At the Bottom of the Swimming Pool

Chapter 30

CHAPTER 30-SECRETS ARE SAFE

Smurf had reached out to Baz in for him to bring Lena more clothes. Even though she had been spending time with him and Pope, she still spent a majority of her time sleeping at Smurf's. In the beginning, Smurf didn't mind taking care of her that much as she was her youngest grandchild but now it was starting to get to her. Baz would constantly leave Lena at her house when she had other things to do. If she wasn't there, she was with Pope but most of the time she was dropped off at her house at night.

Baz would have rather dropped the things off when she wasn't home, but Smurf insisted that he stop by when she was present. She had a few things on her mind that she wanted to talk about, but he wasn't in the mood to hear any of them. He had assumed that she was going to call him out for his parenting once more but if he was going to take parenting advice from anyone, it wouldn't be Smurf.

When he showed up after taking Lena to school, the house was eerily quiet considering J was at school as well and Smurf was the only one in the house. Baz entered through the backyard and took a glance around. His mind told him to drop off the clothes and get out as quick as he could, but she'd kill him for doing so. Not knowing where she was, Baz scanned the house and his last spot to look was in Lena's room.

She had been folding a couple things of clothes when she noticed him. "I thought you weren't going to show. How thoughtful to bring your daughter some clothes"

"Hey, you called and asked me to so I'm here" He moved into the room and set a bookbag on the dresser. Smurf moved away from the bed and over to him in order to check the contents. While digging, she found a little picture book.

"Lena wanted to keep it over here. She told me it helps her to not have nightmares" Flipping through a few pages, she recognized some of them that were taken at her house. They were mostly of Lena and her Uncles, but a few pictures popped up with everyone else as well.

"When was this?" She asked when she stopped on a picture that she had never seen before. Lena was in a sparkly purple dress and Jessica was holding her in a flowy orange beach gown. It was taken at Baz's house and it was recent from what she could tell.

Baz peered over to see it and instantly regretted putting that in her bag. He had taken it the night of the dance at her school because Jessica insisted that he take some of Lena. She was doing everything in her power to give her a sense of normal with Catherine being gone.

"There was a dance at Lena's school about a month ago. She asked if Jess could go with her"

"Hm..." Baz could tell that it bothered her even though she wasn't going to flat out say it. "I'm surprised she didn't ask me"

There wasn't anything else he wanted to say on the matter because he wasn't going to get into with Smurf. The problem this time was with Jessica, so he wanted to stay out of it. She threw the book onto the dresser before pulling out some of the clothes in order to put them in the closet. The silence between them spoke volumes because Baz didn't have much to say to her nor did he want to talk. He had a few things he had to work out, so he was more than eager to leave. Baz waited for a minute or two before going to walk back out the door.

"Baz...I know Lena is my Grandchild and as much as I love having her over here, I'm not her parent. You need to start stepping up to the plate" Shoving a hanger into the closet, she glanced over her shoulder.

He sighed before rubbing the back of his head. "I know, I'm working on it. Jessica's getting on me for it so if I'd rather not hear it from someone else"

"Like she knows anything about parenting" She said simply then turned back around. "Cath's disappearance is really starting to get to Lena, it's been gone for a couple months now. Isn't it a little suspicious that you haven't heard anything from her?"