exactly why…” There was no use in trying to reason with her. “Never mind. OK, so now he was caught for the same stuff. So now do you see why he can’t have a cell phone?”
Christina’s voice was frantic. “I was out last night, so I didn’t get the school’s message until this morning. Rebecca Hough, the assistant principal left a message for me to call her. I have her home number from the car wash fundraiser we did for the track team back in September. I just called her at home, and she told me. Brandon’s going to be suspended for a couple of days, and there will probably be a detective coming out to talk to us. A bunch of kids are involved.”
“Oh, that’s just great. I knew I should have grounded him after it happened the first time.”
Christina scoffed. “Yeah, it’s kind of hard to ground your son for doing something that you’re doing, too.”
Tyler winced. He hated that after all of these years, Christina could still pull out that ammunition against him. “That’s different.”
“I don’t think it’s so different.”
“I’m an adult, and I’m not posting photos of underage girls on social media.”
“No, you’re just looking at them.”
Tyler fought the rage that threatened to derail the focus of the conversation. Clenching his teeth, he breathed in deeply. “So what did Brandon say when you confronted him about it?”
“Oh, he denied it. Just like you did all of those years ago when I confronted you about it.”
“Christina, can we just keep this conversation focused on the problem with our son?” His voice shrilled. He was about to lose it.
She sighed. “So what do you want to do?”
“Well, obviously, he’s grounded…for starters. No more cell phones. We need to make sure that’s clear. The enabling has got to stop. At both of our houses. No computer use, no going out with friends. He does that too much anyway. He told me the other day that you let him and some other friend camp out in the woods by the school back in September. That’s just crazy, Christina. He’s only thirteen, and those woods aren’t safe.”
“He told me Jared’s dad was going with them,” she said.
“You need to stop believing everything he tells you. He lies.”
“Our son does not lie!” her voice exploded into the phone.
“Yes, he does. He’s lying all the time. We can’t trust anything he says.”
“We’ve got to find the right medication…the right psychiatrist for him. He needs help,” her voice collapsed into sobs.
Tyler sighed, rubbing his forehead with his forefinger and thumb. Maybe Brandon had inherited some of Christina’s mental illness. Finally, he said, “Well, maybe a psychiatrist can help and maybe they can’t, but this whole thing is ridiculous.” His skin prickled with stress…it was amazing how quickly all of his peace from earlier faded away. “I’ll call a lawyer on Monday and find out what needs to happen…what sort of charges he could be facing.” He was having to call a lawyer for his thirteen-year-old son. How had this happened? “I’m sure this whole thing has been blown out of proportion anyway. You know how these kids are. Probably some social media thing that’s gotten out of hand. Don’t worry.”
As soon as Tyler disconnected the call, he looked up and locked eyes with Lana. “What’s going on?”
“They think Brandon may have been involved in some sort of sexting thing at the high school.”
“What?” Lana’s mouth fell open.
“Someone is circulating photos of some nude girls around, and they think Brandon and a bunch of other kids are involved.” Tyler reclined again, his feet resuming their position propped up on the opposite arm. “I didn’t tell you about it, but last month I had to go up to the school to discuss it. Now, it’s happened again. I’m sure this is all just blown out of proportion. It’ll be fine.”
Lana’s forehead was lined with worry. “I hope so.” She was probably thinking about California. She didn’t want her plans messed up by Brandon’s escapades.
For that matter, neither did he.
~*~
In the beginning of their marriage, Tyler had tried to hide his viewing of pornography from Lana. Whenever she’d walk into the room, he’d slam down the lid of his laptop or quickly minimize the images. Once while viewing, he had turned around and met Lana’s eyes. He quickly made ready with apologies and excuses: the image just popped up, he’d been looking for something else, or another one of the excuses he’d used with Christina. But he hadn’t had to say anything, because Lana simply turned and left the room as if she hadn’t noticed the screen. So he’d decided to leave well-enough alone.
Tonight, Lana dressed up for dinner at the Wolfs’. She wore a red, form-fitting dress with a shorter hemline. “I haven’t worn this since before I gave birth to Micah,” she announced happily. “I’ve been starving myself all day. You know, in preparation for California.”
He sidled up behind her, nuzzled his face into her hair, and crossed his arms over her belly, which sagged slightly with that extra baby weight she’d never quite lost. She’d gained nearly eighty pounds with Celia. Tyler wasn’t sure if that had been because of the stress of an unexpected pregnancy or a conscious decision to simply let herself go because it would be the last baby and she might as well enjoy the eat-a-thon.
After Celia’s birth, Lana had suffered from post-partum depression—at least that’s what the doctors told them. So she drank a little now and then to make herself feel better…to take the edge off. But he didn’t think it was really a problem.
By the time Tyler and Lana arrived at the Wolfs’, Tyler had put the whole Brandon thing out of his mind and a sense of peace returned. But as soon as they walked in the door, Josh approached him, his face lined with concern. Of course, he knew all about Brandon’s second sexting offense at the school. He was probably the one who interrogated him. Tyler cringed. He did not want to talk about that tonight.
“Hey man, how you doing?” Josh shook Tyler’s hand and patted him on the shoulder.
“Doing fine. Doing great. How ‘bout you guys?”
“Yeah. Fine, we’re fine. I guess Christina got in touch with you? About yesterday?”
“Yeah.” Tyler nodded tersely. “Yeah, we’ve got it all under control.”
There was a strained pause before Josh answered. “OK. Great. Well, listen. I was as shocked as you, and I just want to let you know that Brandon was not alone in this. I mean, I can’t really get into the case right now—”
“Yeah, and I wouldn’t worry about it. You know? I think it’s all just being blown out of proportion.”
Josh’s brow furrowed.
Tyler waved his hand as though shooing a fly. “As I said, Christina and I have it under control, and Lana and I just want to have a good time with you guys tonight. OK?”
Josh’s expression clouded. “Yeah, OK. Sure.”
Molly jumped in, steering the conversation toward the kitchen as she grabbed Lana’s arm and led them from the foyer. “Well, come on in, you guys. I’ve got all kinds of stuff to eat in here. I made way more food than I meant to, so you can take some home wit
h you. Where are the kids? I thought you might bring them. Katherine keeping them?”
“Oh, no, no. Katherine’s out running around somewhere tonight. They’re across the street at Suzanne’s.”
“OK,” Molly said, offering a tray of appetizers to Lana and then Tyler. “But please don’t feel like…I mean, you guys can bring the kids over anytime you want. You know we love them.”
“Thanks,” Tyler said. “But if we get the opportunity to have a night sans kids, we’re taking it.”
“That’s right,” Lana agreed. “And they’re having fun over there. No doubt Suzanne has Celia knee-deep in Prism products. She’ll come home smelling like a lilac farm.”
Lana and Tyler perched on the bar stools at the island in the kitchen and grazed on sausage balls and spinach artichoke dip while Josh dumped boiling pasta into a colander and Molly poured water into mason jar glasses.
“Anytime I have the opportunity to eat carbs I’ll take it.” Molly beamed. “I’m breaking bad tonight with the spaghetti.”
“Any news?” Lana asked.
Molly shook her head, her eyes downcast. “No. No news. Same as usual.”
Dinner was a little strained, and Tyler assumed it had something to do with the whole Brandon-elephant in the room. Josh talked to him as though they’d just met one another, sticking to safe topics such as sports, church, and television shows.
Lana and Molly barely talked at all, and when they did, it was about something funny Celia and Micah had done, or some story about Molly’s grandparents and their winter home in Florida.
Lana was drinking quite a bit tonight. She’d polished off most of the bottle of wine they’d brought all by herself. Her words were a little slurred when she spoke. “So, Tyler. Should we tell them our plans?”
“Yes.” The corners of his mouth curled. This was the moment he’d been waiting for all night. “Yes, Lana and I are about to embark upon an adventure. Well, maybe we’re about to embark. It really depends on Lana.” The slightest sensation of pressure squeezed at his chest. The idea of them moving to California with Lana as the only one employed made him a little nervous.
“Really?” Molly asked, twirling a forkful of spaghetti against the bottom of her plate. “What kind of adventure?”
Lana sat back in her chair. “I have a job interview.”
“That’s great!” Molly and Josh said in unison.
“Yes,” Tyler joined in. “And tell them, honey, where it is and what you might be doing.”
“Well,” Lana began, her face stretched with an uncontrollable smirk. “I would be working as a talent agent.”
“Really? Wow. When’s the interview?” Molly asked.
“Next week. And it’s in California. In Santa Monica.”
Josh’s mouth fell open, and Molly’s stretched into a sort of incredulous smile. An uncomfortably long silence accompanied the announcement.
“Wow,” Josh said finally. “Wow. So, you’d be living and working there? In Santa Monica?”
“Yep,” Tyler said proudly. “You knew Lana had a degree in theater, didn’t you?”
Josh and Molly nodded.
“I have a friend there,” Lana jumped in. “I went to college with her, and we both majored in theater together. She has an agency.”
“What exactly does a talent agent do?” Molly asked.
“They work for the actors—they book auditions and jobs, negotiate contracts, and basically act in the best interests of their clients. Kind of like a real estate agent, but instead of finding properties they find entertainment gigs.”
“So…so what about you, Tyler?” Josh asked.
Tyler swiped his hand at the air. “Aw, you know. I’ll find something. I’m pretty employable.”
Josh reached over to grasp Molly’s hand. “That sounds amazing. I know you guys must be so excited. I mean—we’re excited for you, too.”
Molly nodded enthusiastically. “And if it all works out, we’ll definitely want to come out for a visit. It’s Santa Monica, for heaven’s sakes.”
“Of course,” Tyler said. But he doubted the four of them would actually continue their friendship once they settled in California. Their lifestyles would be too different.
“And the kids?” Molly asked with a little shrug. “The kids—Brandon and Katherine—they’re OK with this? You wouldn’t be able to have them living with you part of the week anymore.”
“We haven’t said anything to them yet,” Tyler said. He wasn’t worried about that. It would all work out somehow. The kids could visit…whenever. “Once Lana is officially offered the job we’ll deal with all of that.”
“How do you think they’ll take the news?”
Tyler was a little irritated. They couldn’t base their entire lives on how their kids would react. Molly and Josh didn’t have kids. They didn’t get it. “I’m sure they’ll get used to it. They might not want to at first, but eventually, I’m sure they’ll love coming out to spend vacations with us. Don’t you think so, honey?”
Lana nodded, smiling. “Yeah. I’m sure that’s right.”
“Don’t you have a custody agreement with your ex-wife?” Josh asked. “How does that work?”
Tyler’s jaw clenched and unclenched, a separate spasm from his prior chewing motion. “Christina and I will work that out. I’ve got it all under control.”
10
Kaki
Thursday, December 1
“You look awful,” Riley said to Kaki as they settled into their seats in history class.
“Thanks.” Leaning across her desk, Kaki rested her head on her arms. She could go to sleep right there and then. She was so tired. “I feel awful,” she mumbled to the surface of the desk.
“You’re never here anymore,” Riley said. “How come you’re always absent?”
Can’t she see I don’t want to talk? “I’ve been sick a lot.” Kaki looked around the bustling class where kids were settling their book bags, playing games on their phones, or yelling across the room to each other, and dropped her head again.
“Did you get your flu shot?” Riley asked.
“No.”
“You should get it. It’s supposed to be a bad strain this year. My mom says that some people have died from it already.”
“Hmm.” Kaki wondered what it would be like to die. Would that just mean she got to sleep forever? That sounded really good to her right now.
“Do you think you have the flu?”
“No, I don’t have the flu,” Kaki growled. “I’m just really tired.”
“What do you think is wrong with you? You’re never around anymore. I feel like we never get to talk. Are you going to join track for the spring?”
“Would you stop talking?” Kaki snapped. “Your voice is like, really grating on my ears right now. I just want to sleep.”
Riley’s face crumbled, her eyes flew wide open. “Sorry. I was just trying to talk to you. We used to be friends.”
A surge of guilt flooded Kaki’s chest. “I’m sorry, Riley. I don’t know what’s wrong with me. I’m not sleeping much, and…things are just really weird.”
Riley looked unconvinced. “OK. Whatever.”
The bell rang, and the students began making their way to their desks. The teacher was talking—which teacher was it? Miss Moss? No, that was math. Sydney was in that class with her. This was…oh yeah, history. Her head flopped back onto her arms. She just couldn’t do it today.
The “one night” Damien had insisted Kaki would have to dance turned into one week, and three weeks later…it hadn’t stopped yet. She was arriving home later and later. After her second week of working at the club, Kaki started skipping classes. It was too difficult to stay awake. When she skipped an entire day of school, an automated phone call went home to her mom that Kaki had an unverified absence for that day. Kaki heard it on the voice mail when she got home and quickly deleted it. As long as she could get home before her mom did, she could make sure her mom never got those messages. She was
just glad they weren’t sending any to her dad’s house. Not yet anyway.
Kaki still tried to attend school as much as she could, but she missed at least two days every week and started falling so far behind in her classes that she couldn’t catch up. There were a few mornings when she barely made it back inside her mom’s or her dad’s house before they woke up. Some days she went to school after having had no sleep at all.
This was one of those mornings.
There was a tap on her shoulder. “Kaki? Kaki, wake up.” It was Ms. Shephard. “Come on. Sit up. You need to know this stuff for the test.”
She tried to sit up, but her eyes kept closing. Finally, in the middle of the lesson on the War of 1812, Kaki held up her hand. “Can I get a pass to the clinic?”
~*~
“You got any more of those blue pills?” Kaki asked Miranda, one of the other dancers.
“Take this. It works quicker.” Miranda poured some liquid into Kaki’s drink.
Kaki didn’t even ask what she was taking anymore. It didn’t matter. Anything that kept her from feeling the fear of walking out in front of a crowd of cheering, slobbery men—their eyes like night-time weasels glowing from within a forest. More like a jungle. A jungle of hungry, drooling jackals ready to pounce on her.
Miranda danced at Damien’s club the same nights Kaki did, and she always had a supply of all kinds of pills to take or powders to snort or smoke. She was just about the tallest woman Kaki had ever seen. Miranda said she was only six feet, but when she wore her six-inch heels and the rabbit ears, it was like looking into the face of a giant, angry Easter Bunny.
“These are my signature, see?” She adjusted her pink ears in the mirror. Her curly, light-brown hair spilling over her shoulders matched the color of her skin. “They know Miranda’s in the house when they see these. Plus, they make me feel like I’m a little more upmarket, you know? Like I’m a Playboy Bunny in Hugh Hef’s mansion, you know what I’m saying?”
Unlike Miranda, Kaki didn’t want to feel like anything. She just wanted to disappear. She sipped at her drink and waited for that to happen. Taking something was the only way she could do this. “How long have you been doing this, Miranda?”
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