Best of Women

Lin

The next morning, Eva was a complete mess. I was planning on sending her to school as usual but she was emotional and getting irate.

"Dad, you don't understand!" she pleaded with me from her bed. "Everyone's gonna be asking me what happened and they're all gonna want to use my crutches. It's gonna suck!"

"There's no reason you can't go to school," I countered. The other three kids were already up and dressed, eating their breakfast. "Your foot's hurt, not your brain."

"Daddy, please!" she said, looking tearful. I looked at my watch. The kids had to leave in ten minutes. There was no way she'd be ready on time. I decided I'd take her in late myself. I crossed the room and sat on the edge of her bed, forcing myself to be more patient.

"Eva, I know this is hard," I began, patting her leg. "I will give you a half hour more in bed, then I'm taking you to school."

This seemed to make her feel a bit better. She wiped her eyes and I went back to the kitchen to hurry the other kids along.

"You're not letting her stay home are you?" Mia asked me.

"No, but I'm taking her in late," I explained. "You three can go ahead."

I passed them all their lunches and busied myself cleaning up around the kitchen. I put the news on and kept my eye on the time. After a half hour had passed, I went back to Eva's room to wake her up. She was awake, laying on her side.

"Time to get going," I told her.

"Can you help me?" she asked, her voice not with its usual confidence. I walked over and helped pull her to standing. Since Pippa wasn't here, I'd have to help her the best I could with her clothes. We decided track pants were the easiest. I pulled the hole over her cast and then left to let her finish.

A few minutes later, she came out to the table to get her breakfast. I poured myself some more coffee and sat down with her. Since she was going in late anyway, I figured it was a good time to talk to her about gymnastics.

"So," I began, rubbing the back of my neck. "I think it'd be a good idea for you to take a complete break from gymnastics while your foot heals."

She dropped her spoon and looked at me, exasperated. I knew she wouldn't like this.

"Dad, no!" she instantly protested. "The doctor said I could still train as long as I kept off my foot."

"But what good is that really gonna do you?" I asked. "You won't be able to do most things, plus you risk the chance of aggravating it. You need to wait until you're completely healed."

"But I'll lose all my strength!" she countered.

"You can use weights," I told her. "There are other ways to keep up your strength."

"I'm not stopping for six whole weeks!" she raised her voice a bit.

I sighed. "Evalisse, this is not up for discussion," I said, leaning back and crossing my arms. "This is what's best for you. For your body."

"It's my body!" she pointed out. "Don't I get a say?"

"You're thirteen years old," I reminded her. "You don't always make decisions based on the right reasons."

She pushed her chair back and, forgetting her foot wasn't good, began walking. She stumbled and caught herself on the table her hand.

"Dammit!" she cursed, then continued storming back to her bedroom. She slammed the door.

I knew she wouldn't be happy with my decision, but I figured it was best to get it over with. She'd fight me on it, but I'd made up my mind. I gave her ten more minutes to sulk, then poured a glass of water and found her medication. After knocking on the door, I walked in and placed the glass and pill on her bedside table.

"We're leaving in ten minutes," I told her. She just glared at me and I left. When she came out, I grabbed her backpack as she found her crutches. We walked/hobbled down the hallway to the elevator, then I called a cab. Once we'd reached Hunter, I walked into the office with her to explain her late arrival. The secretary wrote her a tardy pass and she glared at me one last time as she made her way to her locker.

Today, I went home since yesterday had been so crazy. I called up the gym to let them know Eva's foot was fractured and she'd be out about six weeks. Hopefully Eva wouldn't be a total grump during that time. I reclined on the couch and decided to treat myself to a little relaxing time. I pulled up Netflix and spent the next couple hours binge-watching.

Somehow, I knew Eva would still go to the gym. That was fine if she just wanted to go, but she just couldn't participate. I called the gym to fill her coach in on the situation. I knew he'd be supportive and I was right.

Pippa walked in with the three youngest around 6:30. I was making spaghetti and meatballs, one of Eva's favorites. She glared at me as she came in.

"Love you too!" I called as she disappeared down the hall.

Rio sighed loudly and rolled his eyes. "Are all girls this dramatic?" he asked me, exasperated. I chuckled as I turned off the burner.

"Not all of them," I told him. "Your sister's a special brand of dramatic."

She always had been, and her sister had always been the easy-going one. They were so different. Mia walked over and wrapped her arms around me from the side. I kissed her head and patted her arm.

"How was practice?"

"Good," she told me. "I learned a new dismount on bars."

"Cool," I said as I moved to strain the pasta in the sink. "Will you go get Sebastian?"

She nodded and walked down the hallway. Rio was setting the table without being asked. Such a good kid.

My instinct was to give Pippa a hug and a kiss but knew I couldn't with Rio around. I hoped we could get some time together soon. A minute or so later, Sebastian wandered out, hoodie up and sat down at the table. We'd gotten used to having family dinners pretty quickly. We did it when my wife was alive, and I think the kids were glad we were bringing it back.

Sebastian was hunched over his plate as he grabbed a roll from the center of the table. Sometimes I wondered if I even knew my son anymore. He didn't seem to want to talk with me much. We'd been buds as he'd grown up. He was practically my shadow until he was seven or eight. Now that he was a teenager, he wanted nothing to do with me. It hurt that he'd pushed me away. I tried to remind myself that lots of teenagers were like that, but it still didn't feel good.

Was I trying hard enough? I know I'd been somewhat absent lately. But, whenever I tried to spend time with him he shut me down.

Mia and Rio were, at least, in a good mood. The conversation mostly consisted of Pippa, me, Mia and Rio. Eva was still pissed and probably would be for a while. I wanted to fix things with Sebastian and Eva but I didn't know how.

After dinner, Sebastian ducked out quickly to his bedroom. I walked down the hallway and knocked on his door. I didn't hear an answer, and when I pushed the door open I saw he already had his earbuds in. His room was still a mess, but it wasn't a battle I felt like fighting.

As I sat on his bed, he took out his earbuds, draping them over his shoulders, and looked at me in confusion.

"Hey, teenager," I told him, leaning forward on my elbows.

"Hey," he said simply. I rubbed my palms together.

"Listen, I just want to make sure things are okay with you," I started. "You seem kind of...angry lately. And down."

He shrugged and bit at his cuticles.

"Anything bothering you?"

He shook his head.

"School okay?"

He shrugged again.

"Good chat," I told him, patting my legs. "Sebastian, I just want you to know that I'm here if you need to talk, okay? I know you talked to mom a lot, but...maybe I could help. Okay?"

"Okay," he said softly as I stood up. I gave his shoulder a squeeze as I headed to the door. When I was in the hallway, I took a breath of fresh air. Eau de teenage boy is not a scent that should ever be bottled.