"Yep, I'll be up in a bit." He tells me and I'm wondering if he's going to say something to my mom? I don't want to talk to her just yet, especially as I'm so emotional. Tomorrow after I take Lacey to the airport I'll talk to her, we'll clear the air and everything will be okay.
I turn on my heel and walk past both Mom and Harrison, I wonder how long they've been listening for?
"Tina, leave her for tonight, you heard her, she's hurting. You'll only make things worse between you." Harrison tells her and I don't stop, I walk toward the stairs.
"She hates me." Mom says but I don't, right
now I feel as though I don't know her anymore.
"She feels betrayed." Hudson's deep voice causes me to falter on the step, I carry on walking up them, but listen to what Hudson's saying. "She's right. Look around this house. There's not one picture of Mia's father, nor is there a picture of Mom."
"Son, we're starting a new life together. One where we're putting the past behind us." Harrison says and I sit on the top step and listen, as soon as I do, a door opens behind me. Glancing behind me, I realize that it’s Lacey’s door that’s open.
"Does that include your children?" God, Hudson sounds angry.
"You okay?" I ask her as she sits beside me on the step.
She shrugs, her eyes red from crying. No she's not, but she will be.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Mom asks, her voice a shrill sound. She doesn't like Hudson and I'm curious as to why? As far as I know she only met him the night of their party. He's not done anything to warrant her not liking him.
Lacey lays her head against my shoulder and I wrap my arm around her. Pain hitting me as she begins to weep quietly against me. I wish I could help her but I can't. There's nothing I can do other than be here for her, offering her support.
"It means, this big pretentious house and not one picture of your daughter. Plenty of the two of you though. Fucking selfish." Hudson tells them, his voice is harder than I've ever heard it before. It's a different side to him, I can imagine his amber eyes darkening with anger.
"Son..." Harrison warns and I want to hide, they shouldn't be arguing, not over something that I said.
"Dad, don't. Mia's told me how Tina didn't even tell her you two were getting married, nor that you were even thinking about it. Fuck Dad, she didn't even invite her to your damn wedding."
Lacey jumps at the harshness of Hudson's voice. He's shouting and I'm surprised that no one else has come out to hear what's going on. Barney and Jagger are here too. A loud thump makes me jump. Shit, this is getting bad. It's why I didn't want to say anything to Mom, I didn't want the arguments that come with the conversation we're inevitably going to have.
"Lacey, come on, let's get you to bed." I tell her as I get to my feet, my hands reaching for hers to help her up. She gingerly gets to her feet and we walk to her bedroom.
As soon as I walk into the room, I'm shocked by how the bed looks. It reminds me of how Hudson and I leave our bed in the morning. It looks like she's had sex. Glancing at her, the way her eyes are downcast and her ears are red tells me that maybe she did.
"Lacey?" I ask and as soon as I do she breaks down. "Oh Lacey, what happened?"
She sits on the bed, her head in her hands as she weeps quietly, "I was so stupid Mia."
Sitting beside her I pull her into my arms, "Why?"
"I don't know why I did it, I just wanted to feel anything other than this pain I'm in. It seemed like a good idea at the time." She weeps.
"What was it like?" I ask and she glances at me in shock, at least she's not crying in her hands anymore. "Well?"
She shakes her head, a small frown trying to form but she's biting it back. "Awful. I cried as soon as it was over."
My eyes widen. Holy hell, how bad could it have been? "What did Barney say?"
Her eyes narrow, "Nothing, he left as soon as it was over. That's what made me cry in the first place." Her tone has a bite to it.
What a jerk! How dare he?
"Lace, what the hell happened?" How did it go from her ignoring him, to him bedding her and walking away?
"He brought me home from the party. We didn't really say anything on the drive, but when we walked upstairs, he kissed me and things went from there. It happened really quickly, it was okay I guess. I mean I didn't come, he did and as soon as he did, he left."
Oh wow, he's a bigger jerk than I thought! Who takes advantage of a woman who's in the midst of grief? She just lost her grandmother, a woman who practically raised her.