The Mermaid's Mirror - L. K. Madigan [30]
His lower lip trembled. Their parents never fought in front of them.
"Mom," said Lena, stepping into view.
There was a shocked silence.
Mom walked into the kitchen and took note of Cole's expression. "Oh, honey." She put her arms around him. "Sorry you heard that. Dad and I aren't mad. We're just talking."
He clutched her, and she stroked his hair. "Did you and Lena have fun at the beach?"
Cole nodded wordlessly.
Lena looked at her dad. He looked back at her, trying to smile and failing.
What's not fair to me? she thought. What's going on?
"We wanted to surprise Dad," said Cole.
"Good job, bud," said their dad, and he opened his arms. Cole ran to him. Then Dad reached out an arm. "Group hug?" he asked.
Lena walked over to them, and after a moment, Mom followed. The four of them stood holding one another, as if they would never let go.
CHAPTER 16
Consoled by cuddling and thirty minutes on his Mindbender game, Cole recovered from his parents' argument right away. During dinner, he described in detail the battle between the robot dogs and the ninja cats on his game, then he stopped talking as he fell upon his dessert—a chocolate-chip brownie.
Mom picked at her food, while Dad tried to overcompensate by talking animatedly to Cole and questioning Lena about school. She responded with short, unsatisfying answers, and he gave up.
If you're keeping things from me, she thought, I don't feel bad keeping things from you.
After dinner, Lena loaded the dishwasher while her mom watered the flowers in the backyard. Her dad and Cole lay on the couch, reading a book. Lena hovered at the sliding door for a minute, wondering if she should go talk to her mom, or just leave her alone.
As if reading her mind, her dad said, "Don't you have homework, Lena?"
The words Don't you have something to tell me, Dad? were bitter in her mouth, but Lena swallowed them and turned to leave the room. She stopped to open the coat closet. I need my—Closing her eyes, she fought down a wave of panic. Okay, this is not even funny anymore. This must be some bizarre syndrome: looking for something and not knowing what it is.
She forced herself to do some homework before she went online to chat, but she felt annoyed by everyone's banter as she watched variously colored lines of text scroll by. Kai opened a private window:
Kaiborg: Ur quiet tonite.
Sea_girl: *shrug*
Kaiborg: Everything ok?
Sea_girl: Sure, the rents are just bugging me.
Kaiborg: Want me to come over? ;-)
"No," Lena said out loud, then felt guilty. I kind of suck as a girlfriend, she thought. I should be all lovey and telling him how awesome he is all the time. She typed an answer that she knew would make him happy.
Sea_girl: I wish! U would make everything right. <3
Kaiborg: I'm calling u now.
Lena sighed. Well, that backfired. Now instead of typing words he wanted to hear, she would have to speak them. Her cell rang. "Be a good girlfriend," she told herself, and answered the phone.
***
At eight o'clock, Lena heard her dad going through the bedtime routine with Cole—tooth-brushing and bath time. Lena heard Cole singing in the tub, his voice echoing in the tiled bathroom, " I love to go swimmin' with bowlegged women and swim between their knees ... swim between their knees..."
She grinned. Her dad had taught him that song.
After his bath, Cole came to her room and knocked.
"Come in."
He opened the door and ran to her. "Night, Lena."
She hugged him, inhaling his freshly shampooed hair. "G'night, Cole Dog."
He giggled, as he did every time she called him that. "I'm not a dog!"
"Yes, you are. You're my dawg." She hugged and kissed him. "Sweet dreams."
"Sweet dreams." He left, and Lena got up to close her door. She looked across the hall to his room, where their dad was sitting on Cole's bed, holding a Magic Tree House book. Lena always