Family Dynamics (Pam of Babylon Book Five) by Suzanne Jenkins Page A
Authors: Suzanne Jenkins
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home and start investigating.
The horrendous traffic flowed out of the Jersey side of the Lincoln tunnel. Once they were on the turnpike, John could relax and start interrogating his wife.
“So did you know those two were homos?” he asked, looking over at her. She wanted to ignore him, to tell him he was an ignorant asshole, how the hell would she know? But she fought the urge, and although she felt like the air had been sucked out of the car, she smiled at him sweetly.
“No John, Deborah didn’t say anything to me about their sexual orientation. Young people take those things in stride now days.” The minute the words were out of her mouth, she regretted it.
“That’s a crock of shit,” he said, exploding. “We raised her in church. She knows it’s a sin not to be taken lightly. I should have insisted that she go to the church school and not that liberal Friend’s School piece of garbage. I blame you for that mistake. No wonder she’s accepted those reprobates and that frizzy-haired hippy as her parents.” Beverly looked over at her husband, not understanding how he could fail to see the hypocrisy in what he’d just said.
“What’s a crock of shit, John? That we raised her in the church? Or that she is a lovely young woman who doesn’t judge others because they don’t think exactly like she does?” Beverly didn’t like starting fights while John drove, but it was too late. Better to get the issues out in the open before they got home and exposed Greg to this squabble. They’d adopted Deborah doing the best they could for her, and now she was grown up and decent—maybe not exactly what John wanted by living in sin with Zach and not coming home for the summer. But she’d looked for her birth parents with Beverly and John’s blessing and wanted them all to meet. Whether that was Deborah’s idea or someone else’s was not important. What mattered was that she included them in her plans. But Beverly wasn’t going to bring it up with John. In his current mood, he’d fail to see the positive in anything their daughter did.
He didn’t answer her.
Beverly loved John, and if they’d lived in a vacuum all their lives, they’d been fine with nothing to fight about. She thought the way a couple dealt with stress defined what kind of relationship they had. She also felt like they were always headed for divorce court.
Chapter 14
A fter Steve Marks so kindly drove Carolyn Fitzsimmons back to her home in Queens, she made it up to her room before her mother and father came out of their apartment. The feeling that she was a teen again and not a middle-aged woman approaching seniorhood made her nervous and angry. If her mother dared to say anything to her about going out after work last night, she wouldn’t hold back. She needed some privacy if she was going to get on with her life.
Saturdays were always a crap shoot for Carolyn. She was supposed to have her boys until Monday morning. However, they often didn’t want to see her. June would call, which really pissed Carolyn off; it was something Frank should do. She debated telling her lawyer to address it. So June would call first thing in the morning and say something like, “Scott has a soccer game this morning, and of course you’re welcome to come, but he wants to go to Six Flags afterward” or “Danny has friends here from a sleepover last night. It would be rude if he left.” If Carolyn refused, she’d be the mean old mom who thwarted the amusement-park plans or ruined their sleepover. Seening her children was getting to be such a problem she almost stopped. But she was afraid that if she allowed them to get away with it, soon there would be a petition from the court that stated that since she didn’t take advantage of her visitation, she was in danger of losing it. She thought about what the day would be like if she didn’t have to worry about the boys. She’d be free to run errands without arguing with them to come with her. If they
The horrendous traffic flowed out of the Jersey side of the Lincoln tunnel. Once they were on the turnpike, John could relax and start interrogating his wife.
“So did you know those two were homos?” he asked, looking over at her. She wanted to ignore him, to tell him he was an ignorant asshole, how the hell would she know? But she fought the urge, and although she felt like the air had been sucked out of the car, she smiled at him sweetly.
“No John, Deborah didn’t say anything to me about their sexual orientation. Young people take those things in stride now days.” The minute the words were out of her mouth, she regretted it.
“That’s a crock of shit,” he said, exploding. “We raised her in church. She knows it’s a sin not to be taken lightly. I should have insisted that she go to the church school and not that liberal Friend’s School piece of garbage. I blame you for that mistake. No wonder she’s accepted those reprobates and that frizzy-haired hippy as her parents.” Beverly looked over at her husband, not understanding how he could fail to see the hypocrisy in what he’d just said.
“What’s a crock of shit, John? That we raised her in the church? Or that she is a lovely young woman who doesn’t judge others because they don’t think exactly like she does?” Beverly didn’t like starting fights while John drove, but it was too late. Better to get the issues out in the open before they got home and exposed Greg to this squabble. They’d adopted Deborah doing the best they could for her, and now she was grown up and decent—maybe not exactly what John wanted by living in sin with Zach and not coming home for the summer. But she’d looked for her birth parents with Beverly and John’s blessing and wanted them all to meet. Whether that was Deborah’s idea or someone else’s was not important. What mattered was that she included them in her plans. But Beverly wasn’t going to bring it up with John. In his current mood, he’d fail to see the positive in anything their daughter did.
He didn’t answer her.
Beverly loved John, and if they’d lived in a vacuum all their lives, they’d been fine with nothing to fight about. She thought the way a couple dealt with stress defined what kind of relationship they had. She also felt like they were always headed for divorce court.
Chapter 14
A fter Steve Marks so kindly drove Carolyn Fitzsimmons back to her home in Queens, she made it up to her room before her mother and father came out of their apartment. The feeling that she was a teen again and not a middle-aged woman approaching seniorhood made her nervous and angry. If her mother dared to say anything to her about going out after work last night, she wouldn’t hold back. She needed some privacy if she was going to get on with her life.
Saturdays were always a crap shoot for Carolyn. She was supposed to have her boys until Monday morning. However, they often didn’t want to see her. June would call, which really pissed Carolyn off; it was something Frank should do. She debated telling her lawyer to address it. So June would call first thing in the morning and say something like, “Scott has a soccer game this morning, and of course you’re welcome to come, but he wants to go to Six Flags afterward” or “Danny has friends here from a sleepover last night. It would be rude if he left.” If Carolyn refused, she’d be the mean old mom who thwarted the amusement-park plans or ruined their sleepover. Seening her children was getting to be such a problem she almost stopped. But she was afraid that if she allowed them to get away with it, soon there would be a petition from the court that stated that since she didn’t take advantage of her visitation, she was in danger of losing it. She thought about what the day would be like if she didn’t have to worry about the boys. She’d be free to run errands without arguing with them to come with her. If they
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