Toni
The energy in the house had been off since the situation with Lia and Janet. Neither of them have spoken to each other. On Lia's part it was from a place of anger at her mother for not explaining her reasoning to her and on Janet's, it was from a place of pain and fear.
Janet couldn't bring herself to tell our daughters about what happened to her and honestly this is something that we disagreed on. I don't think she needs to go into detail, but I do think that giving the girls insight on why Janet acts the way she does in certain situations. I personally feel like it would bring them closer.
We were sitting down at the dinner table and it was silent. The tension between the two of them was obvious. The girls usually sat on both sides of Janet, but today, Miyah sat next to her and TJ sat on the other side. Lia sat next to me with her arms folded.
"Lia, sweetie, why aren't you eating?"
"I'm not hungry."
"You said you were starving earlier." said Miyah.
"I'm not hungry for this." Janet had cooked the dinner. She looked at Lia.
"Why?" asked Janet.
"If you can't tell me why I can't see DJ then I can't tell you why I don't want my food." Janet became visibly angry.
"Fine. Go find something else then." Lia huffed and got up from the table. She stomped upstairs and slammed her bedroom door.
"What's going on?" asked TJ.
"Your sister is acting out."
"But wh..." Janet looked at him and he stopped talking. She sat her fork down.
"I'm done." She got up and went to another room.
"Mama, what's going on? What's wrong with the two of them?" asked Josiah.
"Your mother and sister are having a communication issue." Jordan chuckled. "What?"
"Huh?"
"What's funny?"
"Oh nothing. It's just.....mom having problems communicating isn't surprising."
"Why?"
"When has she ever communicated? She's a great mother, don't get me wrong but there's always these moments where she loses it when something happens with us and never explains why. It's like something's always bothering her." I sighed. "I mean, she yelled at me for being bullied and not saying anything. Why did she react that way?"
"Jordan, don't worry about it. Mom has her things and issues. She's tried hard to look past them for us." said TJ.
"Do you know what her issues are?" asked Josiah.
"No, but..."
"Then that's the problem. I appreciate her for everything she's done. I feel like there's no better mother out there, but sometimes I'd like to know her as a person, not just our mother." I sighed.
"I'll be right back, guys." I got up and went into Janet's office. She was sitting on her small couch and writing in her notebook. "We need to talk." She looked up and closed her book.
"What's up?"
"Not the two of us, all of us. More specifically, you need to talk to our children. They want to understand you and you're resisting."
"Toni, I just can't."
"Janet, I know it's hard for you, but I can see the beginning stages of resentment setting in. You need to talk to them."
"Resentment? About what? About me as a mother?"
"No. They think you're an excellent mother, but you as a person is where they're confusion is."
