Read Online A Brighter Spark (Xcite Romance) by Mary Borsellino - Free Book Online
Authors: Mary Borsellino
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adolescent child typically occupied. Somebody had to be the grown-up in the household, after all.
She was surprised at how comfortable that designation felt. Grown-up. Huh. Who’d have expected it to start feeling natural, after so many years of being such a poor fit within her sense of herself?
‘Steven can stay home too, if you like. I know you like watching him play the Xbox when you’re feeling lousy,’ she told Lily. ‘Oh hey, I know something that might cheer you up. I heard about this horrible thing called a stargazy pie. Have you ever heard of it?’
Lily just shook her head, too exhausted to answer with words.
‘It’s made out of fish, but instead of throwing the heads and tails away, they’re stuck into the pastry on top of the pie, so it looks like the fish are, you know, star-gazing, I guess. Fish heads! Can you imagine how disturbing and gross that would look?’
‘That’s awesome ,’ Lily said, weariness momentarily overcome by amazement. ‘That’s so disgusting. I bet it’s the kind of thing people would eat in Lovecraft stories.’
‘Can you imagine sitting down to dinner and your dinner looking back at you? And not just looking back at you, but looking back at you from decapitated fish heads sticking up out of your pie ?’ Suzy enthused. If it took a situation and subject like this to give her a bonding moment with her daughter – well, she’d take what she could get.
Lily giggled a little bit. ‘Ewww. So gross,’ she said appreciatively. ‘Can I have one on my birthday?’
‘If you never want any of your friends, or your brother, to ever speak to you again, then sure,’ Suzy answered wryly. ‘Maybe we could make your cake in the shape of it, out of fondant or something, instead. That’s a more acceptable level of gross for a teenage birthday, don’t you think?’
‘Thanks, Mom,’ Lily said, resting her head against the window of the passenger door as they drove home quietly.
Chapter Five
Daniel phoned her in the evening.
‘What’re you up to?’
‘Sitting in my favourite spot in my garden,’ she answered. ‘Vaguely wishing I had a glass of wine, because I feel like relaxing. But I had a little more than I should have last night – Drew teased me, said I was drunk, but I wasn’t really. And thank God I wasn’t, because later I had to drive Lil to the 24-hour medical centre with a bad earache. I’ve spent the day fussing over her and making sure she gets the drops administered at the right time.’
‘Is she ready to kill you for daring to force that much attention on her yet?’ Daniel asked. Suzy laughed, a little sadly.
‘Not yet. She still feels too wretched to be properly antagonistic. Poor kid. Drew’s going to come around and spend time with her tomorrow, so I can go back to work. So what about you, what’s your day been like?’
‘Not nearly so dramatic as yours. Hannah wants to dye her hair pink. I’m in two minds about whether it’s a good idea to let her. On the one hand, the school might object and I don’t want to give her teachers reason to make life difficult for her, but on the other hand I feel a certain amount of responsibility has been entrusted to me through the fact of her even asking my permission in the first place,’ Daniel explained. ‘If I discuss it with her and we reach a satisfactory outcome, rather than me just saying “no”, then she’ll know she can approach me with more serious problems and expect to be treated with respect and seriousness.’
That made Suzy give a gentle, sympathetic laugh. ‘I miss the days when the most serious dilemma involved in parenting a daughter was whether to let her spend all of her allowance on My Little Ponies or to try to teach her about saving.’
‘The ponies always won with me,’ Daniel confessed.
‘Me too,’ Suzy agreed. Then, changing the subject, she told him, ‘Drew wants the two of us – you and me, I mean, obviously – to go on a … A fairy tale evening, I
She was surprised at how comfortable that designation felt. Grown-up. Huh. Who’d have expected it to start feeling natural, after so many years of being such a poor fit within her sense of herself?
‘Steven can stay home too, if you like. I know you like watching him play the Xbox when you’re feeling lousy,’ she told Lily. ‘Oh hey, I know something that might cheer you up. I heard about this horrible thing called a stargazy pie. Have you ever heard of it?’
Lily just shook her head, too exhausted to answer with words.
‘It’s made out of fish, but instead of throwing the heads and tails away, they’re stuck into the pastry on top of the pie, so it looks like the fish are, you know, star-gazing, I guess. Fish heads! Can you imagine how disturbing and gross that would look?’
‘That’s awesome ,’ Lily said, weariness momentarily overcome by amazement. ‘That’s so disgusting. I bet it’s the kind of thing people would eat in Lovecraft stories.’
‘Can you imagine sitting down to dinner and your dinner looking back at you? And not just looking back at you, but looking back at you from decapitated fish heads sticking up out of your pie ?’ Suzy enthused. If it took a situation and subject like this to give her a bonding moment with her daughter – well, she’d take what she could get.
Lily giggled a little bit. ‘Ewww. So gross,’ she said appreciatively. ‘Can I have one on my birthday?’
‘If you never want any of your friends, or your brother, to ever speak to you again, then sure,’ Suzy answered wryly. ‘Maybe we could make your cake in the shape of it, out of fondant or something, instead. That’s a more acceptable level of gross for a teenage birthday, don’t you think?’
‘Thanks, Mom,’ Lily said, resting her head against the window of the passenger door as they drove home quietly.
Chapter Five
Daniel phoned her in the evening.
‘What’re you up to?’
‘Sitting in my favourite spot in my garden,’ she answered. ‘Vaguely wishing I had a glass of wine, because I feel like relaxing. But I had a little more than I should have last night – Drew teased me, said I was drunk, but I wasn’t really. And thank God I wasn’t, because later I had to drive Lil to the 24-hour medical centre with a bad earache. I’ve spent the day fussing over her and making sure she gets the drops administered at the right time.’
‘Is she ready to kill you for daring to force that much attention on her yet?’ Daniel asked. Suzy laughed, a little sadly.
‘Not yet. She still feels too wretched to be properly antagonistic. Poor kid. Drew’s going to come around and spend time with her tomorrow, so I can go back to work. So what about you, what’s your day been like?’
‘Not nearly so dramatic as yours. Hannah wants to dye her hair pink. I’m in two minds about whether it’s a good idea to let her. On the one hand, the school might object and I don’t want to give her teachers reason to make life difficult for her, but on the other hand I feel a certain amount of responsibility has been entrusted to me through the fact of her even asking my permission in the first place,’ Daniel explained. ‘If I discuss it with her and we reach a satisfactory outcome, rather than me just saying “no”, then she’ll know she can approach me with more serious problems and expect to be treated with respect and seriousness.’
That made Suzy give a gentle, sympathetic laugh. ‘I miss the days when the most serious dilemma involved in parenting a daughter was whether to let her spend all of her allowance on My Little Ponies or to try to teach her about saving.’
‘The ponies always won with me,’ Daniel confessed.
‘Me too,’ Suzy agreed. Then, changing the subject, she told him, ‘Drew wants the two of us – you and me, I mean, obviously – to go on a … A fairy tale evening, I
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