Chapter 4
Nicole
The night was giving way to a colorful morning sky.
Lacey had an early shift, so I got up to see her off while the rest of the house was still asleep.
I hugged her, kissed her cheek, and watched her walk down the driveway to her car.
She opened the car door and set her bag for the lake retreat on the passenger seat. Then she turned and smiled at me. For a moment, she just stood there, looking at me.
Then she gave a little wave and left.
I watched until she was gone, like I always did. Even when she was a child, I stood in the doorway and waited until the bus turned the corner. It was my way of saying, “I’m here.”
Back inside, I made breakfast for the kids and Brian.
I grabbed eggs from the fridge and my thoughts drifted.
Brian would drive straight to the lake house in his work van so he wouldn’t have to come back home. It made sense, but it was also kind of strange that he never wanted to drive up there with his wife.
Their marriage had been rough lately. Not because of money, or affairs, or the usual fights about kids. Lacey and Brian agreed on most things.
It was the marriage itself that weighed them down.
Brian wasn’t the worst husband out there.
And he was a decent father. But he was never strong emotionally.
His moods were a roller coaster, and he was quite self-centered.
Even as a child, when things hadn’t gone his way, he threw huge tantrums and emotionally blackmailed people.
Everything always had to revolve around him.
He needed to be cherished, admired, and cradled like a toddler, or he would completely fall apart.
The girls didn’t seem to mind. At six foot four, with a natural build like Superman, he’d win bar fights and have all eyes on him no matter what room he entered.
And with that Hollywood face and that charm, the girls lined up and fought over him.
Cherished the ground he walked on. Including Lacey and Amanda.
But it was Lacey who ended up with him when she got pregnant with Dylan at sixteen.
She swore it was an accident and that the condom broke.
But she wouldn’t have been in this position in the first place if she hadn’t let Brian pressure her to move things so fast, always worried he might break things off if she didn’t make him happy.
Lacey still finished school and became a pharmacist. Brian, on the other hand, dropped out. Took an apprenticeship with an HVAC company.
I always wondered if this was the life he would have chosen if it weren’t for Dylan.
Lacey was so happy when she got pregnant. But Brian always looked like he regretted having Dylan and only married Lacey because of his deeply religious parents.
I sighed.
Like every parent, I worried too much.
I worried when Lacey called too often or not enough. When she put on too much weight or lost too much. When she came home from a party too early or stayed out late. When she was trying too hard or when she’d given up.
I shook my head.
She’d be fine.
Lacey would find a way. That kind heart of hers was as strong as a lion’s.
She would be fine.
She always was.