“Whatever that is, Auden, you don’t take out on your mother.”
My son nodded and muttered, “I get that. I messed up.”
“I didn’t know about your mom.”
That came from Pip and I saw her looking at Aisling.
“So?” Cillian returned. “That doesn’t matter.”
Pippa bit her lip and pressed closer to her brother.
“High school is hard,” Auden put in lamely.
“It is,” I shot back. “It’s also when you begin to learn who you are, who you want to be and how to do the right thing.” I looked to my girl. “What you’ve done, I hope to God somewhere inside you, Olympia, you knew was the wrong thing.”
“If I went against her, she’d turn that on me,” Pippa told me, her voice shaky.
“I can imagine and that would be awful.” I swung a hand out to Aisling. “Ask Ash. She can tell you all about it.”
“I’m trying to explain.” Pippa’s voice was rising.
“And what your mother is telling you is that there is no explanation for that behavior,” Lawrie shared.
She turned eyes to her uncle, the tears forming. “Uncle Lawrie—”
He wasn’t immune. His face softened.
Even so, his lips said, “There’s no excuse, Pippa.”
Her lower lip started trembling and a tear slid down her cheek. It killed me to stay where I was but I had to. This lesson had to take from now until eternity.
However, I allowed her brother to put his arm around her.
When he did, heartened, she looked to Ash.
“I’ve been a bitch. You’re totally not anything Polly said you were. We even talk about it when she’s not around. It’s just that Kellan liked you last year and she liked Kellan and it all got…it got…she got…” She faltered then finished quietly, “Nasty.”
“Oh my God, Kellan liked me?” Aisling whispered.
My eyes shot to Mickey to see his brows drawn dangerously and he was staring at his daughter.
“Yeah, totally,” Pippa told her, lifting a hand to wipe the tears from her face. “He still does. Whenever Polly has a go at you and he’s around, he tells her to knock it off. Which, you know, obviously makes her target you more.”
“Kellan, like, Kellan Buckley?” Cillian asked.
“Yeah,” Pippa answered.
Cillian looked to his dad and shared excitedly, “Oh my God, Dad! He’s like, the best of his weight class in the league.” He looked to Aisling. “Now you gotta come to our matches.”
I turned from Cill to Mickey to see Mickey looking at the ceiling, not looking happy for what I knew was now a different reason.
“And he’s a sophomore!” Cillian went on loudly. “Total score!”
“I think I’d rather keep talking about Polly and her posse bullying me,” Aisling muttered, shifting and casting her eyes anywhere a human wasn’t.
But I felt the crushing weight of all that had just happened lessen because she had it in her to make a joke.
“Mom, can you call Dad and tell him not to come?” Auden asked and my attention went to him. “We apologized. We meant it. Seriously. We did.” He pulled his sister closer.
“We did,” she agreed then she looked to Aisling. “I was…it was mean and it didn’t…” She shook her head, pulled in a breath and stated, “It never felt right. And I…I know Polly’s totally going to target me but,” she straightened her shoulders, “whatever. She’s always complaining about everything and it’s a drag. So I won’t have any friends. It isn’t like that hasn’t happened before, like when I moved here.”
“It’s not like Polly has everyone in her bitch posse,” Ash said like Pippa was a dim bulb and I’d give her that…considering.
Mickey was not of the same mind as me.
“Ash,” he said low with warning.
“It’s true,” she muttered. “It’s just that the rest of us aren’t the cool clique. Which some people should learn isn’t death by high school.”
Again, Pippa looked whipped.
“Ash,” I called. “Will you come with me a second?” She appeared afraid of this idea so I hastened to add, “It’s okay, honey. Just want a word in private. If you want your dad and brother with you, though, they can come with us.”
She hesitated then moved to me, saying, “I’ll come with you.”
“Mom,” Auden called. “About Dad—”
“We’ll deal with that in a second,” I told him, moving to Aisling then guiding her down the hall to my room.
When she got into it, she said, “Wow. Awesome room.”
“Thanks, blossom.”
I closed the door.
She looked to me and I went for it.
“This is not a lie, cross my heart,” I did the motions that went with my words, “your decision will have no ramifications. You mean a lot to me, honey, and I want you comfortable with me and in my home. Pippa’s apologized. She had a tough time out there she deserved. But if you’re not okay with having Thanksgiving with her, then her father takes her home. And,” I grabbed her hand when her eyes blanked against me, “I’m being serious. This is serious and Pippa has to learn that. I’m not putting you on the spot. If you want to leave and be safe at home, that’s your choice. If you want Pip to leave and be here with your dad and brother and my brother and me, that’s your choice too. If this is too big of a decision for you, I’ll make the choice and I’ll send my kids home.”
“It’s not her,” she stated.
“I’m sorry?” I asked.
“She helped make school suck, but it’s not her. She told the truth. She never said anything. Cill’s right, she did laugh, but she never said anything. So it’s not her who did it. Not fun, going to school and having them make it suck. It was more not fun going home when we were with Mom and watching her drink until she was passed out on the couch. Getting her to bed. Trying not to let Cill see it or hear it. And when we were with Dad, it was just a week away, going back to that. It’s not Pippa. It’s Mom and it’s you.”
“Me?” I whispered, again my stomach twisting, at all her words, including the last one.
“We messed up and told Mom about you. It got worse. I didn’t wanna make Cillian feel bad because he didn’t get it so he kept talking about you. So I know why she missed Cillian’s birthday and got caught drunk driving. Because of you.”