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Despite her catching and landing that perfectly, Lizzy’s eyes are still on me, giving me a once-over that tells me she still doesn’t really buy our little ruse. We’re pulling into her mom’s driveway, though, and I’m hopeful that that’s going to give me the break I need.
“No problem. Hey! I’ll call you back. I’m in the driveway to drop her off.”
“Sounds good. Talk to you in a few.” Madison disconnects the call, and I look to Lizzy.
“Text me if you need anything, okay? I’ll still be around.” I see Lizzy’s mom in the doorway and I leave it up to her if she wants to chat about this in front of Lizzy.
“But you’ll be busy.” Lizzy’s eyes are on me and mine soften as I look back at her. I feel like I’m disappointing her. I want to explain everything so she knows I’m not just ditching her tonight, but I want her parents to have the say in how much she knows.
“Yes, but I’m never too busy for you, and you know I want to help with this. So if you need anything, text me.” I make a face, letting her know I mean business, and she nods.
“All right. I hope whatever’s going on with your client gets resolved.”
“Thank you. Have a good one at your mom’s.”
Lizzy hops out of the car and waves before she goes up the driveway. I watch her pause and talk to her mom at the doorway. She ushers her inside, and then her mom walks down the steps and heads toward the car. My stomach tumbles, and my nerves start because I’ve only had brief interactions with Lizzy’s mom so far, and this seems like a terrible time for us to have our first real conversation.
“Hi,” she says flatly as she approaches the car, a small smile appearing and fading almost immediately.
“Hi. I’m so sorry to bring Lizzy by so abruptly. I hope Cooper had a chance to explain.”
“He told me the basics. I’m honestly really frightened for Lizzy, and I just wanted to make sure to say that I hope the two of you will communicate with me more freely in the future. Cooper and I have had a really good run of co-parenting, and I hate to see that breaking down now. I understand you might have privacy concerns, but nothing should be trumping Lizzy’s safety.”
“Oh, I’m not sure what he told you, but we didn’t know any of these details until today. The second he told me what was happening, I got Lizzy out of there.”
“You had no idea you were having these problems before? Someone just installed cameras in the house out of nowhere?”
“Well, no, we had cameras installed as a security measure after some strange things happened. We thought that and the extra security around the house would help if he had an overexuberant fan. Cooper told me he’d explained that to you.”
“Cooper told me you were having issues that required extra security. That there had been social media messages, which I understand can happen with people of your celebrity, but I didn’t realize you two believed there was a physical threat at the house. I would have insisted Lizzy stay with me until you resolved it.”
I open my mouth to speak and then close it again. I’m not sure what to say, and the last thing I want to do is get between Cooper and her on how they handle Lizzy and her safety.
“I’m sorry for anything I’ve done to make you feel that way. I will talk to Cooper when he’s home, and hopefully, this will all be over soon.”
“Tell Cooper to call me when he gets home. I need to make plans if she needs to stay with me for the foreseeable future. I also need reassurance that my daughter isn’t on any of these cameras in a way that’s going to endanger her or her future. I need that to be higher on his priority list than it seems to be at the moment.”
“I’ll tell him.”
“Thanks for bringing Lizzy home.”
I nod at her, and she turns and walks back up the driveway. I let out a long sigh and let my head hit the back of the seat as I try to let my nerves return to normal. I’m not cut out for this; being in the middle of parental arrangements and feeling like I’m the asshole when I’ve been trying to do everything right. If I’m the reason Lizzy was put in danger, I’ll never be able to live with myself.
By the time I get to Madison’s house, I’m in tears. She pulls me inside and wraps her arms around me, giving me a tight hug before she leads me into the living room and has me sit down. The game’s playing on the TV in the background, but it’s muted. I have to stare out the window because I can’t bear to see Cooper right now.
“What do you want to drink? Wine? Iced tea? Something stronger?”
“Just some tea, maybe.”
Madison disappears into her kitchen for a few moments and reappears with two glasses of tea before she sits down across from me. The look on her face is thoughtful, but I can tell she’s worried.
“Do you want to talk or just sit for a bit?”
“I just came from dropping Lizzy off. Her mom is furious. I think she blames me, and I don’t know that she’s wrong.”
“Oh, Bea, you can’t blame yourself for this.”
“I mean, whatever’s happening… it’s because of me. It wasn’t happening to Cooper before. It’s obvious whoever is doing this doesn’t want me with him. They’ve done everything they can to make that happen, and now they’re going to hurt everyone else around us. Can you imagine being Lizzy right now? Her mom is going to have to explain to her. I’m sure it’s going to be the talk of school tomorrow.”
