Page 20 of Rooster

“Nathan, don’t call your father a douchebag.”

“Well, that’s what he is.” He grabbed a soda and slammed the refrigerator door. “He called last night to let us know that he wouldn’t be able to take us to the hockey game next month because he and what’s-her-face are going to the beach for her stupid birthday.”

“I’m sorry, sweetie. I know you were looking forward to that game.”

“It’s fine. I’ll just watch it on TV or something.”

“What about this weekend?” It was only Tuesday, but I’d hoped their father had something fun planned—or anything for that matter. It helped them to have something to look forward to. “Do you guys have anything planned?”

“He said something about taking me hiking at the park, but they’re calling for snow. No way we’ll go if that happens.” I could see the light leaving his eyes as he said, “We’ll probably do what we always do. Dad will take Crissy out on some date, and I’ll be stuck babysitting Sam.”

My first instinct was to try and fix things, especially when it came to the kids, but sadly, I couldn’t ‘fix’ their father. His weekends with them were his weekends, and as much as I hated it, the experiences he gave them were his and his alone. I had to stop trying to make up for the bad times they shared with him. That wasn’t my job, and as hard as it was not to meddle, I had to let it go. I let out a frustrated breath before saying, “Maybe you and Sam can take your PlayStations and play a few rounds with your friends.”

“Maybe.” Nathan glanced over at the stove, then back to me. “What’s for dinner?”

“We have to pick up your sister from volleyball practice. I thought we could grab a bite to eat on the way back.”

“Oh.” His eyes widened. “Can we go by the Little General and pick up some hot wings?”

“I was thinking pizza, but wings will be okay.”

“Awesome!”

And just like that, his smile returned, and my heart was full. I grabbed my keys and purse, and then we both headed out to the car. We drove over to the school and had barely pulled into the parking lot when Samantha came barreling out of the front door with several of her friends.

Normally, she would come out chatting and laughing with them, but tonight, she was tight-lipped and wouldn’t even look at her teammates. She opened the car door, and without so much as a hello, she got in and closed the door. I glanced over my shoulder as I said, “Well, hello.”

“Hey.”

“I take it practice didn’t go well.”

“It was okay.”

“You don’t sound like it was okay.”

“It was fine, Mom.”

I could tell from her tone that it was anything but fine, but I didn’t push. I simply put the car in drive and started towards the Little General. When we pulled up, Nathan opened his door and bolted inside, giving me a second alone with Samantha. I used the opportunity to turn around to face her as I asked, “Are you sure you’re okay?”

“No.” Her cheeks flushed as she admitted, “Jessie is having a sleepover this weekend, and she didn’t invite me.”

“What? Are you sure?” Jessie was one of her good friends. They’d had several sleepovers throughout the years, so I was surprised that she hadn’t included Samantha in this one. “Maybe she hasn’t gotten around to asking you yet.”

“She would’ve asked me by now.”

“But...”

“I’m not invited, Mom.” She sounded utterly defeated as she told me, “Casey told me tonight at practice that Jessie is mad because I made the JV team, and she didn’t. So, basically, she invited everyone in the group but me.”

“But aren’t some of those girls on the JV team?”

“Yep, but I guess that doesn’t matter.”

“Oh, honey. I’m sorry. That’s so unfair.” Once again, my protective nature kicked in, and I found myself wanting to fix the problem. But again, there was no way I could fix this. “Maybe you should talk to her and see if you two can work things out.”

“I don’t think so.” Her precious eyes met mine, and then, the sass quickly followed. “She can have her dumb party. I don’t even want to go. It’ll be as lame as she is.”

“Okay, that’s your call.” She was in a tough spot, but I trusted her to handle things in her own way. “Let’s go in and grab some dinner, and we can talk about it some more when we get home.”

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