A Lie Unraveled

by Constance Masters

  “Do you have homework?” Destiny asked when they were back in the car.

  Sophia winced. “I do but I thought you said that homework was a waste of time and that if you got taught everything at school then you shouldn’t have to do any.”

  “I’m not sure that’s exactly what I said was it?”

  “Yes, it was and you said that only lazy teachers give homework.”

  “Oh, well I shouldn’t have really said that. Maybe I didn’t understand the situation. I’m sure this is just an extension of what you have learned in the classroom, you know, to help it stick in your head better.”

  “That sounds like you just made that up, Mom.”

  “No, I’m sure I’ve read that somewhere.”

  “One more day won’t hurt, we’re having visitors.”

  “Sophia, we have to do the school thing properly and that means following the rules, if for no other reason other than your daddy is the principal.”

  “That sounds like a bunch of c—”

  “Don’t you dare say that word.”

  “You do,” Sophia said.

  Destiny took a big breath and counted to ten. This kid was spoiling for a fight already. She had a bad feeling about how the rest of the night was going to go.

  * * *

  Things hadn’t changed when they got back to the house. Destiny watched sadly as Sophia dragged her backpack into the house. “Can I have a snack first at least?”

  “Of course you can have a snack first, I’m not a slave driver.”

  “You are kind of,” Sophia said. “I tried really hard to do everything good today and the reward I get is having to do homework when I get home. It’s not fair; it’s like getting a punishment.”

  “It isn’t a punishment at all.”

  “Yes, it is, I’m tired,” Sophia argued, dipping cookies into her milk. “All I want to do is watch TV or play on my computer and now I have to do a lot of other stuff.”

  “Sorry, Soph, but you have to go and do it before your daddy comes over.”

  “You’ve changed, Mommy. Everything’s really changed.” She drained her milk and the stomped upstairs, leaving her glass and plate on the counter as a form of protest.

  Unwilling to have another petty argument, Destiny rinsed both the glass and the plate and popped them in the dishwasher. Was there ever going to be peace in the house again?

  Chapter Seven

  What were the chances, Destiny asked herself, that the homework was finished? She would have settled at this point for it to just be started. The chance of that happening was minimal but she could dream, couldn’t she?

  “Hey, Soph, what do we have done?” she asked going into her daughter’s room.

  “I’m going to do it,” she said. “I recorded my shows because we went out last night and I have to catch up.”

  “Sophia, I specifically told you that your homework had to be done before Justin got here.”

  “Is he here?” Sophia snarked.

  “Sophia, really, stop messing around and you’ll have it done in no time at all.” Destiny was getting really frustrated with this child.

  Sophia sighed deeply, as though boredom with the conversation was seeping out of her pores. “Come on, Mom, Justin and Lily-Grace won’t stay late, you know she turns into a pumpkin when the clock strikes 8:00 pm. I’ll do it then, I promise, right before bed.”

  “Oh, Soph, you’ll be the death of me, I swear.” Sometimes her power to argue just left her.

  “Please, Mommy?”

  “I’m going to give you a chance, don’t let me down.” Funny how the mom was dropped and replaced with the mommy when her daughter wanted something, which she was starting to realize was often.

  “Thanks, Mommy,” Sophia said happily.

  As Destiny left the room, she had to wonder whether the child was happy because she didn’t have to do the homework or whether she was happy that she’d won the argument. Did she really want to know at this point?

  * * *

  “They’re here!” Sophia called from her bedroom. The yelling was followed by her barreling down the stairs. She flung open the door and her countenance changed immediately.

  Destiny found this fascinating, she had never examined her daughter’s behavior as much as she had in the last couple of days. She was pretty sure nothing had upset her, in fact, she’d seemed excited; she was just playing it cool. “Hey,” she yelled over the top of Sophia’s head.

  “Hi, Justin,” she said. “Want to come to my room, Lily-Grace?”

  The two girls disappeared up the stairs. “You know, you can call my Lily if you want,” Lily-Grace said.

  “Thank God, it is kind of a mouthful isn’t it?”

  “Uh huh, it sure is.”

  “Are we actually alone here, Desi?” Justin asked with a giant grin.

  “You could be right,” Desi said. “Shh, don’t breathe too loud or they’ll come looking for us.”

  Justin pulled her into his arms and kissed her softly. “How was your day?” he asked.

  “My day? Oh I had a very quick but delightfully naughty visit from my—what are you exactly? My boyfriend? My principal?”

  “Well, no, I’m definitely not your principal. Although you would look pretty cute in a private school uniform.”

  “Hmm, that might be doable,” she giggled “What about my secret lover? That sounds exotic,” she said with a grin.

  “Let’s go back to boyfriend, I’ve never been one for casual relationships and I wouldn’t have slept with you if I wasn’t serious about you.”

  “Good to know,” she said, noticing that he was again wiggling his hand down the back of her jeans. “You really like it down there don’t you?”

  “What’s not to like? Your bottom is delectable,” he said, giving it an extra squeeze. “I just want to eat it.”

  “When are we getting the pizza?” Lily-Grace asked. “I’m hungry.”

  “No, I think I got all of that tag,” Justin said, retrieving his hand. “Maybe, it’s the fabric that’s itching you.”

  It was all Destiny could do to stop herself from collapsing with a fit of the giggles. Justin’s poor attempt at disguise had left him beet red and she enjoyed his discomfort. “Are you hungry, sweetheart? I don’t know that your daddy is, he’s been eating cookies, straight from the jar.”

  “Right before dinner?” Lily-Grace asked. “I thought you said that wasn’t such a great idea.”

  “Desi is joking, honey, I’m starving. Let’s find some menus and we’ll choose what we need to get. Why don’t you go and get Sophia?”

  “Okay,” she said, running off towards the stairs.

  “You’ll keep,” he said slapping her jean covered bottom.

  “I’m not the one who was caught with my hand in the cookie jar,” she laughed.

  “No, but I didn’t see you closing the lid either,” he said. “Let’s go and get these kids some food.”

  * * *

  “I was very happy with you today, Sophia; Mrs. Grady told me you were a great help,” he said.

  “Thanks, it wasn’t that bad,” Sophia said, her face coloring with pleasure at the compliment.

  “And have you done your homework today?” Justin asked.

  Sophia looked at her mom who shrugged. “No, I’m gonna do it later,” she said.

  Justin looked at Destiny, his eyes silently asking her the question; had she asked their daughter to do her homework? At her unperceivable nod, he turned back to Sophia. “Why didn’t you do your homework, Sophia? I’m guessing your mom told you to do it? Homework should be done as soon as you’ve had your snack in the afternoon, then your work is over with and the rest of your afternoon and evening are free.”

  “I didn’t feel like doing it then. Homework’s dumb and anyway I was tired, it was a really long day,” Sophia whined.

  “I think it’s nearly about time that your mother and I sit down and figure out some house rules. As you’re so tired all the time, I think one of th
ose rules should be you getting a good night sleep.”

  Sophia opened her mouth to argue, but Lily-Grace butted in, presumably to protect her sister from trouble. “Sophia has a television right in her room,” she said. “and we watched one of her shows.”

  “What show was that, Lils?” Justin asked.

  “It’s a show about some girls, I don’t remember the name.”

  “Young girls like you two?” he asked.

  “I’m not young, I’m nine,” Sophia said, joining in on the conversation. “It was one of my favorites, Pretty Little Liars.”

  Justin’s eyes flickered to Destiny who began picking the pepperoni off her pizza like her life depended on it.

  “Did you know she watched that show?” he asked Destiny.

  “Sorry? What was the show?” she asked. “Pretty Little Liars?”

  “Uh huh, that would be the show.”

  “It’s just a little show about some teenagers.”

  “Do you know what it’s rated?”

  “They are always very conservative with that stuff and Soph isn’t your average nine-year-old. That’s the problem; she doesn’t really like regular Disney shows.”

  “Then perhaps she should. I think another rule we might have to think about is a parental lock on some shows that aren’t age appropriate.”

  “What am I supposed to watch? Peppa Pig?” Sophia said rudely.

  “We have cheesecake?” Destiny said. “You just have to taste this, it’s beautiful.”

  “How come you want to change everything about our house?” Sophia asked.

  “I don’t want to change everything, honey, but the things I want to help your mommy change are the things that are for your own good. The thing is, Sophia, some things you don’t get to decide. When you’re old enough, you can make your own big decisions. That time isn’t now.”

  “Well, I don’t think that’s fair,” Sophia said.

  “Duly noted. Perhaps you better go and do your homework now,” Destiny said. A Sophia explosion wasn’t something to be witnessed at a happy family event.

  “Fine,” Sophia said, storming off to her room.

  Justin didn’t answer but his raised eyebrows were enough.

  * * *

  Destiny looked over to the sofa from where she and Justin had been having coffee and she noticed that Lily-Grace was dosing off. “I think we nearly have one down for the count,” she said. “Do you want to put her in a bed upstairs?”

  “No, it’s late. How about I take her home and put her to bed and come back. We can discuss these rules.”

  “Sounds like a plan to me,” Destiny said. “Here I’ll get a blanket, it’s a bit cool.”

  “Thanks.”

  “I’ll leave the door unlocked, I doubt you’ll be gone long. It won’t take much time to settle poor Lily-Grace again.”

  * * *

  Destiny finished tidying up the kitchen and put the dishwasher on. She swept, took the trash out and then waited. After all that, she was feeling hot so she decided to shower and change; to pin a cliché, into something more comfortable. She knew she should go and talk to Sophia but really wasn’t up for another argument. Maybe if Sophia was just left alone for a bit, she would come around, like last time.

  When she did get out of the shower, Sophia was waiting. “Don’t you love me anymore?” she asked.

  “Of course I do; why would you say such a thing?” Destiny was shocked.

  “We were happy and everything was fine here. We were partners, now you’re partners with him and you don’t love me anymore, you love him more,” Sophia said angrily.

  “That’s not true, Soph, I thought you liked the idea of Justin being your dad.”

  “I did but I changed my mind, he was nice then and now he’s just plain old mean and you both love that Lily-Grace more than you love me,” she yelled. The very irate child stomped back to her own room and slammed the door.

  Destiny’s heart thumped wildly. Had she damaged Sophia by embracing Justin again? If only she could make her understand this was for all of them and mostly it was for her, this was the way things should have been from the start. Well, not like this, they should have been happy. She followed, well chased really, Sophia into her room. “You have it all wrong, Soph, really you do.”

  * * *

  Justin turned off the car and opened the door. He could hear yelling. It wasn’t Destiny’s voice, it was Sophia’s. He stopped for a minute and listened from outside. They were in Sophia’s room and he could easily hear what she was saying or shouting.

  “You’ve ruined my life. I hate you and I hate Justin!” she yelled. “I never want him to move in here and I’ll never ever call him Daddy. In fact, if you ever marry him I’ll run away and live with the gypsies. They’re always traveling and you'll never find me again in a million, trillion years!”

  Justin let himself in and took the stairs two at time. When he opened Sophia’s door, they both fell silent and stopped to stare at him. “Apologize to your mother,” he said to his daughter sternly.

  Sophia folded her arms and her eyes didn’t leave his face for a second. The stubborn child had no intention of doing anything he said.

  “One more chance, Sophia, or you are going to be very sorry.”

  Sophia turned her back to both of them. She still hadn’t uttered a single word.

  Justin shrugged his shoulders at Destiny. “Your choice, Sophia,” he said. He walked towards the television and finally got a response but it was too late, he’d made up his mind. This was all so out of control.

  “Stop, you can’t touch that it’s mine!” she yelled.

  Justin by-passed the TV and went straight for the cable box. No point having a TV without anything to watch. He didn’t answer Sophia but unplugged the cable box and wrapped the cord around it. He stopped by her bedside table and took her phone and computer for good measure. He made a mental note tomorrow to pick Sophia up and take her to a book store where he would find out exactly what she liked to read.

  “Stop it!” she cried. “You can’t just take my stuff! Mommy, make him put it back!”

  “Soph, calm down.” Destiny tried to console her.

  “Just get out then!” Sophia yelled.

  “Come on,” Justin said. “Sophia needs some time to be by herself.” This was a child having a tantrum but he could see that Desi was seriously worried. How had she gotten through nine years without ever saying no? Well, barely ever by the sounds of things.

  “Honey, she’ll be fine when she calms down,” he said when they were out in the hallway.

  “She doesn’t sound fine,” Destiny said. “Listen to her.”

  Sounds of Sophia banging and crashing things were evident and Justin had to wonder where all the anger was coming from. He got that she had been disrupted and that a lot had changed over a couple of days but she hadn’t seemed that resistant to change before. The worst thing was, he could feel Desi pulling back too. She was allowing him to cuddle her, well she didn’t push him a way but she was standing in his arms like a cold brick of ice. “Maybe tonight isn’t the right time for us to discuss rules,” he said.

  “Really? I thought that would have been obvious.”

  “I don’t want to leave you like this.”

  “It’s fine, I’ll be fine,” she said.

  The most passive aggressive word on the planet; fine. “Okay, then I’ll call you when I get home and see how you’re doing.” This time he didn’t even get a fine, he got a nod.

  “I’m going to put Sophia’s stuff in my car,” he said. “No point going through all this and giving it back to her right away. Otherwise all the hurt would be for nothing.”

  “How do you know I would give it back?”

  “Because saying yes to Sophia is your drug of choice. You need a twelve-step program.” It was an attempt at humor to lighten a difficult situation but it fell flat, neither of them were even smiling. It was hard for him too to hear his daughter crying like that but it was harder sti
ll to imagine her growing up with this attitude. She was nowhere near a teenager yet. Life was only going to get more difficult for all of them, including her, if they didn't get things under control now.

  * * *

  Destiny leaned against Sophia’s shut door until she could no longer stand it. “Soph, you okay?” she asked.

  “Are you going to give me my stuff back?”

  Destiny breathed deeply. “Justin has your stuff, honey.”

  “Then go away, I don’t love you anymore.” A giant kick bounced off the door.

  Destiny slid down the door and sat on the floor; that’s where she stayed for hours. When all had been silent for what seemed like half an hour, Destiny crept off to bed. Her phone on the bedside showed six missed calls. She turned it off.

  * * *

  After a fitful sleep, Destiny opened one eye; damn what a night. In the light of the day she felt a little better. It was Friday; if they could get past the last day of the week, then it would be the weekend. Two days off before they had to do it all again next week. When had life become so complicated?

  She took a deep breath and did her best to put her adult face on before she opened the door. Wow, she had never seen Soph’s beautiful room look like such a mess. The shelf that held all the stuffed animals from when she was little, that were so precious to her, was empty. The animals had been thrown from one end of the room to the other. Her collection of teen magazines had been ripped to shreds and were laying amongst the tangled mess of bedding that had been on the bed. Sophia was still asleep, in a curled up ball on the bare mattress. Now or never, she had to wake her. “Soph,” she whispered, almost afraid of her daughter for the first time. Not frightened that she would hurt her, not physically anyway, frightened that she would reject her. “Sophia, you have to get up, honey, it’s time to get ready for school.”

  Sophia’s eyes blinked open. She scanned the mess in her room but chose to not mention it. “I feel sick,” she said. “I think I have a fever.”

  Destiny felt her daughter’s head. “You don’t feel hot, honey.”