The Family Solution

Kelsey slowly removed the ear buds.

“Yes, Mother?” She took another spoonful of ice cream and raised one eyebrow.

A scant year ago, when she was twelve, Kelsey had still hugged Bella at bedtime and even kissed her goodbye before leaving for school. At thirteen, she’d become something of a changeling, who made no secret of the fact that she had no desire to be in the same room with her mother. The best Bella could expect these days was strained politeness.

“This room is a pigsty.” She hadn’t intended to say that, but the handmade, black velvet quilt Kelsey had begged for last Christmas was tossed into a corner, and the closet door was open, revealing a nest of tumbled clothing, shoes and damp bath towels. And was that Bella’s pink cashmere sweater rolled in a ball on the dresser? She walked over to reclaim it, and saw it had a huge stain across the front, something that looked like ink.

“This is my best sweater. What did you do to this, Kelsey, use it as a blotter?”

Her daughter shrugged. “So, did you come in here just to rail at me?”

“No, I did not.” Bella tried for a calming breath. “Get up and put some old clothes on. We’re going to dig up the front yard and plant a garden.”

“Garden? No, thanks.” Kelsey screwed her face into an expression of disgust. “Besides, nobody does their own gardening, Mother.”

“You’re wrong there. Lots of our neighbors on Maple Street used to grow gardens.” Bella felt homesick for their old neighborhood. She felt homesick for their old life. “I’ll bet lots of people here do, too. You just can’t see them behind those huge hedges. Prince Charles is a gardener, for heaven’s sake.”

“Yeah, right. I’ll bet Prince William doesn’t have a thing for shovels and stuff.”

“Well, unfortunately for you, you’re not Prince William. So put that ice cream carton in the garbage before it does any more damage, and from now on, do not lie on that bed with your shoes on. I’ll expect you outside in ten minutes.”

Bella got out before she lost it. Barely.

But her own bedroom wasn’t that much of an improvement over Kelsey’s, she noted. Empty coffee cups littered the floor beside the bed and a bottle of melatonin lay on its side on the bedside table.

She took off her work clothes—cords and a sweater—and put on older cords and a tee, topping it off with the purple, long-sleeved sweatshirt Niki had complained about last Sunday. It had paint splotches, but what the heck? It was fine for digging dirt.

Kelsey and Josh were waiting in the front hall. They might have looked slightly more cheerful if they were going to prison. Bella felt sorry for them. Their lives had changed almost as much as hers had. But they were all just going to have to get used to it.

She led the way out the door and down the steps. Charlie was still effortlessly moving piles of dirt from one area to another. He waved cheerfully, and Bella introduced her kids.

“Josh, Kelsey, this is Mr. Fredricks.”

“Call me Charlie. Pleased to meet you,” he said.

Josh and Kelsey didn’t reply.

Bella was about to call them on their lack of manners when Charlie said, “There’s shovels in the truck. You can start digging out the base for the sidewalk, marked out with that yellow cord. It needs to be six inches deep and relatively even. When we get it dug, I’ll put in forms for the concrete.”

Sure enough, two parallel yellow cords stretched in a gently curving line from the edge of the property to the front door.

Josh muttered, “A sidewalk? Is this guy nuts?”

Kelsey huffed, “Daddy would never make me do this.”

Too true. Daddy never did anything himself.

Bella led the way to the truck and lifted three long-handled spades from the bed. She distributed them and tried to inject enthusiasm into her tone. “Come on, let’s get started. How hard can it be?”

Within minutes, she found out. Charlie came over and showed them how to sink the spade into the ground by holding the handle tight and jumping on the blade. He made it look simple.

“Make your cuts on a slight angle, and try to make the clumps of sod a uniform shape,” he instructed, handing the shovel back to Bella. “You try it. You might want to find some work gloves first, though.”

“I don’t think I have any.”

He walked over to the truck, rummaged under the front seat and then handed her a filthy pair of gloves. Grimacing, she slipped them on.

The first time she tried to cut the sod, she slipped off the side of the shovel and gouged her ankle. It hurt, but, determined to set a good example, she ignored the pain and tried again. This time, the shovel penetrated the earth three inches, and she felt the reverberation all the way up to her skull.

“Why don’t you give it a go, son?” Charlie gestured at Josh, who slowly let go of his shovel. It fell to the ground, narrowly missing Charlie’s foot.

“Last time I checked, you weren’t my father,” Josh said.

Charlie stared at him briefly, then nodded. “You’re right, that was patronizing. I apologize.”

After a tense moment, Bella said sharply, “Josh. I didn’t raise you to be rude.”

With obvious reluctance, he shook Charlie’s outstretched hand, and then everyone breathed again.

“Okay, let’s start over,” Charlie said. “How about taking a stab at digging out this sidewalk, Josh?” He reached down, picked up the shovel and held it out.

Josh accepted the shovel, positioned it and stepped down hard. A clump of earth came free, and he lobbed it into the wheelbarrow with energy probably generated by rage.

Charlie ignored Josh’s temper. He turned back to what he’d been doing, and Bella went back to trying to get her shovel to sink more than an inch into the ground. Kelsey made her own halfhearted effort, and when it didn’t work, she started back toward the house.

“Kelsey, you can come over here and start piling these blocks up in a berm if you want,” Charlie called to her.

“I don’t want to, and I have no idea what he’s talking about,” she said in an undertone.

“Go, and be polite,” Bella ordered. “He’ll explain.”

With the speed of a caterpillar, the girl made her way across the yard. Charlie began talking to her, and soon Kelsey was gingerly lifting clods of earth and building them into a long, irregularly shaped hillock.

For the next hour, Bella did her best to establish a work ethic for her children. Her arms ached, her foot still hurt from the shovel and her back was sore from heaving clods of earth into the wheelbarrow, but she persevered until exhaustion got the best of her.

“I think that’s enough for today,” she finally gasped, glancing at her watch and trying to pretend she wasn’t on the verge of a heart attack. “I’ll just…I’ll go in and make some dinner.” Hoping he’d refuse, she added without enthusiasm, “Will you join us, Charlie?” After the work he’d accomplished in spite of their help, she really had no choice except to invite him.

“Thanks, that would be great.”

“Mom, can I come in with you?” Kelsey, as dirty as Bella had ever seen her, gave her a beseeching glance. “Please, Mom?”

“Sure.” Bella glanced over at Josh. He still looked grim, but he was methodically driving the shovel into the ground and digging out clumps. Sweat was running down his forehead.

“Okay, dinner in about an hour, men.” She was trying to figure out just what dinner might consist of, and she was failing miserably.

“C’mon, Kelsey.” As they made their way into the house, Bella thought it was probably the first time in months her daughter had looked eager to go anywhere with her.

Bella muttered under her breath, “Now what am I going to make?” The cupboards were close to bare and she had no money to order pizza.

“There’s hamburger in the freezer,” Kelsey said. “We could make that stuff with macaroni and tomatoes and cheese that you used to cook sometimes when we were little.”

Bella thought she’d pass out from shock. Kelsey, noticing frozen hamburger? Suggesting a dinner menu?

“I just happened to see the package when I was getting ice cream,” she said in a defensive tone.

“I’m glad you did,” Bella told her. “Shipwreck, that stuff was called.” Perfect for their current situation. And it was one of the very few things she actually knew how to make without a cookbook. “That’s a great idea. Let’s wash up and get started.”

“I can’t, Mom.” The whine was back. “I have homework. And I’m writing Daddy a letter, for when we know his new address.”

“Right. Well, you can finish all that the minute we’re done eating, and I’ll get Josh to help me with dishes. You did volunteer to help make dinner, Kelsey, and I’m holding you to it. You can chop onions and start browning them, while I thaw the meat and cook macaroni.”

Kelsey pulled a face and held out her soil-stained hands. “After I have a shower, right?”

“That’s not a bad idea. I’m filthy myself.”

By the time Charlie and Josh came in to wash up, Bella had pulled together a meal with Kelsey’s help. They’d set out the food on the island in the kitchen, and had actually had a peaceful, productive conversation about how best to chop onions and brown hamburger.

“This is great,” Charlie enthused, reaching for another of the baking powder biscuits Kelsey had whipped up at the last minute. Bella had watched her in amazement, wondering where this self-confident young cook had sprung from.

“We learned to make them in school,” Kelsey explained. “They’re, like, soooo easy.”

“I pretty much live on takeout or frozen dinners, so having a home-cooked meal is a real treat,” Charlie remarked, slathering butter on a biscuit.

“I don’t really do much cooking myself,” Bella had to confess.

“No kidding, Mom,” Josh agreed. “You haven’t made this stuff in a long time.”

“Glad you like it.” She hadn’t made anything from scratch in ages. Bella, too, had been relying heavily on takeout and frozen dinners.

Being Mae’s daughter, she’d never really learned to cook, apart from a limited number of dishes along the lines of shipwreck. Her mom had alternately nagged Bella about being too skinny and then produced dishes that were all but inedible.

And lately, Bella had felt too stressed and overworked and angry with Gordon to concoct even one of her simplest standbys. Which was ironic, because now, when she was really stressed and overworked, making a meal from inexpensive ingredients was a financial necessity.

“Josh,” Charlie said when they were done eating, “where’s that list we made of materials? I forgot to add bonemeal and we’ll need that to give the new trees and bushes a head start when we put them in the ground.”

Josh pulled a small notebook out of his pocket and scribbled in it, then handed it to Charlie.

“I have a meeting tomorrow morning, but maybe you want to come with me after school to pick this stuff up?”

Josh shook his head. “Can’t. Basketball practice,” he said.

“What position do you play?”

“Center.”

“Your team win any games?”

“About half. We’ve got a good coach, but a lot of the guys don’t play very hard.” Josh suddenly remembered to be bored. “I’m only doing it because we get extra credits for sports. It’s basically a dumb game.”

“It can be rough, that’s for sure. That’s how I got my nose broken the first time. What sports do you really enjoy?”

“Squash. But we don’t have any squash courts at school.”

Bella knew Josh hadn’t played squash more than a half-dozen times. He was only mentioning it because Gordon had repeatedly said how good he’d been at the game. Not that Gordon had played more than a dozen times, either, as far as Bella could remember. And never with Josh.

Charlie said, “Rick belongs to the Point Grey Athletic Club, and they have courts there. Maybe you’d like to have a game sometime?”

The teen shrugged, concentrating on his empty plate. “Yeah. I guess. Maybe. Sometime. Can I be excused, Mom?”

“Yes, and please load the dishes in the dishwasher for me. And could you wash the pots by hand? Kelsey helped make the meal, and I told her you’d do cleanup.”

“Ahh, mom. I’ve got homework.”

Bella raised her eyebrows. “Strange, how whenever I have a job for you to do, you remember your homework.”

“Yeah, well, you’re always on me to get good grades, right?”

Charlie stood up and began stacking dishes. “How about I give you a hand? That way it won’t take long.”

“I can do it,” Josh muttered.

“No problem. Where are the garbage bags?”

It was obvious Josh didn’t want Charlie helping, but there wasn’t much he could do about it. Sullenly, he banged pots into the sink as Charlie scraped and rinsed plates for the dishwasher. Kelsey beat a fast retreat up the stairs.

Way too tired to get involved in any more domestic skirmishes, Bella poured herself a cup of coffee and slunk into the living room.

“I’ll come and join you as soon as we’re done,” Charlie promised.

That wasn’t exactly what she’d had in mind. She’d been hoping he’d leave right after dinner, but just like with Josh, there wasn’t a lot she could do about it. She sank into an armchair and propped her feet on a stool.

She was beginning to ache in places she’d never noticed before, when Charlie came in and made himself comfortable on the sofa. He’d changed his work clothes for his clean jeans and shirt before dinner, and he’d used a wet comb on his hair; the track marks still showed.

Now, if she were Niki, she’d label him hot. Lucky she wasn’t the least bit interested.

“I drew up a master plan for your garden,” he said, pulling a folded sheet of paper from his pocket. “Come over and have a look, and see what you think.” He patted the sofa.

Bella got up and sat beside him, a reasonable distance away.

“I thought we’d make it as low-maintenance as possible, since that’s always a good selling point. These days, people don’t have time to devote to a garden that requires a lot of upkeep. So we’ll use trees and bushes that are indigenous to the coast, we’ll put down bark mulch and install underground sprinklers. No lawn, no mowing, and not even many weeds. What do you think?”

Bella peered at the paper in his hands. She could smell him—a mélange of soap, some residual sweat and essence of Charlie.

Pheromones. Niki had told her all about them. The little buggers were working overtime right now.

Bella said, “A sprinkler system sounds expensive.”

“I know a guy who’ll put it in for a reasonable price.”

“Even reasonable is going to be way beyond my budget.”

“Well, maybe we can work some sort of a trade with him.”

“As in…?” She was so worn out, she found herself thinking of making a joke about sexual favors. As if anyone would consider her current body highly desirable. Always on the skinny side, she’d lost seven or eight pounds over the last few weeks. And what was left of her chest struck her as rather sad.

Yet, the thought of what a man would be doing messing with her chest or pelvic bones still sent warmth rushing to her nether regions. And not just any man. It was ridiculous to be so aware of Charlie. They were simply sitting on a sofa, his right leg a good foot away from her left leg. It went to prove that basic sexual instincts were hot-wired in.

Fortunately, Charlie was oblivious to her X-rated thinking. “I’d have to talk to him, figure out what he needs that we might be able to supply,” he mused. “You’ve probably got plastic pipe and other stuff at the hardware store he could use.”

“I do have plastic pipe for irrigation, and some of the valves, as well.”

“Great. But we’ll need to buy plants and flowers and trees, although I’ll get what I can for free. I know a gardener who often has stuff he’s discarding. Plus, we’ll need ready mix for the sidewalk.”

“How much will that come to?”

“Maybe three, four thousand, for both cement and plantings. But the difference it will make in the selling price of your house will be in the tens of thousands.”

Bella gulped. There were always going to be expenses she couldn’t avoid. Somehow, she’d have to find the money to cover them. She was too weary to even worry about all that right now. She yawned, politely covering her mouth with her fingers, and then yawned again, not so politely. Her eyes watered and her jaw cracked.

“You’re beat.” He smiled at her.

“Sorry. I’m not used to digging, I guess.”

“I’ll go now, so you can get some rest, but I’ll be back tomorrow afternoon. The sooner we get the work done, the sooner you can put out the FSBO.”

“FSBO?” She vaguely remembered Mae using the term, when Bella had told her she was selling the house herself. Her mother had been against it. Big surprise there. Mae was against almost every decision Bella had ever made—except the decision to marry Gordon. Mae had liked Gordon. Now why hadn’t that rung any warning bells?

“FSBO. It’s what we smart-alecky real-estate types call ‘for sale by owner.’”

“Aren’t you going to try and talk me out of that?”

“Nope. Of course, I’ll have to commit bodily harm if you ever breathe a word of this to my brother. But I think people have every right to sell their houses themselves.”

“Yikes. And after the campaign you waged, who knew? Well, thank you.” Bella actually beamed. And then she yawned a third time. “Sorry. I’m not very good company.”

He gave her a long, assessing look. “I wouldn’t say that. You’re honest and you’re entertaining. And you make great shipwreck.”

“So are puppies and little kids. Honest and entertaining, that is. And I can’t cook more than three basic things.” She felt absurdly disappointed that he hadn’t lied and said she was sexy, or attractive or even cute. Which was ridiculous, because she absolutely didn’t care what he thought of her.

“Don’t get up—I’ll see myself out. Good night, Bella. See you tomorrow.”

She took him at his word, because the thought of getting up was close to overwhelming. When she finally made it as far as the kitchen, she found it gleaming.

For the first night since Gordon had left, she slept all the way through until the alarm rang in the morning, and she woke up feeling rested and hungry. She ate cereal and toast and yogurt, and realized she was actually looking forward to the day ahead.

CHAPTER FOUR

BELLA’S SENSE OF well-being lasted until nine-twenty that morning, when the call came from Mr. Nordwick, the principal of Crofton.

After the move from the old neighborhood, Gordon had insisted Josh and Kelsey be enrolled in Crofton House, a private school. Against her better judgment, Bella had agreed. After all, she wanted her kids to have the best education available. She just hadn’t been convinced public school wasn’t providing it, and she still wasn’t certain about Crofton House. The endless stream of BMWs and high-end SUVs dropping off students every morning intimidated her. And Mr. Nordwick had way too much starch in his shorts, she decided now. His tone of voice was both annoyed and condescending.

“Ms. Monroe. As you know, Josh has already been absent once this past week.”

Absent? That was news to Bella. Nordwick went on, “And although you wrote a note explaining his absence, I wanted to speak with you.”

She hadn’t written any note. She opened her mouth to say so, but Nordwick was forging ahead. “He’s falling behind and hanging out with boys I consider troublemakers. He’ll have to do a lot of extra homework to make certain he stays abreast of his classes. Coincidentally, two of these other young men are also absent today.”

Stunned, Bella stammered, “Josh? He—he’s not at school? Are you sure?”

“Positive.”

Bella said, “I didn’t know he was missing school. I had no idea.”

Mr. Nordwick’s voice changed. “You didn’t write a note saying he had to help with the final sale at your store?”

“No, I certainly didn’t. I’d never keep him out of school to work at the store. But I know he’s at school today, because I dropped him off there an hour ago.”

“Well, he must have left again, because he isn’t here. That’s why I’m calling you. Ms. Monroe, I have an automatic policy that after two absences within a short period of time, a parent is asked to come in and discuss the situation, so if you could come down…”

“I’ll do that, Mr. Nordwick, but first I have to find Josh.” Bella hung up without saying goodbye. She couldn’t seem to catch her breath, and her heart was pounding frantically. There were three customers in the store, and the moment she rang up their purchases and hurried them out, she locked the door and raced to the car.

Where could Josh be? Where would a fifteen-year-old boy go? The city was huge. Where would she begin to look?

Oh, God. What was he up to?

Frightening thoughts of drugs and violence and gangs brought a feeling of panic. Hands trembling on the wheel, Bella drove to the mall where her kids liked to hang out. After three frustrating trips around the lot, she finally found a parking spot and headed inside. Crowds filled the place, and she realized that finding Josh in here was going to be next to impossible.

After forty-five futile minutes, she gave up and went back to her car.

Cursing the traffic, she drove downtown, cruising along the major streets, eyeing the theatre lineups. If he’d already gone into a movie, there was no chance she’d find him. She drove slowly toward the harbor, trying not to imagine him hanging out with street kids, dope dealers, the sad little girls and boys out there selling themselves for money and drugs.

She knew her son was upset over his father’s desertion. Who knew how a teenager with raging hormones would handle such a traumatic event? She hated Gordon, truly hated him, for abandoning his children. Surely Josh wouldn’t be doing this if his dad hadn’t left.

Reason finally penetrated and she turned toward home, still frightened out of her wits. Who could she call? Who would help her find her son? The police? Maybe she should phone the cops. That’s what she’d do, she decided, pulling the car into the driveway.

A tiny part of her mind registered that the front of the house looked even worse than before, with fresh sod in clumps and an uneven trench where the sidewalk would be. She couldn’t think about that now. She walked past it all, unlocked the front door—and saw Josh’s trainers and book bag, dumped on the floor beside the coat closet.

He wasn’t in the den. Bella took the stairs two at a time, threw open his bedroom door and choked on a cloud of cigarette smoke. Rap music bombarded her.

Josh and a redheaded boy she didn’t recognize were sprawled across his unmade bed. Another boy she’d never seen before was reclining on the carpet. All of them held cigarettes and glasses of what Bella’s nose told her was brandy—her brandy. Sure enough, the empty bottle sat on the dresser. It had been close to full the last time she had noticed it.

“Josh Monroe, exactly what do you think you’re doing?” Bella’s voice could be clearly heard, even over the so-called music.

They all leaped to their feet. None of them was too steady. They looked dazed and loose-limbed and foolish.

Josh sported a silly half grin, and his face was flushed. He called over the music, “Hey, Ma, chill, okay? I can explain.”

“Turn. That. Noise. Off!”

Josh staggered over to the boom box, punched a button, and silence reigned. One of the boys edged past Bella and hurried down the stairs. The second, the one with red hair, began to gag, and made a headlong dash toward the bathroom. Bella heard the downstairs door slam. Rats and a sinking ship.

A cigarette someone had dropped smoldered on the carpet, and Bella hurried to retrieve it. “Have you taken total leave of your senses, Josh? Look at this carpet, it’s got a big burn mark, and it’s a miracle you didn’t burn the whole house down. And you lied to me, pretending you were at school, when all the time you…you…were playing hooky. It’s not the first time, either, is it?”