Sunshine After The Rain

Chapter Fifteen

"I can take you to the park, Justin," Sophie told her son as calmly as she could.

Justin stomped his feet and scowled at her. "I want Lucas to take me!"

This is the way it'd been for days. Whenever her son wanted to do anything, it was always Lucas. Never her. Sophie was on the brink, about ready to pull out her hair. Ella was easy by comparison. She was fine playing house outside or playing dolls with her. But anything Justin wanted to do had to appear as manly, and Sophie didn't suffice.

He'd wanted to go to the community pool the day before, but Sophie had somehow offended him when she offered to take him. He yelled at her when she couldn't make Lucas appear out of thin air, and when he screamed that if daddy was alive, he would have taken him, it took every ounce of Sophie's self-control to say he likely wouldn't have.

Sophie filled her wine glass almost to the brim and walked out of the room, ignoring Justin's ranting and raving. Up the stairs, with him hot on her tail, then into the bathroom where she shut the door in his face, locked it, and crawled into the empty bathtub.

Nothing she did or offered to do seemed good enough for him, and feeling less than anyone else was taking a toll. While Lucas wasn't due back in town until tomorrow, Sophie felt the need to hear his voice, even if just for reassurance that she wasn't as terrible of a human being as her son made her out to be. She took out her cell and scrolled through her recent call list, clicking on his name.

He answered on the third ring. "Hey." His voice was distant and she could hear a heavy breeze in the background, so she assumed he was driving and she was on speaker.

"I was thinking about selling Justin, but wanted to give you first dibs. I'll cut you a damn good deal if you're interested."

Lucas' hearty chuckle filled the air. Her trouble with Justin was no secret. She'd called him nearly every night in tears over her exhausting day with him.

"No deal," Lucas said. "Once I stop being new to him, he'll turn on me too. No thanks."

"I'll pay you," Sophie half-joked. "Come on, you can't get a better deal than that. And he's free child labor."

"You love him, and you know it."

She did and would give her life for him without a second thought. But the kid had been a bastard since Lucas left, so by extension this was all his fault. "Doesn't mean I don't want to shove him into a kennel until he grows out of his douchery. It's like nothing I say is ever good enough. I could offer to take him to the moon, and he'd still be pissed at me."

Sophie heard the motor of his truck shut off and his door slam shut. "I'll be there to help you in no time."

"I shouldn't be making my life your problem," Sophie realized aloud before running her hands through her forever tangled mess of hair and taking a chug out of her enormous wine glass.

"You're not," Lucas countered. "You're making your life my business, and I don't mind that one bit."

Hearing her children making noise downstairs, she fought the urge to crawl out of the bathtub. If they were fighting, at least it wasn't with her. If they were breaking stuff, she didn't like most of their homes decor anyhow.

"It's quiet right now," Lucas noticed. "Whatcha doin'?"

Sophie laughed at how desperate and crazy she looked at the moment. "I locked myself in the upstairs bathroom and I'm just laying in the tub fully clothed, drinking wine and pretending I'm not a parent with a job to do right now."

Lucas joined in her laughter on the other end, then saw the door handle shift around frantically. It was wishful thinking she could stay in there forever, but someone needed to tattle tale on someone else and it was her job to listen. "Fuck my life," she muttered into the phone. "I gotta go, but thanks for listening."