3.238 Sleuths

Desiree was still playing with the dogs when I finished eating and showed no signs of letting them go. I was eager to speak with Sophia and get some clues about the missing parts of Dub's story, so I encourage Desi to go to bed early and rest up for her big day. Surprisingly, she did not protest and went upstairs. I gave her a moment to change before following her.

"Everything packed for school?" I asked.

"Yeah."

"Do you have your schedule?"

"It's right here. They emailed it."

"Good. Good. Don't forget to see the principal when you get there. Are you sure you don't want us to come?"

"I'll be fine, Daddy."

I sensed I was getting annoying, so I dropped it.

"Alright. Just checking. What do you want for breakfast?"

"Whatever is in the fridge is fine! You don't have to make a big thing out of it."

I put my arm around her.

"But I do."

"I love you, Des. You're gonna be great. Sleep well, okay?"

"Goodnight."

I went back downstairs and found Sophia waiting patiently in the kitchen.

"Is she okay?" she asked.

I snorted.

"You know she is. She said we don't have to make it a big thing. If I didn't know any better, I'd say she wanted to be rid of me."

"Silly. So, what's going on?"

The question un-paused all the previous questions I had before seeing about my daughter, and I was unsure of where to even begin. Hypotheticals always seemed to do the trick, so I tried one

"If I was a bad father, would you leave me?"

"What in the world are you talking about?" she asked.

"That's a real question. If Des grew up to be the brat of all brats, and it was my fault, would you kick me out?"

"Ummm..."

She thought about it for a long time, squinting her eyes and staring off into the corner of the room.

"I," she began. "Ruining my child would be quite hurtful, and I'd definitely be very angry with you for a while. Things may change between us, but..." She let out a long sigh. "I'm not sure I'd consider separation, though. At least not right away, maybe."

"Yeah. That's what I was thinking, too."

"Where is all this coming from?"

"Did Maia say anything to you when they were here? Like...problems they're having?"

"Problems? Not really. She mentioned some personal things, but nothing about their relationship. Honestly, it sounded like she was going through a midlife crisis. She mentioned struggling with her purpose and how to manage all her responsibilities while still being true to self."

"Hmph. That sounds very familiar."

"What's this about, Luca? What happened??"

I inhaled and let out a long, exasperated breath.

"She asked Dub to leave."

Sophia gasped.

"No! That's awful!"

"Yeah. I know he's not telling me everything, and I don't know what to think. It doesn't make sense! I just can't see her throwing him out because Tami is a brat. There has to be more."

"I agree. I remember you two talking about this."

"I knew you were listening!"

"How could I not! You were right there!"

"I'm just messing with you."

Thinking about my friend's disintegrating marriage was killing my vibe, so did a 180. We couldn't solve this in one night with the little information we had, so why continue talking about it?

"I have two very cool ideas," I said.

"Let's hear them!"

"Okay, first, Love Day is coming up, and I've been wanting to do a big family vacation ever since the kids could walk. What if we rent a big house and spend the weekend in Sulani?"

"Okaaay, I like this plan, but what does it have to do with Love Day?"

"I'm thinking, we get Less to watch the kids while we go on a date Friday night. Then Saturday, I take the boys, and you and Less take the girls, and we can do the woohoo talks. After that, we can do whatever. Then, Sunday is Beach Cleanup Day, so you and I can take all the kids to the beach while Less does whatever she wants."

"Woohoo? Already??"

"I know. I'm not looking forward to it, but I just know Less is gonna make me talk to them, anyway. Plus, kids today are a lot more grown than we were. It's probably not too early."

"Yeah, you're right. What was the other idea?"

"Alright, I know we said we would save the lottery money for the kids, but I've been thinking about that a lot lately. A million simoleons is a TON of cash! Do we really want to give kids fresh from high school hundreds of thousands of dollars?"

"Well...when you put it that way, maybe we do need to rethink it."

"Exactly. We have a little bit of time to consider how to do it, but in the meantime, I think we deserve to enjoy our money, especially since we have more time. We can start with our house dilemma."

"I've been thinking about it, too. I'm guessing you have an idea?"

"We love both our houses, yet would prefer not to live here anymore. What if we renovated our other house and add some elements we like about this house? We could have the contractors work on it while we're away and move in when we're back."

"I think I like this plan. Tell me what you're thinking of doing."

"Well, for starters, we could..."

Luca is right to guess there’s a lot more to Dub’s marriage issues. I also couldn’t see Maia leaving him just because Tami is a brat. But I am imagining how different things would have been if Dub had really listened to Luca back when they had the first conversation about his parenting skills.

Anyway, I’m here for all of Luca’s plans!

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3.237 Trouble afoot

Desi was watching TV when I returned, looking exactly as she did before leaving, so I figured they went to a nail salon. But when Sophia walked in, I knew they had gone to both a nail and a hair salon. What a day, and what a look! She was drop-dead gorgeous.

"You let her cut off all her gorgeous hair??" I asked Desi.

She simply shrugged. The teenage carelessness has settled in nicely, I see.

"Do you like it?" Sophia asked, hesitantly.

"I love it! You look so...so regal! Now I need a makeover, so folks don't think I'm bringing you down!"

"Stop it! There's nothing wrong with how you look."

"You keep thinking that," I said. "You look amazing."

"My head feels so light," she said.

"I know what you mean."

"You do?"

"Yeah. My hair has always been thick and long, but after my teen birthday, I wanted to try something different, so I shaved off the back and the sides and ended up with this...curly fade, I guess. My head was so cold in the winter."

"Oh right! I forgot you had shorter hair when we met. It's gonna take me a while to get used to this," she said. "I miss my hair already!"

"But you like it, right?"

"Yeah... Yeah, I do."

Somewhere in the middle of that conversation, we lost Desi. I found her in the kitchen having dinner, so I joined her to see where her head was at.

"Are you pumped up about school tomorrow??"

"Yeah...I guess," she said.

"It's okay to be nervous. Everyone is nervous on the first day."

"But Breanna, Lex, and Arvin had their first day today. What if they all made friends and don't want to talk to me anymore?"

"Awww, Des, that's impossible! They love you! And they're your cousins. Family doesn't throw each other away like that."

Just as I was about to ask a follow up question, my phone rang. It was Dub. The sound of his voice, thick with emotion and shaky from suppressed sobs, caused me to rush outside for privacy. He tried to play it off at first, like nothing was wrong—like he always did—but eventually the floodgates opened and he broke down. Maia kicked him out of the house! I was mistaken to immediately conclude he cheated because I knew he would never do that, but I did, and that thought infuriated me. I hate I felt that way about my best friend, but my childhood trauma reared its ugly head once again. He tried so hard to hide the source of his distress, but he always rambles and gives himself away bit by bit. I put the few pieces together he let slip and gathered this was about the same thing we talked about last time he was over here upset about something: his parenting. He told me a bit more once I expressed I was onto him. How about this man bought a whole horse behind his wife's back! I don't claim to have all the facts of the situation, but the little I had, I knew that was a huge mistake. Honestly, I think it would be a huge mistake, regardless. When they were here, Tami was relentless about this horse thing. The way she kept bringing it up was more like veiled threats than simple childish pestering. Dub tried to joke it away, never giving her an answer and deflecting at every turn. He even joked about me buying it for her to get the heat off him. I know he has money, and buying a horse is not beyond the realm of possibility, but I didn't think he'd actually do it. I assumed he knew it was just trivial childish behavior. Even my niece had dreams of being a horse trainer. She still does, actually. Lots of little girls have a thing for horses, and it's usually a phase. But now Tami's got her horse, and her bad behavior has been rewarded once again in a big way.

Dub was super distraught and remorseful, and of course, all of this came too late. He's afraid he's gonna lose his family for good. I felt for him and started walking toward his house, but he insisted he was okay and didn't need company. What do I say?? I have no words of wisdom or comfort this time. I don't know everything about Dub, but I do know he gets in his own way a lot. And for Maia to say she's done with him? There has to be more he's not telling me. He asks for reassurance, but I can't give it. The only assurance I can offer is just a sliver of hope for the future. Maybe after things calm down, they'll be able to talk things through. But in the meantime, he needs to give her the space she needs, pinpoint the root cause of this issue, and eliminate it.

After a while, I can't bear listening to him cry anymore. That's bad, I know. It's not that I don't want to support him, but he doesn't want my company, and I have nothing to offer, so what is my purpose here? Luckily, he ended the conversation. I went back inside for dinner with my head reeling and heart aching for all of them. It aches the most for Tami, being the product of a broken home myself. I feel for Maia, who has carried the weight of Dub's missteps all this time. And of course I feel for my boy. He's guilty, but I don't want to see him going through so much pain. This really sucks.

Desi playing with the dogs makes me smile. I cherished that moment, not because I needed something positive to lift my spirits, but because I realized some things about her never change, no matter how much she evolves right in front of our eyes. That was a great comfort to me.

Sophia joins me, and I need to tell her about what I just learned, but not in front of the kid. I hope she knows something that can shed light on this mystery, having spent a few hours with Maia.

"I need to talk to you," I said in a low tone.

She nodded, no questions asked. I love that I never need to explain myself to her. She understands the assignment every time.

Luca definitely did the right thing here. He was supportive but didn't give any false hopes. I'm sure he and Dub will be able to revisit this conversation once things have settled down.