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"Now." Her voice was stern.
Lilly stopped, turned around, and looked to Laurel for help.
"I think you better show her, Lil," Laurel said quietly.
Lilly looked horrified, betrayed. "You can't tell me what to do!" she protested loudly.
"I thought you were my friend." She ran out of the door and slammed it behind her.
Claudia started to go after her daughter.
"Let her cool down, Claudia. Teenagers need to be allowed to have outbursts without
being scolded for it."
"I will not condone the way she spoke to you." Her face was red with anger.
Laurel went to Claudia and rested her arms across Claudia s shoulders. "She has a
lot to cope with right now. You. Me. Hormones. I'm sure it all gets pretty confusing
to her."
Claudia s eyes softened. "I suppose you're right. But if this is a taste of the rest of
her teen years, I don't think I'll survive."
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Laurel felt like saying, `You ain't seen nothing, hon.' But she held her tongue, not
wanting to reveal just how critical of Claudia she suddenly felt. In so many ways her
wealth and privileged lifestyle kept her in a cocoon from the real world, where kids
and parents had to cope with harsh and sometimes catastrophic realities.
"You'll survive," she finally said. "And so will Lilly."
Claudia put her hands around Laurel s waist and stroked her back. "How do you do
it week after week with all those groups of young boys and girls who invade the
center on an annual basis?"
"It helps to remind myself that I'm the adult and that they're the kid. Besides, it's a
teenager's obligation to make parents, and adults in general, miserable."
"I'll try to remember that the next time Lilly lips off." Claudia bent down and
brushed Laurel s mouth with hers. "Speaking of lips. Are you ready to give me a kiss
yet?"
Laurel answered by holding Claudia s head in just the right position so that
Claudia s mouth molded to hers. Then she let her tongue find Claudia s, making
hers soft and slippery against Claudia s gentle thrusts. Laurel s veins started to
tingle as if they carried electricity rather than blood. How could such a simple act
have such a far reaching effect?
Laurel slowly released Claudia. "We have a walk to take," she said breathlessly.
"And you and I have a teenager to make up with."
The rest of the evening was very relaxed and pleasant, although Lilly remained
sullen for the most part of it. The three of them shared lobsters and clams and
various other seafood delicacies. Afterwards they strolled down main street, window
shopping along with the hordes of other tourists out to enjoy the brisk night air. The
next morning they woke up at dawn in order to get to Dennis in time to catch the
first fishing boat out.
"Are you sure this is absolutely necessary?" Claudia complained yet again after they
had spent an hour powering out to one of the fishing reefs, along with thirty other
tourists packed shoulder to shoulder on the boat. This time she was holding a small
piece of clam daintily between her thumb and forefinger, looking very much like a
proper English lady holding a teacup.
"You can't catch a fish without bait," Laurel admonished through a grin.
"Can't I hire someone to do it for me?"
"You mean to put the bait on the hook or to catch the fish?" Laurel asked, nudging
Lilly to join in.
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"Both," Claudia said, wrinkling her nose as she pricked the tip of the clam with the
large deep-sea hook. "Yuk!"
Lilly giggled as she watched her mother contend with the slimy morsel of bait.
"Now what?" Claudia said proudly, brandishing her baited hook in the air for Laurel
and Lilly to see.
"Now you toss the line overboard and release the tension on the reel." Laurel
sounded very much like a first grade teacher. "Good," she added when Claudia
followed her instructions flawlessly.
"This is easy," Claudia said smugly as her line sank toward the ocean floor.
"Not so fast!" Lilly yelled, but she was a little too late. Suddenly her mother's reel
stopped spinning and her hand was covered in loops of tangled fishing line.
"You didn't tell me speed was to be factored into this equation."
Laurel shook her head and turned to Lilly. "Your mother is hopeless. Next time we
take her fishing let's make sure she's standing next to a trout tank at some fancy
French restaurant." [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]