Episode 56 - Parenting

"Unbelievable!" Shayna complained as she hung up the phone.

When Andrew scowled but didn't look up from his newspaper, Shayna continued anyway.

"Lawrence says he's not going to pursue the Vince issue anymore. I can't believe he's just going to let this stand."

"Good," Andrew said firmly as he tossed the paper aside.

"Are you still mad about this?" she scoffed. "Look, maybe I should have discussed the vote with you first. I just assumed we would be on the same page."

"Well, you assumed wrong. I don't support what you are doing at all."

"Seriously? You think it's okay to have a criminal element in our neighborhood around your daughter and my son?"

"Criminal element?" Andrew scoffed. "Don't you think you're blowing this out of proportion? What did Vince do anyway? He painted on some walls and he happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time which attracted some media attention."

"And the alcohol at the Halloween party."

"Oh! How could I have forgotten the alcohol at the Halloween party?" he said mockingly.

"Andrew, this is serious! It was your daughter that was given the spiked drink. I would think you would be more concerned."

"She did the right thing and didn't drink it. No harm was done."

"It could have been. Who knows who that boy was that sneaked in and gave it to her. He could have been anyone and Vince was the one who let him in. The boy is a menace and he should be out of here."

"You don't even know any of that for sure," Andrew pointed out. "And even if he was a friend of Vince's, he doesn't deserve to be kicked out of his home because of it. They're just kids, doing the kinds of reckless things that kids do."

"Not my kid."

"Well, then, you're lucky."

"See, that's the problem," Shayna latched on to that thought. "You think it's just luck, but it's not. I work hard every day to make sure Julian knows right from wrong, to make sure that he stays away from bad influences, and that he knows how to stand up and make good choices. That kind of integrity isn't innate. It's learned. You can't just let your kid raise themself, do whatever they want whenever they want, and expect them to somehow, magically, completely by luck, turn out to be a good kid and a productive, successful adult. It takes vigilance and discipline, something you clearly don't value or understand."

Andrew could feel his temper rise as it was clear that Shayna wasn't just talking about Vince anymore. "I clearly don't, huh? That's how you feel?"

"Don't take it personally," she said with a dismissive wave.

"I don't see how else I'm supposed to take that."

"Well, if you think the shoe fits, then maybe it wouldn't hurt to think about your parenting. You're fairly new to this. Maybe you should take my lead on this since I've had more experience with being a full-time parent."

"Because you always have to take the lead on everything," Andrew complained. "I stood back and let you take charge when it came to Julian because he's your son and you have your way of raising him and that's fine, but that doesn't mean you have the only say on everything else. You can run your own life, but you have no right to try to run everyone else's."

As Andrew opened the door to storm out, he found himself face to face with Amanda who had her hand poised to knock.

"Hello," she called out in a singsong voice, trying to ease the tension that she was walking into. "I'm back!"

"We weren't expecting you," Shayna said with forced politeness. She looked at Andrew, "Were we?"

"No, I know you weren't," Amanda explained. "Ben's project wrapped up earlier than expected and I thought I'd surprise Meghan."

When she heard her mother's voice, Meghan ran in from the other room to greet her with a hug.

"I'm so glad to see you. Did you miss me?" Amanda asked.

"I did," Meghan said. "I'm glad to see you too."

"I'm sure you are," Amanda muttered as she looked over at Shayna and Andrew pointedly. Shayna busied herself in the kitchen and Andrew lingered nearby, still anxious to get away from Shayna. "Well, I have good news. I'm going to be back in town, so we're going to be seeing a lot more of each other."

After getting approval to take Meghan out for the afternoon, Amanda walked with her daughter out to her car.

"Your dad and Shayna were really going at it. Do they fight like that a lot?"

"No," Meghan said. "Hardly ever. I mean, sometimes they disagree, but I never heard them like that."

"I'm glad it's not a regular thing you've had to put up with," Amanda said relieved. She had been standing at the door long enough to hear some of their argument and while she was intrigued, she hated to think her daughter had been exposed to fighting in the home. "I'll have to talk to your dad about it first, but once Ben and I find a new place and get settled you can come and live with us if you want."

"Maybe," Meghan said hesitantly. "I'd rather live with you than Shayna for sure, but I'd hate to leave my friends here."

"You want to invite one of your friends to hang out with us this afternoon? I was thinking about stopping by Alma's before we go. Maybe Judith might want to join us."

"That would be okay," Meghan agreed.

* * * * *

"Alma? Look at you!" Amanda greeted her sister as she opened the door. She had been planning to show off her tan and the great time she had on her recent trip, but she was stunned to see her sister so changed from the last time she saw her. "You've really had a glow-up. You didn't look this young twenty years ago! What have you been doing with yourself?"

"Just the usual. Taking care of the family. Working."

"Well, whatever it is suits you. I credit having a younger man in my life for making me look and feel young, but I know that's not the case for you, that is, unless you traded Ed in for a younger man," she laughed.

Alma looked stunned. For a moment she was flustered. "Of course not."

As they sat down and Alma prepared some refreshments, Amanda gushed about her trip, the sights she saw and her relationship with Ben.

"Of course he was busy working a lot with his research, but I didn't mind exploring the islands on my own and working on my tan. And in the evenings we would find some new fabulous place to have dinner and take romantic moonlit walks on the beach." She sighed. "I'm going to miss the beaches and the warm weather, but I'm glad his work has brought him back here so I can be with my Meggy again." She smiled at her daughter. "I can't wait for you to meet him, Alma. We'll all have to get together for dinner one evening soon."

"We'll try. My evenings have been pretty busy lately as I have been coproducing the high school play," Alma paused, hoping Amanda would ask more about her play or her job, but she did not.

"Well, give me a call if you do have some free time to get together," Amanda said as she started to rise from her seat. "We really should be going. I promised Meghan we'd go shopping and grab a bite. I just wanted to stop by and say hello. Oh, and see if Judith wanted to come with us."

"Judith can't come. She's grounded."

Suddenly interested and no longer in a hurry, Amanda sat back down. "Judith grounded? What for?"

"It's because of a boy," Alma answered tersely.

Amanda gasped. "What were she and this boy doing?"

"Walking and talking together in the hallway at school," Meghan scoffed. "I doubt they even held hands."

"Really?" she looked at Alma. "That's it?"

"Judith knows she's not allowed to date yet."

"Not even if they don't even go on a date outside of school? Alma, you are so old-fashioned."

"You think so, but Ed and I were right to stick by our rules. The boy is a lot older than Judith. He's a senior, he's always in some kind of trouble, and he's probably not going to graduate. We would be happy if she didn't see him again."

"Oh my god," Judith said as she stormed into the kitchen. "Is that why you and Dad voted to make Vince move away?"

"Judith, I know you don't see it now, but you would be a lot better off away from him," Alma insisted.

"I can't believe this! How could you do this to Vince and Maura? They're my friends. This is-" She was so angry she could hardly speak. "Vince wasn't even really my boyfriend! We made the whole thing up. It was all pretend. And you not only ground me for it, but you try to ruin his life too and all for nothing."

"So you lied to us about that as well?"

"Yes. Want to add more time to my grounding for that too?" Judith shouted. "This is unreal. You are so over the top. I'm never going to forgive you for this."

As Judith stormed back to her room, Amanda realized the show was over and decided to make a hasty retreat. As she was walking back to her car with Meghan she was left feeling kind of smug about the good relationship she had with her daughter.