Chapter 22
DEBBIE
When the porch lights go on, I assume it’s Cooper, back from his fast-food run. Until the lock on the front door fails to turn.
I come out to the foyer and peek through one of the windows overlooking the front porch to see who is out there.
I shouldn’t be entirely surprised to find Lexi and Zane standing on the porch together.
My instinct is to back away slowly before I have to watch my daughter make out with her boyfriend. It’s the last thing I want to see.
Except they’re not kissing. They’re talking to each other, and even though I can’t hear what they’re saying, Lexi has her hand on her hip, and her lips are turned down. All the while, Zane has a self-satisfied smirk on his face.
Zane pulls his phone out of his pocket, and he’s pointing at the screen. Lexi makes a grab for the phone, and he holds it just out of her reach. The expression on her face makes it look like she wants to scratch his eyes out.
What’s going on out there?
If I quietly crack open the window, I might be able to hear what they’re saying. Not that I want to eavesdrop on my daughter, but… Okay, fine, yes, I want to eavesdrop on my daughter. She’ll never tell me on her own what they’ve been discussing. This is my only option.
But before I can attempt to wrench open the window, Zane reaches out and grabs Lexi’s arm.
Even though I’m sure he’s done a lot more than that when they’re alone together, the discomfort on her face is palpable.
She tries to pull her arm away, but he won’t let her go.
And all the while, he’s got that smirk on his face.
I forget all about the window and go straight for the front door. I pretend like I was on my way out, even though I don’t have my purse, and now that I think about it, I also don’t have shoes on. So it’s not much of a ruse, but it’s enough to startle both of them.
Instantly, Zane releases Lexi’s arm.
“Oh, hello!” My attempt to pretend to be surprised is somewhat short of an Oscar-winning performance but good enough. “I didn’t realize you two were out here.”
“Zane is leaving,” Lexi says tightly.
Zane’s hair is hanging in his eyes, and it makes me want to grab a pair of scissors from the kitchen and snip it off. Actually, I would rather snip something else off, but I’d settle for a haircut, I suppose. Or anything that would wipe that smirk off his lips.
“I’ll talk to you later, Lexi,” he says.
She doesn’t say anything, but after a few beats, she nods.
I step back to let Lexi enter the house and shut the door behind her, having abandoned any pretext of going outside. I’m just glad Lexi is inside and safe. I only wish Cooper would come home too, especially since his location sharing seems to be off. Maybe he’s in a dead zone.
I expect Lexi to run upstairs to her room without another word like she often does these days, but instead, she just stands in the middle of the living room as if she’s not sure what to do next.
I am desperate to ask her what happened between her and her boyfriend on the porch, but I know from experience that it won’t go well.
“What are you doing?” she finally asks me.
She doesn’t say it like she usually does. Her typical way of asking me what I’m doing is to say “What are you doing?” Basically, she’s trying to indicate that whatever I’m doing is weird and unacceptable. But now she asks like she’s genuinely curious. And I have to come up with an answer.
“I’m tidying up the living room.” And definitely not spying on you and your boyfriend.
She looks at me with interest. When Lexi was little, she and I used to have a weekly cleaning session.
When Izzy was a toddler, the house used to get cluttered, so every Sunday, Lexi and I would clean together.
She loved it. I used to let her run the vacuum, and she looked so hilariously adorable trying to push around a vacuum that was almost as big as she was.
I’ve probably got hundreds of photos of her with that vacuum cleaner, but it makes me too sad to look at them.
I brace myself for some critical comment from Lexi about my housekeeping skills, but instead, she says, “Do you need any help?”
The living room is already spotless. I vacuum and dust every single morning after I make the beds and do the dishes from breakfast. But if Lexi is offering to help me, I’m not going to turn her down.
“Could you vacuum the floor for me?” I ask her, even though there probably isn’t even one speck of dust on the living room floor.
Lexi’s eyes light up. “Sure.”
She follows me to the closet where I keep the vacuum cleaner and other cleaning supplies.
As I am pulling it out, unwinding the cord from where it always seems to get tangled, I decide to take a chance.
I know I’m tempting fate, but I’m dying to know what was happening on the porch.
More importantly, I need to know if my daughter is in some kind of danger.
So I say as casually as I can, “By the way, how are things going with Zane?”
Naturally, it was the absolute wrong thing to say. I have been a mother of at least one teenager for four years, and I should have known better.
Her eyes immediately narrow. “Why?”
The cord is caught on something, and I give it a yank, trying to work it free. “No reason.”
“Were you spying on me?” she snaps at me. “Is that why you came out on the porch and were being so weird?”
To be fair, I am always being weird in Lexi’s assessment. “I wasn’t spying on you. I swear.”
But only because the window was closed and I couldn’t hear anything.
“So why did you open the front door?” she demands to know.
“I was looking for your father,” I say weakly.
Lexi doesn’t believe me, which is probably fair. She regards the vacuum with sudden disdain. “I don’t really feel like doing chores right now. I’m going to go upstairs.”
“But…” The cord finally pops free from the closet. I brandish the vacuum in my right hand. “Just do a quick lap around the living room. It will be fun.”
“Fun?” Her voice is dripping with sarcasm. “I don’t think being your maid is fun. And anyway, I’ve got homework to do.”
And I’ve lost her.
She stomps up the stairs to her room without another word. I should have been more careful. I should never have brought up Zane. When she’s ready, she’ll tell me. Or maybe she won’t tell me, and I’ll just notice he’s not around anymore.
And if he does anything to hurt her, he’ll be very sorry.