Bitter

sixty-one - lydia

   The day before I'd gotten the text from Meg, begging me to come with her and Marco, Zach, and Aly to the lake, Mom had sat outside with me in the backyard on a picnic blanket. We took advantage of the warm weather, knowing it'd just get colder from then on. She'd made little sandwiches to eat for lunch and I'd made the lemonade and we mainly talked about how each of us were doing; Mom was working later hours now and I was still recovering from homecoming night.

When Mom heard Stephen Haley was being investigated, it was all she could talk about. She'd been following the news and though we weren't sure there was enough information on Mr. Haley for him to be arrested or not, having him investigated was enough for now. Who knew what they'd be able to dig up? There was already evidence of him giving West, his own son, drugs in an attempt to keep him "in line", so there was no telling how long that'd been happening or what else was going on behind the closed doors of the Haley house.

Mom had also heard Jason had had drugs in his system the night he died and though he could've gotten them from anywhere, Jason had been around West a lot and West had obviously gotten them from someone else. This didn't help Stephen Haley's case. Of course, Mr. Haley thought the investigation was stupid. How could anyone think he'd do all of this? Apparently there were a lot of people that were suspicious of him, including Cal's dad who I learned from Cal had briefly worked for Mr. Haley. Mr. Warrick probably knew firsthand Mr. Haley's behavior, how he operated, that he did anything to stay on top of the competition, even if it meant leaving Cal's family drowning in medical bills.

"I'm not surprised," Mom said in response to all of these stories coming out about Mr. Haley. She was sipping her lemonade under the sun, gazing at the pool filled with fallen, soggy leaves. "That whole family is...all over the place," she sighed, shaking her head slowly and trying to appear unbothered. I saw the way she gripped the glass in her hand tighter though. I knew she wasn't just saying this because of Mr. Haley or West. I knew Melanie Haley and my dad were at the forefront of her mind.

   Then she laughed humorlessly and looked at me. "I'd been so blind then, thinking your dad could never end up like that. It took me so long to realize he was fooling around with her," she muttered. Then the frustration that was boiling within her just seconds ago simmered down and eventually, she sighed again. "It took me way too long to forget about him. I should've started focusing on what was most important, which was taking care of you."

   I smiled, feeling the warmth of the sun on my skin as I looked back at Mom. "Well, you've been doing a great job at it," I told her. Instantly, her face lit up and she looked down. I thought I saw tears spring to her eyes, but she avoided my gaze long enough for them to disappear. After that, we sipped and ate and talked and somehow Cal came up in the conversation. She asked how he was doing after the incident and I kept it short and sweet, not going into detail too much. I wasn't about to tell her I'd cried in front of him and I definitely wasn't about to tell her what he'd revealed, all of the stuff about his sister. Not unless he wanted me to.

"Do you like him?" Mom asked suddenly, so seriously too.

I froze, feeling heat creeping across my face. "What...do you mean? I don't like him like that."

Mom started smiling again, swirling her straw in her glass. "As a friend, Lydia," she elaborated, "as a person."

I let out a nervous laugh. "Oh, right," I said, looking down at my shoes. "I don't know. I guess he..."

"Cares about you," Mom cut in. I rolled my eyes, but I was far from annoyed, feeling a grin forming. "Come on, if he didn't, he wouldn't have gone after you that one night. So late and rainy and dark. Lydia, I didn't even know something was wrong," she explained, guilt seeping into her voice. "If he hadn't been there for you...I don't...know what would've happened."