Fool Me Once, page 7
“I know. I was hoping she would start to change things, but I think she’s gotten worse.”
“I think so too.” I leaned into him and put my head on his shoulder. The tension in the house was starting to get to everyone. Little things that wouldn’t have even made us blink were starting to make our skin crawl.
Then there was the fact she and Cody cut back on how much they worked even more. Three hours a night maybe three days a week. Lexi had started washing their clothes, and they stopped eating our food at all, but it still wasn’t enough. I hated lazy, and they were very lazy.
The next night when Randy and I got home from work, he went to pull into the garage and the little chair we had out there was in his spot again. I watched him get out of his car, storm into the garage, grab the chair, and toss it outside. He pulled into his spot then, and I pulled in behind him. Getting out of my car, I could see the red on his face from ten feet away. He threw the front door open and tossed his stuff on the counter before storming into Cody’s room.
“How many times do I have to tell you to move that thing out of the way before I get home. I shouldn’t have to come in and get it out of there before I can pull my car inside.”
“What are you talking about?” Cody asked.
“The chair in the garage. I know she was the one who moved it. She’s always sitting on it. I’m sick and tired of rearranging our lives for your girlfriend,” Randy shouted.
“So now you’re going to bring her into this?” Cody squealed.
“Yes. All of the crap I’ve been mad about has been 99% her fault.”
“What did I do?” Lexi asked. I could hear her voice quiver and knew she was going in for the tears any moment. If Randy kept on her, she would pull out the only card she had. The problem was, Randy already knew about her trick, and he wouldn’t fall for it.
“We’ve asked you more than once to help out around here. You have finally started paying the three hundred we asked you to pay, but that’s all you’ve done. You hardly work, you don’t clean up after yourself, you still haven’t helped replace what you take. And those things,” he said pointing at her two cats. “You don’t keep up on their litter box, and I’m sick of smelling it the second I walk in the door.”
“I do take care of them. They are in a small space, and I can’t make it smell any better.”
“No. That’s not true. We had six cats in a one bedroom, and it never smelled like that. If you were cleaning it out every day, then you wouldn’t have half a plastic bag full when you went outside. Two kittens can’t poop that much. If I find out one of them is going outside the box again, they are gone.”
“Why are you after her cats?” Cody jumped in.
“I never asked for them. None of this was supposed to be permanent. I didn’t say much when I realized she wasn’t leaving right away, but I thought she would be working to get her own place, that was what we finally agreed to after you suckered us into taking her in the first place. None of how this was handled was the right way and you know it. You stuck us in a spot that was impossible to be okay with. Now my best friend hardly speaks to me because I’m sure he thought I was on board with all of this crap from the beginning.”
“I didn’t do anything, and you guys never tell me when you’re going to the store. How can I give you anything if I don’t know?” Lexi said letting a big tear fall.
“Stop your crying. I know you fake it to get out of stuff. I’m not your dad, and it won’t bother me to see you cry,” Randy fired off.
“I’m not faking it. I just got off my period and I’m emotional,” Lexi shouted loud enough I was sure our neighbor Steve heard her.
“You’re always on the rag. What else is new? And you can give us money to help without knowing when we go to the store, or better yet, go get the stuff yourself and refill it. It’s not that hard.”
“Stop screaming at her,” Cody demanded.
I knew how fatal that comment was going to be. Randy was at his breaking point with having another person in the house that refused to do anything but take, take, take and make nothing but messes we had to clean up. Cody really needed to stay out of it and let his dad laydown the law with Lexi if he had any hopes of her staying there longer.
“You know what? I’m done. She has thirty days to get out.”
“That’s not fair. Why do you get to make that decision about us for us?” Cody asked. Lexi was still behind him crying.
I should’ve felt bad for her, but everything Randy said was right. We never asked for her to come live there, and we didn’t know they meant forever. Cody and Randy were about to have a power match and with both of them being so much alike, I was scared for how it would turn out.
Then it happened.
“You know what? You can go with her,” Randy said and slammed their door.
He walked right past me and went to our room. I wanted to follow him, but I knew he needed time to calm down before I did. He had basically just kicked our son out with his girlfriend. That wasn’t what was supposed to happen, and I wasn’t sure there was any way to save it.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
It took about a week, but things in the house seemed to calm down a little. Cody and Randy talked and came to an agreement that they could stay, but they had to help out more, and Lexi would have to start actively looking for a place to live. Randy also got after them about the cat box and told them they needed to get better litter and actually clean it out every day or the cats would have to go.
I wasn’t sure how I felt about it all. It wasn’t the first time we’d talked to them about what needed to be done around the house, and each time they did great for a few days or weeks, but it was never long before they went right back to how they were, and we were at each other’s throats again. I hoped the scare of them getting kicked out was enough to get through to them and actually have them act like adults. But I wasn’t going to hold my breath with them.
I loved Cody so much, but his grandma did a number on him. Anytime we told him no on something, she would go behind our backs and get it for him. It got to be a game with her on how much she could get him to love her more. All it taught him was someone would always be around to clean up his messes or pick up his slack. Since she’d passed away, we were still stuck with his attitude about life but without her there to cover for him.
Lexi was worse. She expected everyone to do everything for her and when we didn’t, then we were as bad as her parents. It wasn’t a good relationship for either of them, and I was so scared of how they would make it when they did move out.
Lying in bed that night, Randy and I couldn’t sleep. We knew something had to change in the house or it would slowly eat at all of us. There were days when the tension was so thick, I dreaded going home. Fighting was more than it had ever been, and we could pass by each other in the same house and not say a word.
“I don’t know what to do with them,” Randy said. “If we kick her out, then he will go with her. I don’t know how they think they can make it without us. But I don’t know how much more of her being here I can take. I told her what needed to be done for her to stay and so far, I’m not seeing much.”
“I know. They’re still eating out all the time and not helping even with the dishes they dirty. Lexi has been working more, but when you only work three hours a day, more doesn’t say a whole lot. I asked Cody this afternoon if they were looking for places for her, and he said he was trying. I don’t know what that means, but my guess is they are stalling.”
“I know. They put us in a horrible position.”
“Have you talked to her dad about all this yet? He’s your best friend and her father. I kind of feel like he should know about what’s going on.”
“I don’t know if I should. There isn’t a whole lot he can do, and I’m pretty sure he already knows his daughter is crap. I want to save what little bit of a friendship I have left with him.”
“I get that. I know she isn’t doing anything with the cats though. I saw her bring out the bag today after she cleaned it out and there had to be five days’ worth of crap in there. I think one of them is peeing in the hallway or in Cody’s room too. That’s all you smell when you go back there. If they are, I want them gone. It’s nothing against the cats, but I wouldn’t want to go to the bathroom in something that was filthy, and I don’t expect them to either. They should be with someone who will actually take care of them and not ignore their basic needs but play with them when they feel like it. I mean, they’re cats. Food, water, a clean box, and a little attention on their terms. Easiest animals ever.”
“I know. I can smell it too. All I have to say is they have two months to get their act together or she goes. I don’t care if it’s back home or somewhere here, but it will be on her own.”
“I agree.”
Cody and Lexi, mostly Lexi, had taken up so much of our conversations that I wasn’t even sure Randy and I would know what to talk about if it wasn’t them. We had no clue what was coming our way next.
Three days later, Lexi came home with a newer car.
“Where did you get that?” Randy asked when Lexi got out of her car and Cody got out of her old one.
“My dad co-signed for me. I told him my old car was falling apart and I needed something newer. I told him, he better not get me anything crappy either. Not like the last car.”
I looked at Randy and saw him look at me out of the corner of his eye. He knew exactly what I was thinking without even having to speak. She told her dad it better be a good car. How did she even have to nerve to say that to him and how did he not have balls to say no to her? It taught her nothing and only reinforced what those two were used to. If they couldn’t do it on their own, they could now call up her daddy and he would fix it for them. I was livid.
If he wanted to sit there and do everything for her while she was mooching off us and living for almost nothing under our roof, then the least he could do was get her into her own place. I felt like we were dealing with a bunch of spoiled kids who thought it was alright to bulldoze us while teaching them nothing. All I wanted was for Cody and Lexi to be able to survive on their own, and there was no way they would get that or even try hard if there was always someone there to do life for them.
I couldn’t even look at her after that. She would never get what it took to be on her own when her dad was there to shower her with whatever she wanted. Then there was the fact that we had a seventh car that had to somehow fit in our driveway. The house, and the yard, were getting crowded. I wasn’t sure how much longer I could keep my mouth shut before I exploded and pulled something like Randy had already.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Two months later
Since Lexi got her car, she’d gone back to working the bare minimum she could. It was so disheartening to learn the whole reason she was working more was to get into a vehicle and not to make her life better. Cody wasn’t working much either and that was getting to all of us. It was time for another talk, and it wouldn’t be a good one for them.
Lexi was at work that night, and Randy and I decided to give Cody a heads up first. We didn’t want to go to Lexi and have her run to Cody saying things that weren’t said. I heard her so many times telling tall tales when the truth wasn’t nearly as exciting as the lies she told. Randy and I had talked about it a lot, and we were sure we’d come up with a solution for everyone.
“Hey, bud, can you come out here for a minute?” Randy asked him. He sat on the couch next to me, and Cody stood in front of the TV. “Sit down.”
“I think I’ll stand. If you called me out here, it can’t be for anything good.”
“Depends on how you look at it. I’m going to talk to Lexi, but I wanted to talk to you first.”
“Here we go,” Cody moaned.
“Nothing has changed with her being here, and you know it. We’re giving her six months to get her stuff together and get into her own place. She still isn’t helping at all, and she isn’t doing any of the things we’ve asked her to do. She isn’t our kid, and it isn’t fair for you two to expect us to take care of her too.”
“Well, then I’m out in six months too.”
“You don’t have to leave, Cody,” I said.
He glared at me, and his bottom lip started to shake. I watched him try to collect himself before trying to talk, and it was breaking my heart. I knew it was what we had to do, but it hurt watching him hurt.
“If she goes, I go.”
“That’s your choice. You’re an adult, and we can’t stop you from doing what you want, but she can’t stay here anymore. Your grandpa doesn’t even want her here. It’s time. We’ve been patient and given her so many chances, but it isn’t working.”
“Whatever. I have to go now.”
“Sit down and talk to us,” Randy ordered.
“There’s nothing left to say. We’ll be out of here in six months. I’m getting food.”
He stormed out of the house and got into his car. We heard him fire it up and go flying down the road. Randy and I looked at each other, and the pain was visible in both of our faces. Having Lexi move in was literally ripping our family apart, and there was nothing we could do about it. The only way to make Cody happy was to let her stay, but that was making the rest of the house miserable. She was almost twenty-three and yet she was acting like a child. It wasn’t fair to us, and we weren’t going to put up with it anymore.
Cody must have told her about what we said because she was in her car right behind Cody when he came back from getting tacos. Both of them walked past us without saying a word. The air was so cold, I was sure we were getting frostbite.
That was how it went for the next two months. Not much was said between any of us, and if we did speak, it was like a conversation with a co-worker. Nothing was the same, and I hated it. But, in his usual fashion, we were sidelined by someone else.
“Want to see what we just got?” Cody asked when I got out of my car after work that day.
“Sure.” He seemed happy for the first time since we’d told him his girlfriend had six months to move out.
He flipped his phone around and showed me a fifth wheel trailer. It wasn’t bad looking, but I was in shock and didn’t really look too close to it. I thought he was kidding me, but then he started to talk.
“We’re moving into it on Sunday,” he said.
“This Sunday? Like right before Thanksgiving? That Sunday? And why? We said she had six months.”
“Yep. I know, but why drag it out?”
“How did you guys get this? You hardly work, and neither of you have a way to secure anything like this.”
“Lexi’s dad bought it for us. We already have a trailer park to set it up at, and I rented a trailer to take all our stuff there. I didn’t see the point in waiting.”
“Wait, her dad bought this?”
“Yep.”
“So, you two aren’t learning anything then? He will always be there to bail you out of whatever mess you two land in. Good to know. Well, he can pay your bills too when you can’t.”
“That isn’t fair.”
“Life isn’t fair. Sooner or later, you will learn that.”
When Randy got home and learned the news about our kid, he didn’t say a word. That was almost worse than if he would’ve lost his mind. The way he got so silent I knew he was hurting. Cody was our first kid to move out, and the way he was doing it wasn’t a way that we could celebrate or be happy about. They didn’t work toward it or do it on their own. If they would’ve done that, we both would’ve been so proud of them. Having someone else get it for them and having them continue to play house while having others do the adulting, it was another slap in the face.
Randy didn’t stay quiet with his best friend or me though. He let her dad know right away what he thought about him buying them a trailer to live in. His friend hadn’t thought about all of it before he went ahead and undid everything we were trying to accomplish. He thought moving her out would help us, and in a way it would, but we wanted them to learn what it was like to do it on their own and to actually work toward something,
They had all their stuff packed, and soon it was moving day. Tears were shed but not by Cody. He seemed excited to go and live in the camper. Two trips to the trailer park and the last of their things were loaded into their cars.
“You don’t have to do this,” I said to Cody when he came to give me a hug.
“You guys made me do this. You know I love her, and I wasn’t going to let her go alone.”
“I don’t think you get it yet, but I hope you do someday. I love you.”
“Love you too,” was all he said. It wasn’t much of anything, and it was cold. I was sure he was blaming me for her having to leave, and I was alright with that. At least it might save the little relationship he still had with his dad.
Randy said his goodbyes to Cody too, but I couldn’t hear what they talked about. It was short, and Cody was heading to the front door.
“Bye,” Lexi said coming up with the kennel holding her cats.
“Bye,” I said sharply at her.
“Want a hug?” she asked.
“I’m good. Be safe and enjoy your dad’s camper.”
“Thanks.”
I watched them get into their cars and start to drive away. There was a piece of me leaving, and I was terrified for how he would do life on his own. Randy wrapped his arm around my shoulder and pulled me into him.
“It’ll be okay, honey. If – when – he falls on his face, we will be there for him and help him get back up.”
“Him, yes. Her, she is on her own. Her daddy can fix her life.”
“I agree.”
EPILOGUE
Six months later
They’ve been living on their own for a while, and life in our house had calmed down. We still worry about him every day and can clearly see how toxic their relationship is, but we’ve learned that saying anything about it only pushes him farther away. We have to keep our mouths shut and watch as he figures it out on his own. When it falls apart and they wake up to what life is really like, Randy and I will be there for him and help him get on the right track.
