Teen Trials

Worry, Worry

Hunter came home Wednesday night surprised to see Emma in their kitchen. "Why aren't you at camp?"

Emma looked up at the man anxiously. "Momma!" She called for Amy, who had just gone upstairs to put Luca down. She walked around the kitchen island, trying to put space between herself and Hunter.

"Don't call for her. Why are you home early? Did you get hurt?" Hunter asked. He looked the teen up and down to see if he had missed an injury.

"Momma!" Emma just called again. She had been anxious about telling Hunter things in the past, but she was sure that this man was going to kill her. She shifted from foot to foot, already feeling the sting on her bottom from the spanking she knew was coming. Gosh, where was Amy?

"Emma, stop." Hunter sighed, pulling out a kitchen chair and sitting down, hoping that made him seem less threatening. "Just tell me what happened." He figured it must be big for the teen to be put on a plane early.

Amy came downstairs then, "What's going...Hey, babe." She walked over and kissed her husband.

Hunter could hear the fake cheer in her voice. "Hey. Emma was just about to tell me why she's home early."

"Ems, do you want to go upstairs and let Daddy and I talk?" Amy asked.

"Yes ma'am." Emma said, wanting to put space between herself and her dad.

"No. Now this is enough. I haven't killed you yet, and I'm not wanting to cover up a crime tonight. I'm too tired. I'm gonna go shower. You two think of what you wanna say. Where is Niko?"

"Your parents came up and took him for the rest of the week." Amy said.

Hunter sighed, this must be big. He wondered why Amy hadn't called him to come home. "Heads up would have been nice."

"Not really a way to give one here." Amy told him. "It was kind of an all or nothing situation."

Hunter nodded. "Do we need to order pizza?"

"Emma and I have been making dinner while we talked. It's ready."

"Alright, when I come down, we can talk and eat." He went up the stairs and could hear Emma and Amy whispering in the kitchen.

"What now?" Emma whispered.

"Now we tell him, Emma. You knew he was going to come home."

"Yeah, can't we just say that I got hurt?"

"No. All of these things are big deals, we are talking to Daddy about it." Amy told her.

"Can't you please cover for me?"

"No, Emma. Daddy needs to know and we will talk about what to do together and get this all figured out."

"He's gonna kill me, Momma."

"Maybe." Amy agreed, putting the lobster ravioli, one of Hunter's favorite foods, on the table. "You're honestly lucky that I've been so thrown off guard by this, that I haven't killed you."

"I'm sorry, Momma."

"I don't know that you are, but just for the record. I am VERY unhappy about this." Amy told her. The two were quiet for a few minutes.

Tears filled Emma's eyes as she thought about how angry they were both going to be. "I know. But..."

Amy was annoyed, but something in Emma's tone made her look at the teen. "But?"

"You still love me, right?" Emma asked shakily.

Amy reached out and pulled the girl into a hug. "I am so disappointed in the choices you have made this summer." She scolded quietly in the girl's ear, "AND you are our oldest child, who I love so much. Nothing you do could ever change that."