You can scream at me for a while if it makes you feel better. Enough of this drama out on the street.”
Beau watched as Drew pulled Pamela to her car, watched as she shook him off and stomped her foot. But he didn’t watch long because he knew what was next. She would strike him and then cry and while he felt an overwhelming desire to protect Drew, Drew was a man now. Drew knew his mother and if Beau was exiting this marriage, he couldn’t be the buffer between Drew and his mother anymore.
He stood just inside the door for a moment, listening. He could not make out the words but clearly Pam was arguing with him. Loudly.
Beau sat on the sofa and hoped Drew would not have to endure too much of that but it was ten minutes before the door opened. How could anyone put their child in the middle of a disintegrating marriage? Even an eighteen-year-old child? It was unconscionable.
“Drew, I’m really sorry that happened. The last thing I want is for this to be hard on you.”
“I know. It’s okay.”
“I think the craziness will die down before too long. I’m really proud of you, the way you handled yourself. You were calm and respectful and I know it must have been hard. Come on, we can—”
“I gotta be alone right now, if that’s okay. I don’t feel so good.”
“I understand,” Beau said. He sat back down on the couch.
But after a few minutes, he stood up again. Drew had acted so much the way Beau would, exactly the way Beau had taught him. Face your mother’s anger with calm, don’t lose your cool, it’s her temper not yours, the storm will pass. And now he was acting as Beau did.
Beau knocked on Drew’s door. The voice inviting him in was small and hurt. Drew sat cross-legged on the bed and his eyes were a little red.
Beau smiled at him. “You couldn’t be my son any more if we shared DNA,” he said to Drew. “You got through the whole ugly business with your dignity and now you’re sealed off, inside yourself, suffering. Just like I always have. But let’s not do that, Drew. Let’s talk it out. It’ll pass faster that way.”
“I’m not sure how,” Drew said miserably.
“Your mom has troubles,” Beau said. “I’m not sure what kind of troubles and if I could help her with it, I would. I’m sure you would, if you could. But you can’t. She’s mercurial and sometimes selfish. She’s probably going to be a handful forever. She attacks when what she really wants is to surrender and just be loved. Understanding that won’t help her, unfortunately. She’s got to help herself. And she never will until we stop picking up the pieces and giving in.”
“I hate when she’s mad,” Drew said. “Life would be so much better if she could just be happy. But she just can’t be happy. At least not for long.”
“Not for lack of trying,” Beau said. He sat down on the bed. “The hardest part, but the most important part, we have to remember we didn’t do anything to cause her pain or unhappiness. We have to try to let it be her problem.”
“Easier said than done,” Drew said.
“Tell me about it,” Beau agreed.
CHAPTER TEN
The rest of the week while Cassie visited Lauren was like a gift. Lauren thought it might be the last time her daughter came home like this, all by herself. She and Jeremy were now a couple. They might wait to get married but they would probably take their vacations and visit their friends and family as a pair from now on.
By the time Cassie had been in town for a couple of days, Lauren’s lip was less swollen and she was mostly able to conceal her bruises with makeup and dark glasses. Still, when they walked down the main street to grab lunch and do a little shopping, the waitress in the pub noticed and said, “Oh my word, sweetheart.” She leaned close and squinted.
Lauren just smiled and whispered, “Minor cosmetic surgery.”
“Well, darling, you didn’t need it!”
“That’s very nice, thank you,” she said. Then she smiled, a slightly lopsided smile.
Lacey joined them for lunch one day and they managed not to discuss the divorce, nor did the girls air their differences. But it wasn’t warm and loving. It was merely cordial.
Lauren and Cassie enjoyed the business district of Alameda together in the afternoons, checking out the shops, stopping at