Standing at the bottom of the stairs with her bag in one hand and Clancy's hand in the other, Stevie let out a heavy sigh. "Lola, we're going to miss our flight." She rolled her eyes lightly as she slouched to one side.
She had called her name a dozen times and nothing... just pure silence.
Biting down on her lower lip, Clancy glanced up at the older woman. "She doesn't wanna go with us, mommy." She mentioned, even though that wasn't news to anyone. "I think we should just drop her off with aunt Lori and go without her." She added in such a serious tone, it made her mother smirk. "Santa probably isn't bringing her any gifts anyway..." she creased a brow and scrunched up her nose, just to prove how pointless she thought it was to even bring her along.
She couldn't but chuckle, even though that wasn't very nice. "Why don't you go out to the car with miss Karen and Crew?" Her eyes drifted from the little blonde towards her assistant, who had been lingering in the doorframe that separated the den from the foyer the entire time. "We'll be out in a few minutes." She added as she let go of Clancy's hand.
Karen trailed through the room, picking up a couple more bags off the floor. "Come on, kids." She gave her boss a gentle, very encouraging smile as she led the way to the front door.
Leaning into the railing, Stevie waited until everyone had made it outside before she finally spoke up once more. "Lola?" Her voice was soft as she ventured up the stairs slowly. "Honey?" She repeated, pausing outside the bedroom door for a long moment.
With an incredibly dramatic eye roll, the teenager swung open the door just a second later, causing her mother to flinch instantly. "I heard you the first twenty five times." She mumbled as she tossed her backpack out of her room, letting it hit the hardwood floor right at Stevie's feet.
She didn't want to go- she had made that very obvious from the start, yet that really didn't matter... Stevie always did whatever Stevie wanted to do and that didn't settle well with Lola.
"I know you're upset with me..." Her eyes grew sad as she stared at her daughter with a soft expression written across her face. "But one day, you'll understand why parents do-"
"Oh, stop it." Lola cut her off mid- sentence as she pushed by to get out into the hall. "I will never, ever understand why you do what you do, mom." She announced with a scoff. "You don't do things rationally, so just stop making up excuses for yourself." She could be so harsh- so cruel and hurtful... Stevie really felt that when those words left her mouth.
Wrinkling up her brow, the older woman shook her head in disbelief. "No one is perfect, Lola." Her eyes followed the teenager as she headed for the top of the staircase. "Not even your father..." she wasn't going to bash her husband, not in front of their child, but she was being honest.
Everyone makes mistakes in life... Some seem more catastrophic than others, but everyone makes them, whether we like it or not. And yes, while Stevie knew that she hadn't always done the right thing, she wasn't going to take the blame for everything wrong within their family.
It wasn't all her fault.
"Don't talk about him when he isn't even here to defend himself!" She yelled as she pointed her index finger in her mothers direction.
Lola had picked her side and like usual, she wasn't team Stevie.
Swallowing hard, the blonde nodded her head lightly. "You don't get to speak to me in that tone." She raised a brow, trying hard to sound as stern and as harsh as possible. "You don't know the first thing about being an adult and making adult decisions, okay?" She was hardly ever that forward with those kids, but they needed it... Lola needed to know that Stevie was still the boss in that house.
With a light laugh, she half smirked. "Yeah, because you-"
"We can speak to each other when we've learned to understand one another." She mumbled with a gentle nod of her head. "But until then, I'm still your mom and I don't deserve to be treated like this." She was repeating the same words her therapist had gone over with her a hundred times before.
She was always telling Stevie that she needed to stand up for herself, but it had been hard.... very hard, until that moment.
She was tired of it. She was tired of having to explain herself to someone that hadn't even lived half the life that she'd lived.
"Now, we're going to spend time with your grandparents for holidays and that's final." She finished strong, hoping she wouldn't cave half way through.
Lola stared at her with a dull expression for a long moment, trying to decided if she felt like crying or screaming. She couldn't tell which one felt more appropriate, so instead of doing either, she turned on her heel and pretended to ignore everything her mother had just said.
Pursing her lips to one side, Stevie let out a deep breath as she followed far behind.
Sometimes it felt like she was arguing with herself- that's how stubborn her oldest could be. She was strong willed, she always had been and the truth was, Stevie really admired that about Lola... to a certain extent.
She was tough, which is what all mothers want their daughters to be, but sometimes she was so set in her ways, it was almost worrisome.
"Everyone in?" She asked as she pulled the front door closed behind her.
Nodding her head, Karen set Lola's bag in the back. "We're all ready, boss." She assured with a soft smile.
Stevie let out a sheepish, almost tear filled laugh as she trailed down the sidewalk, towards the SUV. "And there was hardly any yelling... What a miracle." She teased as she pulled open the passenger side door to slip onto the leather seat.
There was a lot of strong tension in the car- the kind that was so obvious, it was almost suffocating.
"Everyone buckled in?" Stevie glanced back at the three kids, who were each experiencing different kinds of emotion in that very moment.
They all gave her a little nod, Clancy being the only one to speak up, while the two other sat completely silent.
With a low sigh, her eyes traveled back to the front. "Perfect," she whispered as she shifted in her seat awkwardly.
"Lindsey's here..." Karen lingered in a low voice as she stared back through the review mirror, watching as he threw open the drivers side door of his car to get out.
