FOUR
Not even waiting to see or hear Hayden’s reaction to what I’d said, I flew up from the couch and began racing out of the living room. Right then, a thunderclap sounded outside, signaling a summer thunderstorm after a very hot, humid day. Like my frustration and anxiety about the situation with Carla and the Warrens, the thunderstorm had been slowly building.
Making good use of his superhuman vampire speed, Hayden raced to confront me and cut me off right before I reached the stairs. “I can’t let you take Chrissy, Syd…and I can’t let you go, either.”
“Oh, so you own me now? You decide what I can and can’t do?”
Stunning me, Hayden didn’t even hesitate in his response. “Yes. At least yes as far as I decide what you can and can’t do until this whole situation with the Warrens is resolved. You’ve now made it crystal clear that it’s necessary for me to do this, because if you had your way, you’d be out on the road with Chrissy right now, putting the two of you in extreme danger. So, yes…I decide what you can and can’t do now. At least until the situation with the Warrens is resolved, or until you can display better judgment.”
With my jaw dropping in astonishment, I felt like I’d been slapped. Hayden’s words couldn’t have possibly sounded any more paternal to me, and not in any kind of a good way, but only in a controlling, possessive sort of way.
I asked him if he thought he was my father now or something, and again, he didn’t hesitate in his response.
“Now you’re just being absurd. I don’t think I’m your father, but I am your husband, and I intend to do my job as a husband of keeping you and our daughter safe. If you want to interpret that as me acting ‘fatherly’ to you, fine, go right ahead. You can think or feel whatever you want, Sydney…but you and Chrissy aren’t leaving this farm. Not until it’s safe for you to do so.”
“And you actually think it’s safe for me and Chrissy to stay here?”
“Yes. It’s a lot safer for the two of you here than anywhere else.”
“But—”
“Just think about it. With you and Chrissy here, you not only have me protecting you, but you also have the protection of every single one of us Watchers. On the ‘outside,’ I can only spare one, maybe two, of my vampires to watch you in case the Warrens were to follow you and try to attack you. That’s why I have to keep you and Chrissy here, close to me.”
“Here, on a farm that’s going to be attacked for sure.”
Hayden sighed, raking a hand through his thick, dark hair. “You’re staying here, Sydney, with Chrissy, and that’s that. I really don’t mean to sound like a jerk about it—”
“Yeah, basically telling me that I’m a prisoner until I can ‘display better judgment’ doesn’t sound jerky at all.”
“Be mad at me. I don’t care.”
That last line got me. I suddenly cared that he didn’t care. I also suddenly cared that even though he’d said that he wasn’t going to let me go, he hadn’t said that it was because he loved me. It was only to keep me safe, probably simply because Chrissy needed a mom, and Hayden didn’t think he could raise her without me. Feeling horribly insecure for the first time in our marriage, I suddenly wondered if he did love me.
After several moments of stony silence, I just came right out and asked him this, causing him to scoff.
“Do I love you? Why do you think I’m so concerned about keeping you where I can best protect you?”
“I don’t know. Maybe you’re more of a control freak than I thought. Or maybe you just don’t want me to die because you think you couldn’t raise Chrissy on your own.”
Again, Hayden scoffed, shaking his head. “Wow. You really don’t know me as well as you think you do.”
For some reason, this statement brought tears to my eyes, and I blinked them back before responding.
“Maybe I don’t. Maybe I don’t know you well at all. But if that’s the case, whose fault is that? It’s not like I’ve been able to spend a lot of time with you since we’ve been married. It’s not like I was able to spend a lot of time with you while I was pregnant, either. So, you’re probably right, but it probably goes both ways. We probably don’t really know each other at all.”
Frowning hard, Hayden raked a hand through his hair. “Maybe you’re right. Maybe we don’t.”
“And maybe we jumped into marriage too fast. Is that what you’re going to say next?”
“Now you’re just putting words in my mouth…and I think I’m done with this conversation.”
Fighting tears, I shrugged. “That’s fine with me. I don’t think I have anything else to say.”
“Fine. I don’t, either.”
Surprising me and hurting me, Hayden turned and began striding out of the open dining room and living room area without another word. However, about halfway to the hallway that led to the kitchen and the front door, he paused and turned to look at me.
“Until this is all resolved with the Warrens and Carla, I want you to stay on this property with Chrissy, Sydney. Have I made myself completely clear?”
With my arms folded across my chest, I fixed him with what I hoped was a proud, haughty sort of look even though I was still blinking back tears. “Yes…Dad. You’ve made yourself completely clear.”
With a snort of disgust, Hayden once again turned and began heading toward the hallway. “I don’t have time for this.”
Suddenly angry, I called out after him. “Of course, you don’t! You never have time for anything!”
Hayden whirled around, shouting. “You’re right! I’m always too busy trying to keep my family safe!”
He’d never shouted at me like that before. In fact, he’d borderline roared his words at me. Fresh tears instantly sprung to my eyes, but he didn’t even see them. He was already gone, striding into the hallway, leaving me to simply stand in the dining room with tears spilling down my cheeks, wondering how everything had suddenly gone so wrong between us.
Despite feeling tired, I had trouble falling asleep later that night, and once I finally did, I had trouble staying asleep. Once, I awoke feeling like I'd just had a dream about Hayden, but I couldn't even remember exactly what the dream had been about. Another time, I awoke after having had a dream where he’d locked me in the house.
A group of Warren vampires was approaching, and I somehow broke out of the house with Chrissy in my arms, intending to run to my car and drive somewhere far away. Hayden caught me before I could reach my car, though, shouting that running was useless and that I just had to get back in the house and let him protect me and Chrissy. It took me at least an hour to fall back asleep after that.
Finally, just before I awoke for good around eight in the morning, I had a more pleasant dream. In it, Hayden was holding me in his strong arms, kissing me. I clung to him, filling my nostrils with his heavenly, masculine scent, with all thoughts of murderous Warrens completely driven out of my head. This dream was far too brief, and when I came out of it, my pillow was damp with tears.
As angry as I still was at him, I couldn’t deny that I still loved Hayden and missed him terribly. I was also deeply troubled and concerned about the state of our very young marriage. Unless he’d been very stealthy about it, I was pretty sure he hadn’t even crept into our bed to get his nightly half-hour or so worth of sleep at any point during the night.
While taking a shower, I brooded on this thought, realizing that this was the first night we hadn’t slept in the same bed together since our wedding night. While I told myself that this was no big deal, I couldn’t ignore the fact that my stomach was twisting into knots.
*
When I brought Chrissy downstairs for breakfast, we found Jen and Carol eating pancakes at the island. Trying to be casual about it, I asked if either of them had seen Hayden that morning, and they both said no.
A moment later, Jen looked up from a towering stack of pancakes, frowning. “Why? Are you looking for him or something? And, also…did you guys have a fight or something last night? I thought I heard a little shouting or something, but I was already kind of sleeping in bed, and I was too sleepy to really get up and see what was going on.”
Eyeing me intently, Carol said that she’d also thought she heard shouting but hadn’t been sure.
Not wanting to really get into things with Jen and Carol right then, and maybe not ever, I said that everything was fine, getting Chrissy’s box of baby cereal out of the cupboard with my back turned toward Jen and Carol so that I wouldn’t have to look them in the eyes. Neither of them said anything in response, and Chrissy soon began babbling happily while I fixed her cereal, which thankfully took the focus off me.
While she ate in her high chair pulled up to the island, Chrissy’s babbling turned into shrieks of “Ah-Zhen,” and Carol and I tried to get her to say Mama or Dada. We didn’t have any luck, but one time, Chrissy did seem to say “Mah-Zhen,” which I took to mean that she was at least trying to say Ma or Mama. Jen was still apologetic that she’d “messed up” Chrissy’s first word, although I could tell that she was secretly pleased and proud that Chrissy was still saying her name so much.
I didn’t mind at all, knowing that Jen was just being a very proud and caring aunt. Each time Chrissy burst out with an “Ah-Zhen,” Jen fed her a tiny piece of pancake mushy with syrup, giving her a little wink while she did so.
When we were all nearly finished with breakfast, Trevor came in the house, looking beat with dark circles under his pale blue eyes. While washing his hands at the kitchen sink, he said he’d been on “patrol duty” all night, along with Sam, Hayden, Mel, and a few others, making sure that no Warren spies breached the vast property or the woodland around it.
Jen suggested that maybe he sleep for an hour to “recharge his batteries” rather than the usual half-hour required by most vampires.
Trevor said he definitely was going to. “So, maybe wait an hour or two before you go anywhere today, Jen, because I’m going to need time to grab a shower, too.”
Looking puzzled, Jen asked Trevor why her going anywhere should affect his schedule, and Trevor replied by saying that he was now officially her “bodyguard” for the time being.
“I’ll follow you into Sweetwater or wherever and keep an eye on you, just like we used to do when Sydney first came here to the farm.”
Jen groaned. “Oh, I hate having a ‘bodyguard.’ I just want to go into town and do what I want to do with no one bothering me.”
Drying his hands on a blue-and-white checkered hand towel, Trevor said that he wouldn’t be “bothering” her. “I’ll just be keeping an eye on you from afar, just to make sure that the Warrens don’t try to kidnap you or something while you’re out. Then, once all this business with them is over, your ‘secret service’ patrol will be called off, and you can go back to all your illegal activities in Sweetwater without worrying about anyone watching you and reporting you to the police.”
Pouting on a barstool with her arms folded tightly across her chest, Jen didn’t even acknowledge Trevor’s little joke about her doing “illegal activities” in Sweetwater. Instead, she simply demanded to know who had “ordered” her to be “stalked.”
Wearing a small smile of amusement, Trevor came over to the island and had a seat on a barstool across from Jen. “Who do you think?”
Scowling, she snorted, then spoke seemingly to no one yet everyone at the same time. “Hayden. My very own cousin commanded that I have a prison guard follow me around, just like I’m in jail or something. See, why does he always think he’s the overlord of this whole farm and everyone that lives here?”
I was about to remark that that was a very good question, but Carol spoke first, telling Jen to “please be respectful” in an uncharacteristically quiet voice.
In response, Jen contorted her face in a mask of near-comical confusion and outrage. “Respectful? Why? Hayden’s my very own cousin.”
Carol gave Jen the smallest of smiles. “I know…but he’s also the community leader of this farm, and the leader of our family, and it’s not an easy job. I think he deserves our respect, and he deserves to not have family members accuse him of being an ‘overlord’ around here and things like that. Not to mention that I don’t think that’s the way he sees himself at all. I think he sees himself as our ‘chief protector,’ which is what he is, and what a good leader should be. He’s still our family member, yes, but we should really talk about him with a bit more respect, Jen. I think we owe him that since he works so hard to keep all of us safe.”
Now I was really glad that I hadn’t shared the details of Hayden’s and my fight with Carol and Jen, because although I wouldn’t have accused Hayden of being an “overlord,” I might have come pretty close. And I didn’t want Carol to think that I didn’t respect my own husband, or appreciate what he did to keep everyone in the community safe.
The truth was that when it came down to it, I did respect and appreciate Hayden, but like Jen, I just kind of resented feeling like I was being “controlled” by him at the same time. After all, he’d come right out and told me that he wasn’t going to let me leave the farm, no matter what. It was kind of hard not to feel a little “controlled” after hearing that statement.
In response to what Carol had said, Jen just picked at the remaining half a pancake on her plate, looking vaguely irritated, although more than a bit guilty as well, before finally lifting her gaze to Carol after a long moment or two. “All right. I’ll give Hayden a little more respect. Okay? But I don’t have to like him putting Trevor up to do surveillance on me. I don’t have to like it.”
Carol said that was fine. Trevor asked Jen why she cared about being under “surveillance,” anyway.
Setting her fork down, Jen sighed. “I care because I made these cool new friends a few days ago, and they’re actually my new adoptive grandparents, too, and their names are Phyllis and Bucky. And we’ve been meeting up in Sweetwater and doing lots of cool, fun things every day, and we want to keep on doing lots of cool, fun things every day…without anyone watching to see where we go.”
Trevor asked what kind of “cool, fun things” they’d been doing, and Jen just shrugged.
“Going out to lunch, paddle boating in the lake, fishing in the lake, going to the park to eat ice cream and play on the climbers…and we’ve also been playing paintball every day.”
Trevor cracked a half-smile. “Well, none of those things are actual illegal activities. I was just teasing you about that. So, why do you care if I tail you all day?”
Jen shrugged again. “It doesn’t matter if everything I’m doing is technically legal. Sometimes a person just doesn’t want her family knowing every single tiny particle of her personal business, like where she goes, and what she does there.”
Leaning forward with his elbows on the island, Trevor looked at Jen intently for a moment or two before straightening up on his barstool. “Tell you what. If you let me tail you with no more complaints, and without trying to lose me, I promise that wherever you go, and whatever you do, it will just be our little secret, and I won’t tell anyone else in the family. Provided that everything you do is actually one hundred percent legal, of course.”
Getting a little gleam in her eyes, Jen suddenly extended a pinkie finger across the island. “Pinkie promise me that. Pinkie promise that you swear to not tell anyone in the family a single thing about where I go or what I do as long as it’s one hundred percent legal.”
Looking a little confused, but also a little amused at the same time, Trevor hooked a pinkie around Jen’s. “It’s a pinkie promise.”
Having watched their interaction with quiet interest, Chrissy suddenly gasped, clapping her chubby little hands. “Ah-Zhen! Ah-Zhen!”
I smiled, brushing a few strands of flame-red hair out of her face. “Say, ‘Mama,’ Chrissy. Say, ‘Mama.’”
Clapping her hands again, she grinned. “Ah-Zhen!”
Still smiling, I kissed her cheek. “Say, ‘Dada!’”
“Ah-Zhen!”
I didn’t see Chrissy’s “Dada” at all that day, or the next. Or the next. Instead, I worked in the creamery and at the outdoor payment desk in the “pick-your-own” strawberry patch, bringing Chrissy along with me most of the time. Being that Hayden could have easily taken a break from patrol to stop by and say hello, it seemed clear that he was intentionally avoiding me. He wasn’t, however, avoiding Chrissy, seeming to strategically visit her at times when I wasn’t present. One day when I left her at home with Carol instead of bringing her to the creamery because she was being a little fussy, Hayden came by the house and spent an hour just holding her and reading to her, Carol reported.
The following day, he fed her breakfast and played with her for a few hours while I slept in. When I came downstairs, Carol told me that he’d just left, which made me think that he’d done so directly in response to hearing my footsteps or something. As for Hayden showering and sleeping, his damp towel in our master bathroom told me that he was coming home to shower when I was out. The comforter on our bed occasionally being slightly mussed told me that he was doing the same with his sleeping schedule, taking his once-a-day “vampire nap” at a time when I wasn’t around.
Although slightly wounded by all this, I told myself that I didn’t care, and a little part of me really didn’t. This was the little part of me that honestly thought that Hayden and I needed some time apart to cool off from our argument in the dining room. On the other hand, though, a big part of me that I continually tried to ignore, felt like it was absolutely insane for Hayden and me to intentionally spend any more time apart, since we’d pretty much been doing just that since I’d first moved to the farm. And all this time apart seemed to be at the heart of all our problems, or was at least greatly worsening them.
Not knowing if I should text or call Hayden, or try to catch him out on patrol in the forestland, or what, I did nothing, and Friday marked the fourth day of the two of us not communicating. Over dinner at the island that evening, Carol asked me if something was wrong; however, just then, Jen more or less burst into the kitchen, trumpeting a loud announcement.
“It’s on, guys! The party is on! Dad said yes! I just talked to him on the phone.”
I wasn’t sure what party she was referring to, although I knew that Jen simply talking to Mark was something of an accomplishment in and of itself. Unlike Hayden, he hadn’t actively been avoiding anyone, but he had been working long hours at his law office in Sweetwater, and he’d also been out of town some days, having to travel to the courthouse in Ann Arbor for an important case.
Because of all his traveling and preparation for the case, he hadn’t been home much, and difficult to reach by phone. Jen had tried to stay up late to see him the night before, but she hadn’t managed to make it to past midnight, which was when he finally came home.
Looking up at her with interest, Carol asked Jen what kind of a party Mark had said yes to.
As if enjoying drawing out the suspense a little, Jen hopped up on a barstool, giggling a bit, and served herself several pieces of baked chicken from a casserole dish before responding. “It’s gonna be a special party…a barn party.”
Just then, Mel entered the kitchen, having returned from putting Chrissy to bed for me, because she’d fallen asleep in her high chair during dinner. Having apparently caught what Jen had just said, Mel had a seat on a barstool, fixing her with a worry-wart look. “How is that whatever ‘special’ barn party you’re planning on going to, any different from the dozens of other parties we’ve had in the various barns here over the years?”
Snorting hard, Jen set a drumstick back on her plate before turning to look at Mel with a withering glare. “This party is going to be special because my new adoptive grandparents are coming. That’s right. I have adoptive grandparents, and you don’t. Even though me and you are twins, Bucky and Phyllis still don’t acknowledge you as their granddaughter, too, because I’ve told them how terrible you are.
Some of their really cool friends from the campground where they live are coming to the party, too, and they can’t wait to visit with me, and pinch my cheeks, and meet all the members of my whole big Mennonite family here on the farm. All the members of my family except you, though, obviously.”
Rolling her eyes, Mel grabbed a magazine from the side of the island and flipped it open. “Haven’t you told your ‘new adoptive grandparents’ that we’re not Mennonites?”
“Of course, I have. And they believe me, but all the Sweetwater people at the campground just can’t get it out of their heads that we’re not Mennonites, because they’ve just had it stuck in their heads so long. I even tried telling this one lady, Lucille, that we’re not Mennonites, but she was just like, ‘Oh, any farm around here with almost a hundred people living on it in a big private compound…that’s either an Amish farm or a Mennonite farm.’ Like I don’t even know where I live or something.
So, I told her again that we’re not Mennonites, and then I started to say instead that we’re really a Watcher community, but then I remembered about Dad’s vampire contract, and I was just like, ‘Yeah…you’re right, Lucille. We’re Mennonites.”
By “Dad’s vampire contract,” Jen was referring to a contract Mark had made her sign, promising not to tell anyone anything about living in a Watcher community, or that most of her family members were vampires. Drawing on his experience as a lawyer, Mark had made the contract very detailed, including all sorts of technicalities, stipulations, and addendums, one of which stated that Jen was not to tell anyone about the “family secret,” “either in jest or in earnest,” which he’d had to explain to her.
He’d drawn up this contract and had made Jen sign it not long after she’d spilled the beans about the “family secret” to Carol long before Mark was ready to have it spilled.
While Jen began chowing down on her baked chicken and vegetables, Carol and I resumed eating, and Mel began flipping through her magazine. And for a while, the kitchen was quiet except for the low hum of some talk radio show Carol had playing on quietly while she was cooking.
However, after finishing a drumstick, Carol dabbed her mouth with a paper napkin, and then asked Jen, a bit hesitantly, when the party would take place. Jen said Saturday night, which was the next day, and Carol again spoke, with some hesitancy or discomfort.
“Your dad’s been really stressed and busy lately, so maybe he didn’t have time to fully think the party idea through; and considering the threat from the Warrens that we’re living under here at the farm—”
Jen cut her off, saying that she already knew what she was going to say, and that Mark had considered all the angles and ramifications of having a party while under an uncertain threat, but that he thought it was okay. “He even hung up our call halfway through to call Hayden just to make sure that the party wasn’t a bad idea or something, and Hayden said it was fine.
He said we’ll just make the party on the shorter side and not some kind of a late-into-the-night sort of thing, which is probably fine for all my older friends anyway, and he said that he’ll just have his normal guard patrol out protecting the farm, except that he’ll be inside the party himself, just to make sure everything was perfectly okay, and that any Warrens won’t hurt any of our guests.”
Mel turned her gaze from Jen to Carol, shrugging. “That sounds fine. It’s not like we don’t have a ton of outsiders here daily at the creamery and for strawberry picking anyway.”
Carol, who tended to be kind of a worrier, knitted her brows. “I know, but that’s during the daytime…and if and when the Warrens attack, I have a feeling that it might be in the evening or night-time, so that they have cover of darkness.” Still knitting her brows, Carol suddenly looked at Jen. “What do you say we have your party earlier in the evening, like, say, maybe five or six o’clock?”
Jen shook her head. “That just won’t work. Part of the fun of the party is going to be a bonfire outside, and bonfires just aren’t as fun in broad daylight. Besides, right after I hung up with my dad, I already texted Bucky and Phyllis to tell everyone that the party will be from eight to eleven at night, and they’ve probably already started telling people. For another thing, the Warrens will never attack us when it’s dark out, anyway.”
Carol asked her how she could be so sure, and Jen shrugged.
“A night-time attack is too obvious. They’ll just never do it.”
Mel started to say that it was a silly thing to be so sure of, but Jen cut her off.
“Hey! Who was right about Carla being sketchy, from the very first day we met her? Here’s a hint. It wasn’t you, Mel, and it wasn’t anyone else on this farm. It was me. Remember that? I just know things. I might even be a psychic. My Grandma Phyllis believes in all that sort of stuff, and she says lots of people are psychic. Bet she’d think that I’m psychic if I told her the story about Carla. Which I won’t, because of Dad’s vampire contract, but still. The bottom line is that I’m probably psychic, and you should just respect that, and not make stupid little comments about it.”
Heaving a sigh while doing an eye roll for the ages, Mel went back to flipping through her magazine, and I finally got the chance to ask Jen something.
“So, Hayden will definitely be there for the party, then? The entire time?”
I just wasn’t sure that he wanted to be in the same space with him just yet, even if that space was a big ol’ barn.
In response to my questions, Jen said yes, and I turned my gaze to my plate and began picking at my vegetables. “Oh. Well, that’s too bad, because I’m not sure if I’ll be able to make the party myself…just because that’s past Chrissy’s bedtime and all, and I’ll need to be home with her.”
That was a genuine consideration.
Mel looked up from her magazine. “Oh, don’t even worry about that. I bet Chrissy would love to go to the party, and I bet if you put her down for a nap late in the afternoon, she’ll at least be able to stay up for an hour or two of the party, anyway. I’ll look after her there. Then, when she falls asleep, I’ll take her home for you, so that you can keep enjoying the party with Hayden.”
Uncomfortable, I told Mel that she really didn’t need to do that.
Undeterred, she said it was really no big deal. “I love taking care of Chrissy, and I’m sure all Jen’s elderly friends will love meeting her at the party. Not to mention that all the Watchers here on the farm who don’t get a chance to see Chrissy on a daily basis will get to see her. Besides, with all that’s been going on, I bet you and Hayden really need some sort of a ‘date night,’ where you can just be a married couple for a few hours, and not just parents.”
I tried to manage a smile. “That sounds nice. Thank you for offering to watch Chrissy.”
Apparently, my smile wasn’t very genuine, because it prompted Mel to develop a worried or a skeptical sort of look. Not wanting to look her in the eyes anymore, I began picking at my dinner again, and I could almost just feel her studying me for a few moments before she spoke.
“Hey, Syd? Is everything okay with you and Hayden? Now that I’m thinking about it, I feel like I haven’t seen you guys together in…well, a really long time. Maybe not even once since he’s been home.”
Across the island, Carol chimed in softly. “I’ve been wanting to ask you the same thing…if all is okay with you and Hayden.”
Without giving me a chance to respond, Jen chimed in. “Now I’m wondering if all is okay with you and Hayden. And you don’t have to say anything to Mel and Carol, but since I’m your best friend, I kind of have a right to know.”
With her expression one of outrage, Mel scoffed and told Jen that she certainly did not have a “right” to know. “Of all the stupid, entitled, nonsensical things you’ve ever said, that’s got to be the most—”
“I don’t mind, though, Mel.” I’d cut Mel off, and with her gaze now on me, I gave my throat a little clear. “I really don’t mind. Jen is my best friend, and although she maybe doesn’t have a ‘right’ to know, I guess I don’t mind sharing with you all now, since apparently it’s become pretty clear to everyone that Hayden and I are having a rough patch.”
Looking at me with their eyes a little wide, no one spoke, and I continued.
“It’s really no big deal. We just had a little disagreement a few days ago about Hayden kind of being an absolute controlling jerk by refusing to let me leave the farm with Chrissy in order to keep her safe from the Warrens and Carla.”
Carol and Mel exchanged glances, as if maybe they’d both expected that this was what had been going on.
Carol said she was sorry to hear that Hayden and I had a disagreement. “But…now that a few days have passed, can you maybe see his point about wanting you and Chrissy to stay on the farm where he can best protect you?”
Feeling more like a twelve-year-old girl than a supposedly mature nineteen-year-old married young woman, I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. “Yes…I get that. But I don’t really appreciate the feeling of being controlled.”
“You’re looking at things the wrong way.” Mel had spoken, and she continued while looking me right in the eyes, expression nonchalant. “It seems like it’s all probably just a problem in perception. You perceive that you’re being controlled, but in reality, you’re being protected by a man who loves you. Just change your perspective, and the problem disappears, along with all the resentment you feel.”
Carol nodded. “That makes sense to me. Change the way you think about his requests and actions, and you change the way you feel about Hayden.”
I lifted my shoulders in a feeble shrug. “I guess I could try.”
The only problem was that I really didn’t feel that motivated to try. Something about “trying” felt too much like “giving in.”
Carol said that trying to see things differently was a good start. Looking at me, Jen said she had an idea for a “better start.”
“Just promise to come to the barn party tomorrow night, and I’ll get you and Hayden back together. You’ll see.”
Still not sure that I wanted to go to the party and see Hayden, I began to protest, but Jen cut me off.
“No. No making excuses or any of that junk. You have a babysitter for the party; you only live a thousand feet away or whatever from the party barn; and you have all sorts of cool clothes to wear. So, you’re coming. And it doesn’t even matter what all you and Hayden are fighting about, I’m gonna make it so that the two of you fall right back in love with each other during the party.”
Mel snorted. “Because after all, no one can resist the pure romance of dancing among a dozen senior citizens with walkers.”
Scowling, Jen banged a fist on the island. “None of my friends have walkers! None of them do! And, anyway, so what if they did? People with walkers can be cool. People in wheelchairs can be cool. People who don’t even have any legs at all can be cool. Basically, you’re the only one who isn’t cool, Mel, because you have a very uncool attitude about things sometimes.”
“All right, girls.” Carol got up from her barstool and got between Mel and Jen, putting an arm around each of them. “I love my stepdaughters, and I don’t want them to argue. So, how about we all get to cleaning up after dinner now?”
Jen said no. “At least, not until Sydney says that she’ll for sure come to the barn party tomorrow.”
Groaning inwardly, I hesitated, and Jen spoke again.
“Come on, Syd, don’t you want to meet all my cool new friends and my grandparents?”
I did want to meet her new friends and her grandparents, although I would have preferred to do that when Hayden wasn’t around. Nonetheless, knowing that she was going to persist, I told Jen that I would “for sure” go to the barn party.
“I can’t promise that Hayden and I will be glued at the hip all night, though.”
Jen gave me a little look with her eyes twinkling. “Yeah. We’ll see about that.”