The Gift Horse

Chapter XIII

Meredith manages to compose herself and treads lightly up the stairs to Olivia's room. The door is closed, of course, and she brings her knuckles to the wood but stops before knocking. She can hear Olivia's voice stifled from recent tears.

"I don't even want to go to school tomorrow, I'm so embarrassed," Olivia says.

A muffled male voice responds, "I'm sure no one knows about it." The voice doesn't sound clear, and Meredith realizes she must be video-chatting. "It'll be fine." Meredith's eyebrow raises. It's Tripp.

"No it won't be fine! I hate it. I hate school. I hate everyone there and I don't even like lacrosse!"

Meredith puts her hand down, no longer intending to knock and go in. Tripp's matter-of-fact, simplistic reasoning is what Olivia needs right now. She goes into her bedroom and undresses.

"Call me when you're free," she texts Tripp before stepping into the shower.

Just as she's finished rinsing the conditioner from her hair, her phone starts ringing. She turns off the water and jumps out of the shower, pressing her moist finger on the screen to answer the call.

"One second," she says into the phone. She grabs a towel and wraps it around her soaking head, then another for her body and brings the phone up to her ear. "Hi."

"Sup?" Tripp says, in that way that Meredith knows he isn't going to come clean about what he already knows.

"Have you spoken to Olivia recently?"

"Why?"

Meredith tuts. "Cut it out. I know you just spoke to her. How's she doing?"

"Why don't you stop sneaking around and ask her yourself?"

"Where is this tone coming from?"

Tripp sighs. "Sorry, I just don't have time for this bullshit drama that you guys create. Olivia will be fine."

Meredith's speechless.

"Girls do this all the time," he continues.

Furious, Meredith asks, "And that makes it okay that she's anorexic?"

"What?" Tripp sounds genuinely confused. "What are you talking about?"

"Jesus, Tripp, she clearly didn't tell you everything. She hasn't been eating."

"Shit." Tripp says. "I thought she was just getting bullied at lacrosse. She said she quit and then Dad grounded her."

Meredith explains the truth to her son. He's silent for awhile, only his breathing reassuring her that he hasn't disappeared. "What do I do?"

She regrets telling him this. All of it. He's three hours away and should be enjoying his summer, not worrying about things out of his control. "Dad and I are handling it. Don't tell her I told you anything, okay? Just—talk to her. Talk to her about anything. She misses you."

"Should I come home?"

Yes, Meredith thinks. "No, no!" she says. "Do your volunteer work. Enjoy yourself. You're where you should be. Everything will be fine." She's sounding like Tripp now.

"Okay."

"I'm going to go talk to her. Talk soon?"

"Yeah."

No one is speaking to Meredith. Olivia refuses to open her door after Meredith knocks for five minutes straight. RJ goes to bed the moment he comes back from his drive, turning his back to Meredith's side of the mattress. She can't sleep that night and succumbs to the couch, watching boring documentaries on the History Channel and wiping away an occasional tear.