Sierra let it go because convincing her sister that good grades weren’t the most important thing was pointless. She wouldn’t change Amy’s mind.
“Does P.J. like his teacher?”
Amy scoffed. “No. He hates her. He thinks she’s mean. He hates all the homework.”
At this age and especially during this difficult time the last thing Sierra wanted was for the boys to hate school. With so many years left to go, she didn’t want them turned off and checked out because of a bad experience. Sierra believed school should be fun and engaging, not just a chore.
“Danny and Oliver liked their teachers. Once they make some friends, they’ll settle in.” And having their cousins around at school would be a help, too.
“Of course they will. They’re kids. They’re resilient. What about you? What are you going to do now that you’ve decided to stay?”
“I’ll start with a job and go from there. I checked a few apps this morning, but none of the postings seemed quite right.”
“We don’t always get what we want. You’ll have to settle for what you can get.”
Very supportive.
Sierra turned slightly and hid the eye roll. “How’s Rex?”
“Busy as ever at work. When he’s not working, he’s golfing. He says he needs his downtime.”
“We all do.”
Amy huffed out a breath. “I’d like to know when it’s my turn.”
“Don’t you have some time when the kids are in school?”
As a stay-at-home mom, Amy should be able to carve out a little time for herself.
“You’d think, but no. I spend Monday, Wednesday, and Friday volunteering at Emma’s classroom for two hours. Tuesday and Thursday in P.J.’s. When I’m not in the class, I’m working on organizing the school events, attending PTA meetings, cleaning house, picking up and dropping off Rex’s dry cleaning, doing the shopping, paying the bills, and running all over after school for dance class, swimming, music lessons, baseball, and art classes. Not to mention helping with homework and school projects. You’ll see, this school is no joke. It demands all your time.”
Sierra understood that homework and projects did take a lot of a parent’s time. “Why do teachers assign things the kids can’t do mostly on their own? Isn’t the point of it for the kids to do the work, not the parents?”
“Right?”
“Maybe you should cut back on the extracurricular activities.” Sierra wanted her kids to have the opportunity to do whatever they wanted, but they needed downtime, too. Overextending their schedules strained her schedule. Sierra liked balance.
It sounded like Amy had scheduled away all her children’s free time.
“They’re important to building their character and making them well-rounded individuals. It will help later in life.”
“Yeah, but it’s driving you crazy.”
“You sound just like Rex. He thinks some of the stuff is too expensive and that the kids don’t even like it.”
Sierra asked the obvious question. “Do they?”
Amy scoffed. “They don’t know what’s best for them.”
That wasn’t an answer.
She went on, “You should see Emma in her little bat costume for her dance recital. She’s so cute.”
Sierra got it. The pictures would look great on Amy’s social media. Everyone would comment and Amy would feel like a good mother.
Sierra tried again. “What do you do for fun?”
“I live for my wine o’clock.”
Sierra laughed under her breath. “Your what?”
“That half hour every night after the kids go to bed and I clean the kitchen and have a glass of wine and soak up the quiet.” The absolute need for that half hour shone in Amy’s eyes, but the sadness that shadowed it struck Sierra as a red flag that something deeper was going on with Amy.
“Where’s Rex while you’re enjoying your glass of wine?”
“Upstairs reading books to the kids.”
Aw. “That’s sweet.”
A wistfulness replaced the sadness. “Yeah. He always makes time for the kids. Bedtime has always been his time with them because he’s at work all day.”
“That’s really nice. I’m sure they love spending that time with him.”
Amy nodded, her eyes going soft. “They do.”
If Sierra read things right, Amy wanted that kind of time with Rex. Something wasn’t quite right in Amyland.
“Is everything okay between you and Rex?”
Amy snapped her head toward Sierra. “Of course it is. You know how it goes. You have kids and it’s all about them. Rex is busy. I’m busy. But we’re great. We’ve got everything we ever wanted.”
Be careful what you wish for.
The thought popped into Sierra’s head because on the surface everything did seem fine with Amy. But Amy tended to focus on the surface and not look