“I told you, nothing is going on between Paige and Sandy.” I could hear my voice rising a register, making me sound petulant and childlike.
“Sandy? Who the hell is Sandy?”
“Coach Dalton. Sandra Dalton.”
“And how could you possibly know she isn’t molesting your daughter? They have pictures, Melanie!”
“I’ve seen the pictures, Mother. There’s nothing incriminating about them.”
“You’ve seen them?! You knew about this? And how could you possibly be sure there isn’t something going on?”
“I just know.” My voice was small, my spirit shrinking under my mother’s angry gaze.
“Know? You don’t know anything, Melanie. For crying out loud! They could be doing God knows what and you wouldn’t have the first clue!”
“You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Then inform me. Enlighten me as to how you, sitting on your fat ass in this house all day, have any idea about who your daughter is fucking.”
That startled me. Mom didn’t swear often. She considered it uncouth and lowbrow. That made it all the more effective when she did. I managed to squeak out, “Because I know.”
“You know. You know what?” I’d never seen her eyes so fierce. “Tell me now, young lady.”
“Sandy isn’t after Paige. She’s, I mean, we’re, um.” I took a deep breath, all my insecurities roaring back. “She’s, um, she and I are… together.”
My mother looked at me with disgust and shame. “What?!”
She wasn’t going to do this. She wasn’t going to take away the one beautiful thing, other than my children, that I had in my life.
“Sandy and I are seeing each other. She loves me, not Paige.” My voice cracked as I said it. Saying it out loud, it showed how little I believed it myself. When I was in her arms, looking into her eyes it was so obvious, so clear the way she felt. But now, in the presence of the woman who’d made me feel unworthy from childhood, I questioned everything.
My mother’s expression told me everything, that I was the stupidest, most gullible person who had ever lived. “You honestly believe that? You think she has any interest in you?” Her voice sneered through the last word. “Do you have any idea what women like that are like? How they think? Did you even consider that she might be pretending to be interested in you to get access to Paige? God, Melanie, use your brain and go look in a mirror, preferably at the same time.”
My mother went over to my dining table and sat down, putting her hand to her forehead. My eyes were burning with tears.
“You understand your brother’s campaign is just getting going. This type of scandal could cost him everything. The only chance I see is playing the victim. John can rail against allowing groomers and perverts in our schools. So you, first of all, are never going to see that woman again, and you are going to call that principal and demand that she be fired immediately.”
“I already told him nothing happened.”
“Tell him you were wrong. That Paige told you everything.”
“It’d be a lie!”
“I doubt that. Even if she hasn’t done it yet she will, because you, my dear, won’t ever be enough for her. And you know that. You weren’t enough for your husband, Melanie, and you haven’t had a sniff from any other man on earth in a decade. Now a former Olympian wants to grapple with your disgusting,” she didn’t finish the thought, just waving at my body. “I’m sure she could smell you from a mile away. So desperate for any human contact that you’d be receptive to literally anyone, giving her free access to your star-struck daughter. I’ve seen the way Paige talks about her.” Mother wagged a finger at me. “And that’s another thing, you need to have a talk with that girl. If she is that way inclined she better stop. If she embarrasses this family I will see she is cut off. There are no gays in our family, and that goes for both of you. You know Bill will take the boys for this.”
“He would not!” My voice was scared and almost hysterical as tears streamed down my. “You can’t lose your kids for that.”
“No, but you can for bringing a pervert into your home. And that is what she is. That’s all anyone will see, and if you defend her, people will look at you as the most gullible sap in North Carolina, and the worst mother ever.” Mother shook her head and stood up. “Oh, stop blubbering, Melanie.” She shouldered her purse. “I have to go meet with you brother, and we need to get his publicist involved, to get them ready for this. You make that call.”
“No.”
She’d already been heading for the door when I said it. I wasn’t sure I’d been loud enough to be heard, but with the way Mother froze in her tracks I knew I had been. “Excuse me, young lady?”
“I said no. I’m not making that call. Sandy loves me. She wants me, not my daughter.” I wish I could tell you that my voice was strong, unwavering, but it wasn’t. I fought for every word, literally sick to my stomach with worry. What if I were wrong?
No, I wasn’t going to think like that. Sandy did love me. And I tried to stand as tall as I could. I’d passed my mom in height at age fifteen, but she’d still always seemed, I don’t know, ‘larger than life’ feels so cliched, but it fits. So when she rounded on me my first instinct was to cower. But instead I imagined what Sandy would do. She wouldn’t back down; she’d stand tall, confident.
“You will do as you’re told, Melanie Sullivan. Your brother has everything riding on this election, and you won’t screw this up for the family.”
“So I’m supposed to do what? Sacrifice my happiness for a family that doesn’t care about me!?”
“And whose fault is that? You could have been the wife of a partner in one the oldest and most important firms in Raleigh. Then I could have got you onto boards and councils that actually matter. You could have mattered! But no, you decided to embarrass your family and drive your husband into the arms of another woman. And then you sit here and wallow in your own filth, and you expect me to care about your happiness? Why?”
“Because you’re my mother!” I almost screamed the last at her before dissolving into tears. My mother’s only response was a disgusted groan as I sank down into a chair, sobbing.
“You end this relationship now, or when Bill comes for the boys you won’t get any support from us. You won’t be able to afford to fight him. And it would be best if Paige were seen with a young man, to head off any rumors about her.”
I stared up at her through a haze of tears, my face an ugly visage of misery and anger. But as strong as my feelings were, they were impotent, and we both knew it. “Get out.”
Mother didn’t argue, just turning and heading out through the back door. I let myself cry at the dining room table for about ten minutes before I made myself stop. I grabbed the paper, which was still folded to the article about Sandy. I read it again, slowly this time. It noted that the reporter had reached out to Principal Harrison who ‘was not immediately available for comment.’ I was just wondering what, exactly, that meant when my phone buzzed with an unknown number. Normally I wouldn’t answer, but today was, well, different.
“Hello?”
A perky female voice sounded on the other end. “Melanie Pierson?”
“This is.”
“Hi, thanks for speaking with me. This is Holly Summerer from Channel Eleven Eyewitness News.”
Holly’s was the first call of the afternoon, but it wasn’t the last. I did manage to get a call in to Patrick Harrison. He told me the News and Observer’s ‘attempts’ to get a statement from him had consisted of a voice mail left at his office on Sunday morning. “I talked to them today, though, informing them that I conducted an investigation and determined that there was no inappropriate relationship, with no wrongdoing by anyone involved. I don’t think that’s what they wanted to hear.”
It wasn’t until after four that I was able to talk to Sandy, while she was driving to the school for practice. “I’m going to have to say something to the girls. Better to get ahead of it I think.”
I let out a bitter laugh. “Might be too late for that.”
“Yeah, maybe. You should come, though. It’s better not to hide away. And something tells me there’ll be more parents at practice than usual. It’s up to you what you want to tell them.”
“I want to tell them everything. But I haven’t told you about my mom’s visit.” My voice cracked a little as I said it, recalling the horrible things she’d said to me.
“Sweetie, I’m sorry, I just got to the school, and I have to get inside. How ’bout I pick up some takeout after practice and we can talk. My treat.”
“Okay. I love you.”
“I love you, too. My beautiful Melanie. See you soon.”
I let myself have a little cry after we hung up, but I took some time to dress and put my face on before heading to practice. I picked up Charlie from his tech club and Will was sitting on a bench outside, scrolling through his phone.
“Debate go okay, sweetheart?”
“Yeah, mom. I’m just going to hang around out here, if that’s okay.”
“Sure, it won’t be too long.” Charlie joined his brother in the fall sunshine as I headed inside.
It was almost comical, watching the murmuring and muttering come to a sudden, nervous halt as I approached the other parents present. Sandy had been dead on, as there were at least twice as many of them as usual. Even though the article hadn’t given her name, it had identified her as being over eighteen, which meant there weren’t more than three girls on the team it could have been, and with Paige being the team captain, if her name hadn’t come up I’d, well, of course it had come up.
“Melanie.” Every set of eyes on the bleachers were on me as Renee Perry said my name.
“Gee, whatever could all y’all have been talking about?” My voice was thick with sarcasm, and I stared down Renee Perry as I continued closer.
“Terrible business, isn’t it?” Renee’s eyes were a warning, one I was sick of heeding.
“I doubt you think so, seeing as you’re the one who started all this.”
“Me? I’m not the one who was fooling around with one of her players.”