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Kevin and the girls watched the evening news so the girls could see their mother at least on television. Helen sent along the girls’ secret signal to let them know she was telling them she loved them and good night. After soup and sandwiches for supper, Kevin checked the girls’ homework and got things ready for the morning. Stacy went to her room to call her friends while Kimberly turned on her music and danced around in her room. The latter always triggered a bit of a confrontation, but it was brief and the girls went to their rooms and to bed without bloodshed. 

            Kevin took advantage of the time alone to sit in the spa and play some easy listening music. The warm water and soft music served to soothe his tired muscles and helped to ease his mind. Kevin could see his older daughter peeking around the curtain, a habit that had yet to die. He knew she was having trouble going to sleep and was too still a little shy about asking him if she could sit in the spa to relax. Beneath the body of a thirteen-year-old child dwelt the mind of an adult. The stress between her parents wore on her more than she would admit. Finally, she stepped onto the deck and walked over to the spa. Stacy had gotten dressed in her two-piece suit and was really hoping the neighbor’s 13-year-old son was not using his spyglass again. Gymnastics kept a lot of the body fat off of her, but she was conscious of her developing bust line. Her two piece suit showed more of her bust than she wanted any boy to see right now.  

            "Trouble going to sleep again?”

            "Yeah, just a little", she said as she slid into the water. "Dad, why does Mom stay at her office so much? Don't you two still love each other?" 

            Stacy would normally sit beside her dad and lean against him as she tried to relax. Tonight, she sat straight across from him so she could talk to him face to face. As much as she needed comfort, she had to talk first.

            "Oh, we do", he began, but she cut him off before he could finish. "Does she still love me and Kimberly?" Stacy was direct in her comments. What this child had in grace and poise, she lacked in tact. That was her father showing in her though. Direct, strong willed and get to the bottom of things quickly.

            "You shouldn't have to ask that.”

            “Well, she never does anything with us any more. She wouldn’t even come to the beach with us today and forget about her going to the gym with us. It’s been like that ever since the funeral.”

            “Your mother has a very important job. I know it keeps her away from us more than we like. Since Nana and Papa died, your Mom put more of herself into her job to help her put it behind her. You know she was anchoring the story when the second plane hit the Towers. She reported the death of her own parents without knowing it. And you know she has never really cared to spend time at the beach or the gym with us. It's nothing against you or your sister. Because of your mother’s job, she can’t get too much sun on her face and because of the way she was raised your mother doesn't think young ladies, especially her young daughters, should sweat."

             "That's silly. Everyone sweats here. The humidity is just horrible.  Nana never did mind us doing gymnastics did she?”

            “No, she never did mind it all. She would be proud of you and Kimberly right now.”

            “Even if I blow it on the bars again?” Stacy asked.

            “Still worried about the uneven bars too?”

            “I’m not worried about the bars, but that is my weakest event. I’ll work on my routines more tomorrow night and I’ll be in better control on that first release.”

            Stacy looked nervously around the back yard and over the fence which provided a degree of privacy to the deck, but not so much to the spa itself.

            “Something else on your mind?”

 “I’m just hoping Bobby has gone to bed. He gives me the creeps.”

            “Bobby, from across the back yard?”

            “He’s a pervert and a peeping Tom. Melanie says he watches all of us girls with a spyglass.”

            “Keeping your shades and curtains pulled should put an end to that, though.”

            “Dad, I’m afraid it’s worse than that. Melanie and I were out here the other day working on our tans and well, we sort of stripped all the way. The sun was really nice, and then my legs were sore from working out so we skinny dipped in here. Kimberly brought us our towels when she saw Bobby trying to spy on us again.”

            “Out here? Next time, let’s make sure we have this place a bit more secure before we try that stunt again, okay?”

            “You aren’t mad?”

            “Well, only if you two start making a habit of it. I know about the tan line thing and the leotards. That’s why I let your aunt Laura take you and Kimberly to the tanning beds.”

            “I was afraid you would be mad at us. We really meant to just lie on the sundeck and touch up our tans, but the spa felt so good after our workout we sat in here instead. Kimberly brought our towels and suits to us, so there was not much for that little pervert to see.”

            “Maybe I should talk to Bobby and his parents about this. There is such a thing as privacy.”

            “Melanie and I can handle Bobby, Dad.”

            Kevin was satisfied that the peeping tom issue would be handled in a way most beneficial to Stacy and Melanie. Had Kimberly been the target, Bobby would be in serious trouble, physically. With a slightly heavier build than most eleven year olds, Kimberly could actually take out a boy her own age and do serious harm to even a 13 year old of Bobby’s size. She also had the mindset of get even and get ahead on matters like this. She was the more athletic of the two girls and her prowess on the soccer field was nothing to ignore. This interest in cheerleading was quite a stretch for her.

            As they talked a bit more about school, church and the week’s events, Stacy began to realize how lucky she was to have two parents, even if things were not all that good between them. She could still talk to them both and they would listen to her. A lot of her friends spent weekends in different towns and they never knew when they could have sleepovers or parties and have all of their friends present.

         Stacy began to relax and started to drift off to sleep as the warm water soothed her nerves and sore muscles. Kevin noticed Stacy was much more relaxed and helped her to her feet. As always, Stacy had come to the spa prepared. Her nightclothes were hung neatly on a hook just outside the cabana. She dried off and got dressed for bed. Always the optimist, she felt much better after talking to her father. She slipped off into a night of dreamless sleep. 

            The next morning brought a sunny day, pancakes and two very rowdy young ladies who almost missed their school bus. Kevin may have had his hands full that morning, but it was a great feeling.  He spent the rest of his day off puttering around the yard and doing little things that no one but he and the yard would know that had been done.    

            The afternoon and evening routine for Mondays was pretty simple compared to the rest of the days. On Mondays they had dance class for an hour after school and then it was off to the gym for 2 hours of gymnastics training.

Helen came home to have dinner with the girls and Kevin, but it was tense at best. Things were still tense between her and Stacy. Stacy could not forgive her mother for putting her job ahead of her, but Kimberly, on the other hand, worshipped her mother. She was the face on television that always talked about what was happening in the world and their community. Kimberly was also good at getting Mom and Dad to hug and kiss when they were together and she always managed to get some of the attention turned to her as well. As the girls got ready for bed and the homework was checked, Helen turned her attention to Kevin’s job and the money they no longer had.  It was her only attack against him, and she had it pretty well polished.

            “This job pays pretty well. Houston may have paid better, but this is the better job.”

            “The better job pays the better money,” Helen protested. “We would be much better off if you had not left Houston.”

            “All we have cut were a few extras. We did not need a live in maid, that was an extra expense and you said she never cleaned well enough to suit you anyway. The gala parties you loved to throw were extras and the girls had to be out of sight and out of your hair for those. Look, what do you make three fifty, four hundred thousand? I made sixty five thousand at Houston and another thousand at HCC and I was never home. I make forty thousand a year and I am home much more for the girls. We may have taken a forty thousand dollar cut, but I still make more than most medics who work two jobs.   Look at the realities. We still have this wonderful house and it’s ours. We owe nothing on it and you get a new car whenever you want, and we don’t lack for anything.”

            “We always had plenty for those extras before”, she complained. “There is not one reason on earth why you can’t pick up that phone in the morning and be back with Houston by afternoon.”

            “There are several reasons why I can’t and even more reasons why I won’t go back there. I’m home for the girls more with this job and we are making it just fine. Your extras are just the things that couples with two active girls don’t have the time for anyway. We can’t host your society parties when the girls are away at gymnastic meets and we can’t have those opera meetings here when the girls need time with us. Being raised by the hired help is not what I want for our girls and I am surprised you would even suggest we do such a thing.”

            “Kevin, I know that money is not everything to you and I understand that. I know we are making ends meet, but look at what we could have if we weren’t living paycheck to paycheck.”

            “We would still live paycheck to paycheck, just like before. The paychecks were just bigger back then.”

            Helen could not argue that point with him. She knew he was right, and he knew he was right. He had her and the only thing she could do was what she wanted to do in the first place, the whole reason she started the fight in the first place was to get her out of the house again for the night.

            “I have to research my next assignment and do the late news tonight”, she said as she headed out the door. “I’ll call you if I’m going to be able to come home when I’m through.”

            Helen left the house and drove back to the city. She was really intending to go to the station and do research on her new assignment, but she knew that her new producer would be there, and waiting for her. She could not face him at the moment she was too confused.

            She needed some time to sort out the issues she had before her. Kevin was a great father to their children and he had always been the one who was there for the girls. She felt too distant from them. Kimberly’s hugs were mostly ill timed and Stacy was just star struck by her Dad. The girls and their Dad was how their life had been and Helen felt she was on the outside looking in most of the time.

            She knew that had it not been for Kevin taking care of the girls when they were younger she could have never managed those parties and balls she planned. Kevin, ever dutiful, was always happy to take the girls to the beach or to the park or whatever it took to keep them out from under foot when the society clubs were at their house. Kevin was also the one who made sure the sinks were unclogged and that the yard looked pristine. Kevin kept the girls when she was working on her first book and had to spend several hours a day doing research on women in journalism. He made this life possible for them all and those were things she could never ignore.   His face showed nothing but poise and confidence. She could see his face all the time, but she could not understand why she was pushing him away. She knew it wasn’t the money. They had no money troubles.

            Was she jealous of the attention the girls received from their Dad? Was she trying to make up reasons to leave Kevin? Was she still living in a state of shock from publicly losing her parents in a senseless act of violence? She didn’t know the answer to any of those questions and that made her even more confused and angry. 

Helen drove around Houston until she was almost out of gas and found herself in an area of town she had not been in for so many years she could not recall. The large neon sign outside announced ladies night and Helen needed some time to think and a little distraction. She also felt she could get some attention and maybe find out if she still had what it took to turn a stranger’s head.