A Mother's Homecoming(46)
As it turned out, working with Nancy Warner was fantastic practice for dealing with an angry young woman. “I did tell you to find a regular teacher,” Pam agreed mildly, “but you’re an intelligent girl and you know full well that I didn’t mean you should find someone your father disapproved of behind his back.”
“You never even mentioned wanting guitar lessons,” Nick pointed out. “Yesterday was the first I’ve heard of it.”
“You know I write my own songs,” Faith said, picking at one of her cuticles. “I love music. Guess I inherited that from her.”
The way she said it made Pam think it was a deliberate attempt to pit the two of them against Nick. Reflexively she reached out and put her hand atop his, making sure he knew they were in this together. “Your dad’s a reasonable man, and you are his pride and joy. I’m sure that if you’d discussed this with him in a rational manner, letting him know guitar was important to you, he would have been open to the idea. But did you also know he has a helluva temper? You should have heard him when he called last night.”
Faith had the grace to look abashed. “I didn’t mean for him to take it out on you. Not really.”
Pam waved her free hand dismissively. “That wasn’t my point. I’m a big girl, and your father has already apologized. My point was that if you mess up and antagonize him and generally act like a bratty prima donna, you’re going to lose your chance to do things you really want. And you’ll only have yourself to blame.”
Nick nodded. “Couldn’t have said it better myself. Next week, you and I can talk about the guitar thing again. But I promise that if you do get lessons, it will be through an adult teacher I help select. Not some rocker bad-boy wanna-be your friend Morgan knows. In the meantime, you’re grounded.”
“Again?” Faith wailed. “I just got ungrounded.”
“Make better choices,” Nick advised calmly, “and maybe you’ll stay ungrounded. As for Pam, don’t stalk her. She has a right to go about her daily life without worrying about you showing up and making trouble.”
“She’s my mom,” Faith argued. “I’m not allowed to go anywhere near her? Do you two even know how freakishly unfair that is? Other kids don’t have to make hair appointments just to say hi to their mothers.”
Pam’s heart caught. Faith might be acting like a melodramatic tween, but nothing she said was untrue. I need to get out of Mimosa as soon as possible. It seemed that her staying here was having a negative impact on Faith. “I’m sorry this is hard on you—”
“Those are just words!” Faith said, eyes blazing. “If you were truly sorry, you’d see me. Talk to me, teach me guitar, take me shopping, ask about my homework. If you really felt bad about any of this, you’d be a mother!” With that, she raced out of the room.
Tears in her eyes, Pam sat rooted to the sofa. She didn’t even realize she was still holding Nick’s hand until he squeezed it. She was half-afraid to look at him, aware that she might find everything Faith had just said echoed in his gaze. Instead, when she chanced a glimpse at him, it was to find him watching her with a sad smile.
“Well,” he said, “I guess we can agree she got my temper.”
FAITH KNEW THAT BEING grounded meant no phone, too, but she couldn’t help herself. She called Morgan anyway. She figured her dad would be too busy talking to Pam for a while—they’d looked pretty cozy down there together—to check up on Faith.
“Yo, Shepard,” Morgan said as soon as she picked up the phone.
“My father is so unfair!” Faith announced. “I’m grounded again.”
“What class did you skip this time? And why wasn’t I invited?”
“It’s not funny, Morg. This is because of him finding me here with Rock yesterday. He went completely off the rails. He even called and yelled at Pam. She came over today so that they could both lecture me.”
“Sucks,” Morgan commiserated. For a girl who’d tested into advanced English, she was often a person of few words. “Sounds like the convos I used to have with my parents, back when they’d consent to be in the same room with each other.”
“You think?” Faith hadn’t really thought of it that way. She’d been so put out over the colossal injustice that her father could go see Pam without even telling his daughter that her mom was in town and that, judging by the two glasses at the counter and the dishes in the sink, it was okay for the two of them to have lunch together, but Faith was supposed to stay away from her mother.