Roses Are Red - Miranda Rijks Page 0,68
well with Patrick now. Oliver plays computer games with him most evenings, and I still struggle to get him to do his homework.
No one has cleared up from supper. The dishes are on the side, dirty plates in the sink. I sigh. Why can’t my children clear up after themselves? Why doesn’t Patrick lift a finger to help? The first couple of weeks he lived here, he bent over backwards to help, cooking and clearing up, but now he does nothing. I can’t help but think of Adam. As much as we argued, he did his fair share around the house, cooking a meal at the weekends and helping me clear up after dinner when I asked for assistance. But Patrick expects me to do everything. I’m going to have to talk to him about it, but not tonight. I’m too tired.
After washing up, I walk back upstairs and go into Mia’s bedroom to say goodnight. It looks as if most of the contents of her wardrobe have been piled up on her bed. She’s wearing a very short black leather-look skirt that I’ve never seen before and a sparkly silver top that shows her burgeoning cleavage. It makes her look ten years older than she is, and with her big eyes, it’s not the image I want my daughter to portray.
‘What are you wearing?’
‘Danni loaned me these.’
‘And why?’
‘Because I’ve got nothing suitable, obviously.’
‘Suitable for what?’
She turns her back to me.
‘Mia, please answer.’
‘The party tomorrow night.’
‘What party?’
‘Danni’s sixteenth.’
‘You’ve been suspended from school. You’re not going.’
‘Yes I am! Patrick’s already said it’s fine.’
‘Patrick is not your father.’ As soon as the words leave my lips, I regret them. She throws me a withering look. ‘Look, I am responsible for you and for making these types of decisions, and I don’t think it’s appropriate.’
I jump as Patrick puts an arm around my waist. ‘What’s going on?’
‘Mia is telling me about this party. I don’t think she should go.’
‘She’ll be fine, won’t you, Mia? I’ve already told her that I’ll collect her at 1 a.m. It’s not like the party is in a club or anything. Mia said it’s at a friend’s house in Crawley.’
‘Whoa!’ I exclaim. ‘One a.m.! Crawley! But we don’t know who these people are or whether the children will be supervised.’
‘I’m not a child,’ Mia pouts, her hand on her hip.
‘You certainly don’t look like one in that outfit,’ Patrick says. ‘Perhaps wear a few more clothes, Mia?’
She tosses her hair.
‘Look, Lydia, I’ve already told Mia that she can go, but let’s agree. You’re not wearing that outfit. Ok, Mia?’
‘Ok,’ she says, a grin creeping across her face.
I have just been totally outmaneuvered, and I’m furious. I stomp to the bedroom.
Sleep evades me, and I’m still tossing and turning when Patrick comes to bed. Some time later, I hear a phone vibrate. Patrick slips out of bed and I listen to him pad down the hall. Eventually, I fall asleep, and when I next awake, there is a grey light coming through the curtains and he’s snoring gently by my side.
I spend the day fretting about the party that Mia is going to. She’s only fifteen, and I don’t think it’s appropriate that she is staying out until 1 a.m. It hardly gives the right message to allow her to go when she’s on suspension from school. In the end, I decide to suggest a compromise. She’s in her room, seemingly working on some homework. She doesn’t hear me, as she has her headphones on. I know that generally she’s conscientious and does well at school. I’m sure the weed smoking was a one-off and that it’s a direct consequence of the turmoil she’s suffered at home. She jumps when she sees me.
‘Mia, I’ll let you go to the party, but you’re going to leave at 11 p.m. I don’t want Patrick having to collect you so late.’
‘No! Patrick already said it’s ok.’
‘And I say it’s not, and what I say goes.’
‘You’re such a cow! Patrick is way nicer than you. I’m glad he’s my stepdad!’ She shoves the headphones back over her ears and turns her back to me.
Patrick is in Adam’s study. I know I need to stop calling it that, but I’m not sure I ever will. I’m looking forward to moving house, to give us that chance to start again as a new family. He is peering at his laptop, and when I knock at the door and he sees me, he slams down the