“Why does he want to have your pants?” Josh asked. “Doesn’t he have enough of his own?”
“Idiot,” Michael muttered.
That was it. She was beyond over his attitude. “Okay. You’re grounded.”
“Sure. Make me pay for the fact that you messed up.”
Mia gritted her teeth. “Don’t say one more word,” she warned. “Or everything gets taken away. Your phone, your freedom. The door to your room. I’m not kidding.”
“You can’t take my phone.”
“Yes I can.”
“No you can’t.”
“Try me,” she told him through gritted teeth.
“I hate you. I hate this place. And I hate the fact that you cry every night for a guy I detest. I wish we’d never come here. It sucks.”
“That’s it. You’re done.”
“Fuck it!”
“Michael?” Josh said, his voice small. “Don’t swear.”
“Shut up. I hate all of you.” Michael pushed Josh out of his way, stomping up the stairs. Mia squeezed her eyes closed, her head pounding to the rhythm of Michael’s footsteps.
“Mommy?” Josh said in a small voice.
“Yes, honey?”
“I’m sorry I upset Michael.”
His expression made her heart ache. She reached out to cup his cheek.
“You didn’t upset him, sweetie. He did that all by himself.” She sighed. “Come on, we need to leave. Go find your other shoe.”
If she thought she was finding it hard to concentrate before, Mia could barely focus on the screen in front of her now. Her hands were shaking, her stomach felt like it was being eaten away by acid, and at least five different people had asked her if she was coming down with something. Maybe she should have stayed at home.
But what if she never felt better? She needed her job. After all, they needed a roof over their head and food on the table, and they couldn’t stay with Sam forever.
When she’d dropped Josh off at breakfast club, his eyes were still full of tears. He’d asked her if Michael was going to leave like Cam and Niall had. If he was still mad with him. It had broken her heart to watch him walk with slumped shoulders through the school gate.
And it had taken all the maturity she had to type a simple message out to Michael.
I expect you home by three. Leave your phone on the table when you get there. We’ll be having a serious talk later. Your attitude stinks. Mom.
She was going to have to leave early. She wanted to talk to her eldest before Josh got home from his after school activity. There was no way they could have a repeat of this morning. She was damned if she’d let him make Josh cry aga
in.
Sighing, she turned back to her monitor, determined to get some work done. But then her phone started to ring, cutting through the silence of her office, and she picked it up, frowning when she saw Josh’s school lighting up the screen.
Don’t tell her he was sick. She wasn’t sure she could cope with much more.
“Mia Devlin,” she said, lifting the phone to her ear.
“Ms. Devlin, this is Shirley Mason from Hartson Elementary School. We were wondering if Josh was okay?”