Page 24 of Situationship
Teagan rolled her eyes. “The deal is, we make a family calendar, and you promise to abide by the schedule.”
“Why is nothing ever easy with you?”
“Adulting is never easy.”
“Is that rule one in the official Adulting Handbook? ‘Adulting is never easy’? Sign me up.”
“See why this arrangement will never work?”
“Why, because there isn’t room for me on your schedule?” Harley thought back to the giant, detailed, minute-to-minute schedule on the fridge. “I’m surprised you don’t have potty time scheduled on the calendar.”
“Kids need structure. A schedule makes them feel safe.”
“Let me get a pen.” She licked the tip of her pretend pen and scribbled on her pretend paper. “Rule two. Structure is security.”
“It is.”
“I disagree.” Harley had a disregard for schedules.
Her one semester at Catholic school proved that schedules made Harley break out in hives. Although that hadn’t always been the case. Summers at the beach house, knowing dinner would be at six, eaten around the table, and that they’d always play hi-low, where everyone had to say what the lowest part of the day was and then the highest.
In those days, Harley had so many highs she could ramble on forever about sandcastles, collecting beach glass, baking bread from scratch, wearing her mom’s heels and pearls, family game night, trips to the library, visiting the sea lions. Her nonna and mom listened to every word, while Teagan sat patiently waiting for her turn.
Huh, they were kind of like the twins. Only the kiddos seemed to use their differences to complement each other rather than antagonize each other. She wondered if by the end of the summer she and Teagan would learn to live with each other’s differences. And Harley wondered how she’d change with some structure and the security that came with consistency.
People were always fascinated by her childhood as the kid of a roadie, but the truth was she hadn’t really had a childhood, except for her time in Pacific Cove.
“Really?” Teagan said, and it was a challenge. This was thegive in or give up the chance to experience the kind of life she’d never hadmoment.
She took a deep breath and smiled, big and full of bullshit. “Any other rules?”
“Yes. No sugar before noon, no snacks after four p.m., nap-times are mandatory regardless of what Poppy will have you believe, and at no time is Poppy allowed to change, renegotiate, or make addenda to the rules. And don’t underestimate Lily.”
“I thought Lily didn’t talk.”
“She might be quiet, but she’s the brains behind the operation.”
“Should I write this down?”
“No, I will show you where thePARENTS GET PARENTINGbinder is.”
Teagan led Harley downstairs and into the kitchen. She pulled a two-inch-wide, three-ring binder from the cupboard and dropped it on the counter. It landed with a thud. Harley flipped through the color-coded sections. “You have an entire chapter dedicated to bath time routines?” Talk about a way to suck the fun out of bath time. “Wow, was this what it was like living with Mom?”
Maybe she’d completely romanticized her summers.
“It wasn’t Mom; it was Nonna. And it’s also common sense.”
Harley blinked. “Nonna wasn’t like that with me.”
Teagan shrugged. “I know. When you were here, it was like every day was a vacation.”
Harley wondered if that was the case or if Nonna, in all her wisdom, had raised them differently because each girl had different needs. Nonna had a way about her, an open-minded and unconditional love that she adapted to match each person. Especially both of her granddaughters.
Harley knew she was better at adapting than Teagan. A result of going where the wind blew for the past twenty-plus years. Meeting so many different people, all from different walks of life, made her appreciate that everyone had a unique story and a unique place in the world.
Hell, her theme song was Pink’s “Raise Your Glass,” which she’d sung live onstage with the artist at Coachella. Not that she’d ever mentioned it. Sure, she liked to brag about playing Xbox with Steven Tyler or trying on Dolly Parton’s wig, but one of her favorite memories was at Nonna’s house, jumping on Teagan’s bed, both of them screaming Pink at the top of their lungs.
She liked to think of it as their song.
