She stopped tapping and the corner of her eye twitched and I thought I saw her eyelashes stick together before unclumping themselves.
I waited silently.
She chewed on the inside of her cheek for a moment. Then she cleared her throat. “My daughter informed me that you were rifling through her things,” she said quietly.
I sighed, exasperated. “I wasn’t rifling through anything. I opened the bag in order to see who it belonged to. She and I had this exact same conversation.”
She folded her arms across her ribcage. Because her pants were pulled up so high. “My daughter claims differently.”
“She what?”
“She claims you opened the bag and were going through it,” Eleanor said. “Perhaps to see what was in it, perhaps not. But she says she caught you rifling through her belongings. And that is a problem.”
On cue, Madison came bouncing around the corner, a water bottle tilted to her lips. When she spotted us, she froze, her eyes wide.
“Madison,” I said. “Can you tell me exactly what your mother is upset about? Because I’m pretty sure that you and I settled things after I explained --”
She pulled the bottle from her lips and pointed at me. “She’s a liar, Mom. I told you. A big, giant liar. Whatever she says, she’s lying.”
“Go inside the theater, Madison,” Eleanor commanded. “Now.”
“No,” I said, irritated. “Don’t move. Do you remember the conversation we had?” She shot me a look of horror and I continued. “When you came in? When you started crying?”
She was a bundle of nervous twitches and fidgets, unsure of what to do. She ran her hand through her long blond hair, pulling it toward her face. If I didn’t know better, I’d think she was using it as a magic curtain to hide herself.
“Madison,” Eleanor barked. “Inside. Now.”
Madison dropped the handful of hair, glanced at me, then sprinted into the theater.
We stood there, the hallway quiet again. My teeth were locked together, my jaw rigid. My heart hammered inside my chest.
Eleanor took a deep breath, then exhaled. “I think it would be best if you...kept your distance from the production.”
“Kept my distance?” I asked, my voice cracking. “Are you kidding me?”
“I am not kidding you, Daisy,” she said, shaking her head. “Far from it. I’m sorry that it’s come to this, but I can’t have our performers distracted and bothered by...our parents.”
My jaw throbbed. “The only one who is distracted and bothered is your daughter.”
“Who, I might remind you, is now the star of our show,” Eleanor said primly. “And it is vital that she is focused and prepared. Which can only happen if she is not distracted.”
I squeezed my eyes shut. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.
“So at this point in time, I have no choice but to ban you from all theater-related activities,” Eleanor said.
I opened my eyes. “Banned?”
“I think that’s where we’re at,” Eleanor said, lifting her chin.
I blinked several times. My jaw ached. My stomach hurt.
Banned.
“You’re going to ban me?” I asked, incredulous. “Because your kid is a liar?”
Eleanor’s eyes widened. “Excuse me? Did you just call my daughter a liar? I beg your pardon!”
“You can beg whatever you want,” I told her. “But your daughter is not telling you the truth. I found her bag. I opened it to see who it belonged to. She came into the room. End of story.”
“This is just embarrassing, Daisy,” she said, holding a hand over her heart. “I’d really prefer not to have a scene. Could you please just gather your things and go?”
My chest heaved. My head hurt. And my fists were rolled into tight little balls, ready to pound Eleanor Bandersand’s face.
I glanced at the theater. I had no idea what game Madison was trying to play, but I didn’t owe her anything. We’d made a deal. I’d agreed to help her, to keep her secret. And now she was telling everyone I was a liar. I didn’t owe that dumb kid anything.
I blinked.
Which is what she was.
A kid.
Under a lot of pressure. Who was making a really poor decision.
She was just a kid.
I took a deep breath and forced my fingers to uncurl from my palms. I turned toward the theater, then walked toward the doors.
“Daisy!” Eleanor said. “Did you not hear me? I’m banning you from the theater. Please don’t make me call security.”
I stopped and turned around. “Eleanor. I’m going back in to get my computer and to get my things. Then I will leave. I will no longer be a distraction or a bother.” I looked her up and down. “And if you so much as mention any of this to my daughters, if you treat them any differently because of this, I will yank those pants all the way over your head until you suffocate.”
TWENTY EIGHT
I set the half-empty beer on the nightstand. “I’ve never been banned from anything.”
Jake sat down on the edge of the bed and pulled off his socks. “Didn’t you get banned from soccer?”
I frowned at him. “No, I was warned. They told me my cheering was too... enthusiastic.”
“Right.”
I’d waited for the girls in the car, the van idling in the parking lot of the high school, the heater running and smoke coming out of my ears. I was angry and embarrassed. My first inclination was to grab the girls and walk, but I didn’t think that was fair to them. I was being banned, not them. My issues with Eleanor and Madison weren’t theirs and I didn’t think they should be penalized for having a mother who failed to get along with the director and her prima donna daughter.
My second inclination was to go back in and tell Eleanor exactly what I’d found in Madison’s bag and how she’d begged me not to tell anyone. But I didn’t see what that would accomplish. Eleanor might not have believed me and even if she had, all it would do was create friction between her and her daughter. It wouldn’t do anything for me, other than give me the chance to prove I wasn’t lying to someone I didn’t really care about. And even though that was a little bit tempting, the whole clearing my name thing, I knew it wouldn’t solve anything. Because Eleanor wasn’t going to listen to anyone other than her daughter. And herself.
So, instead of doing those things, I’d waited on Grace and Sophie, put on a fake smile for them when then got in the van, then drove home and stomped around the house like a maniac, which caused the rest of the family to give me a wide berth. Emily had asked Jake for help with her ASL review instead of me, and Will had quickly disappeared into his bedroom. The beer on the nightstand was my second.
I ripped off my jeans and pulled on my pajama pants. “I mean, that kid out and out lied to her mother and I’m the one who’s losing out.”
“I don’t think being banned from rehearsals is all that much of a punishment,” Jake offered. “At least you don’t have to listen to Eleanor screaming.”
“It’s the idea,” I told him, pulling on an old T-shirt and sitting down on the bed. I propped myself up against the headboard. “The idea that I’ve done something wrong. The girls will find out. They’ll hear it from someone else. And it will embarrass them.” I looked at him. “And to be clear, she banned me not from rehearsals, but from the theater. Which I assume means I can’t go to the performances.”
He snorted. “Yeah, well, we’ll see about that. And you know what? Just tell the girls that you and Eleanor aren’t getting along and that you’ve decided to stay away during rehearsal time. If people say anything else to them, you can just tell them it’s gossip.”
“I’m not going to lie to them,” I said, shaking my head. “If they ask, I’m going to tell them: your psycho director has ordered me off the premises because her spoiled brat of a kid lied about me.”
Jake nodded. “Yeah. That should clear things right up for them.”
I reached for the beer. “And I’m not finishing that stupid program. I’m calling Joanne tomorrow and telling her she’s on her own.”