Lesbian Stepmother (2 page)

She began to step past them again, and once again Rick
stopped her. “You forgot to say hi to Lonna.”

Abbie grimaced and glared at Lonna, who set her pizza
down and leaned back on the couch. “Hi, Stepmom.”

Lonna flinched at the nickname.

Rick dropped his pizza onto the plate. “Abbie!”

She smiled wickedly. “Sorry. Hello, Lonna. How
are you?” She spoke sarcastically, leaving no doubt she didn’t
give a damn.

Lonna tried to smile, but she was unsuccessful. Her
hands were shaking. “Hi, Abbie. How was school?”

Abbie shifted her weight from one foot to the other.
“Great. Every minute of it is pure bliss.”

“Why don’t you put your things away,”
Rick suggested. “And then come join us for a couple slices.”

“I’ll have some later. I’ve got a
lot of homework.” Abbie had spent a year working as a
secretary after graduating from high school, and hated it. Now she
was going to college full-time to escape working, and she hated that,
too.

“Well, make sure you squeeze us in for a few
minutes, at least. We’ve got a few things we need to talk to
you about.”

Now Abbie gazed at him with suspicion. “Like
what?”

Rick shrugged. “Like your birthday. It’s
coming up fast. You still didn’t decide where you wanted to
have dinner.”

“I thought we settled on Mario’s.”

“Oh. That’s right.”

“I don’t really care about that anyway. As
long as I get an iPad.”

“You’re not getting an iPad.”

“Oh, come on, dad! It’s all I really
want!”

Rick sighed. He picked up his soda and took a long
drink. “We’ve been over this already. They’re too
expensive for just a birthday present.”

“But I need it for school!”

“You just got a new computer last year.”

“It’s not the same. I need an iPad.”

“You don’t need it. You just want it.”

Abigail exhaled theatrically, a display of her
frustration. “You mean I’m really not getting one? It’s
all I asked for!”

“I already told you you’re not getting one.
They start at $500!”

“That’s for the shitty one. I need the
good one.”

“Abbie! You’re not getting an iPad!”

She glanced at Lonna again, quickly, and then back at
her father. “Did
she
talk you out of it? So you can spend the money on her instead?”

Feeling increasingly uncomfortable, Lonna took a long
drink from her glass. She wished she were anywhere else.

“She didn’t talk me out of anything. I had
never even considered it. I don’t have an extra six or seven
hundred dollars to spend on a frivolous computer right now.”

“It’s not frivolous! I need it for
school!”

Rick was getting a headache. “You’ve got a
nice computer for school, Abbie. And your tuition is costing me a
small fortune. I just can’t afford it right now.”

“Oh, so now it’s my fault you’re
broke?”

“It’s no ones fault! And I’m not
broke. Can we drop it with the iPad, please?”

Abbie thought for a moment. “What are you going
to get me? A horn for my bike?”

“Abbie, be realistic.”

She glared at Lonna again. “You talked him out
of it, didn’t you?”

Lonna floundered, feeling sick. “I didn’t
say a word!”

“Abbie, don’t blame her. She didn’t
do anything.”

“Jesus Christ. She’s drunk already.”

“Abbie!”

“That’s where all the money goes.”
This time she stormed away, disappearing down the hall.

“Abbie!” Rick began to stand up.

“Forget it,” Lonna said quietly. “I
told you, she hates me. Even when I’m not to blame.”
She took another drink.

“She doesn’t hate you. She just...”
He struggled for something to say and came up empty.

“She doesn’t seem too happy with you,
either.”

Rick sat back down and began rubbing his head. He
wished he were still at work.

Chapter 3

The next morning when Lonna got up, Rick had already
left for work. She vaguely remembered him trying to get romantic
earlier, when he first awoke, but she had been very tired and a
little bit hungover. She’d snubbed him again. She was getting
good at it.

She climbed out of bed and entered the kitchen, wearing
only her nightgown. There was half a pot of coffee still on the
warmer, as usual. She took down her favorite mug, one that she’d
brought with her from her old life and filled it, taking a seat at
the table.

Glancing at the clock, she saw it was going on seven.
Abigail would be getting up soon for school. She sat sipping her
coffee and wondering what she ought to do. Her choices were limited.
She could either sit there at the table, as she was doing, and have
an awkward confrontation with the girl when she came in for her
coffee and cereal, or she could hide somewhere else in the house
until Abbie left for school. Or, she supposed, she could leave the
house herself and come back afterward. None of these things appealed
to her. She sat there drinking her coffee and trying to make up her
mind.

She felt like such an outsider here. She’d known
she was taking a risk when she agreed to marry Rick, but she never
thought it would be this bad. Her stepdaughter refused to even give
her a chance. If Abbie wasn’t ignoring her, she was being
downright mean or hurtful to her. And no matter what Lonna did, no
matter how nice she was to Abbie, the girl still treated her like
shit.

She sat there growing more and more apprehensive about
their next inevitable encounter. The clock was ticking. Fight or
flee? She hated the idea of doing either, but it seemed there was no
alternative.

Or was there?

Suddenly, she had an idea. It would almost certainly
turn out to be disastrous, but she was sick and tired of fighting and
hiding. She needed to try something else, something altogether
different.

Lonna got up and began opening cabinets and turning on
stove burners. She opened the refrigerator and found the eggs, the
butter, the cheese. There were some fresh vegetables in the drawer,
too, and she soon had a big pile of groceries on the counter and
several slices of bread in the toaster. She began to get excited as
she busied herself with the cutting board and the chef’s knife,
chopping mushrooms and peppers and scallions and mixing them in a big
bowl with half a dozen eggs.

The entire kitchen took on a whole new feel as she sped
around, pouring eggs into the hot pan, buttering toast, frying bacon
and brewing fresh coffee. It took on new smells, too, and they were
wonderful. She hadn’t cooked like this in years and she was
surprised to find that everything was turning out perfectly.

It wasn’t until she was almost finished and the
excitement of her efforts began to wear off that she remembered what
the end result of all her hard work was sure to be. Abigail would
take one look it and quickly realize how meaningful and hopeful the
gesture had been to Lonna. She would then turn up her nose and walk
away, scoffing cruelly, muttering that she wasn’t hungry and
that even if she was, she wouldn’t eat such slop.

The depression came over her like a big wet blanket,
pasting her down. What had she been thinking? Why had she bothered?
She was just setting herself up for --

“
What’s all this?”

Here it came. Lonna wanted to crawl away and hide.
She turned, standing at the sink with a hot frying pan in her hand,
and saw Abbie in the kitchen doorway. She was already dressed for
school, holding her purse and knapsack.

Lonna tried to smile. “I thought you might like
a little breakfast.”

Abbie’s eyes scanned the table, taking it all in.
“You made all this?”

Setting the pan down in the sink, Lonna grabbed a
dishtowel and began drying her hands. “Sure. Are you hungry?”

Abbie shifted in the doorway, chewing her lip. She had
developed the habit of grabbing at her lip-ring with her teeth. “Who
did you make all this for?”

“For you. For us. Will you join me?”

“You never cook like this.”

“I
rarely
cook like this. Sometimes I do. When I get the urge.” She
was feeling very anxious, but in a hopeful way. Abbie hadn’t
turned her back or ridiculed her yet.

“I guess you had the urge today.”

“I sure did.” She stepped over to the
table. “What do you say? Can you spare a few minutes? If
you’re not hungry, I --”

“Are you kidding?” Abbie dropped her bags
on the floor and stepped over. “I’m starving.”

Lonna was astounded. Of all the scenarios she’d
played through her head, this wasn’t one of them. She
nervously pulled out her chair and took a seat beside Abbie.

The food was already dished out, and Abbie picked up
her fork, pushing the scrambled eggs around inquisitively. “Is
there cheese in this?”

“Cheddar. Is that bad?”

“Hell, no.” Abbie scooped a small forkful
into her mouth and chewed hesitantly. Lonna also took a bite,
leaning back and waiting for the hurtful criticism.

“Pretty good,” said Abbie. She took
another forkful, a big one, and gobbled it up.

Lonna felt elated. She’d never expected this.
“I’m glad you like it.”

After pausing to take a sip of coffee, Abbie looked
over at her. “I’m glad you made it. I was planning on
having a bowl of corn flakes.” She picked up her toast and
took an enormous bite, chewing ravenously.

“It’s a good thing you’re hungry. I
made quite a lot.”

“Don’t worry about that.” She
scooped more eggs into her mouth and picked up a crispy piece of
bacon. “I kind of skipped dinner last night, so I have some
making up to do.” She bit off half the bacon strip and chewed,
contemplating Lonna. When she had swallowed and taken another sip of
coffee, she asked, “So why did you really make all this?”

“I told you. I made it for you.”

Abbie was shaking her head. “I don’t
believe that. You don’t even like me.”

“That’s where you’re wrong, Abbie. I
do
like you. I’m
sorry if you don’t believe me, but it doesn’t change the
facts.”

Abbie was shoveling in more eggs, chewing contentedly.
“You made it for my dad, didn’t you? And he left without
eating, or something.” She took a bite of toast.

Lonna was smiling now. She sipped her coffee. “Your
father left for work before I even got up. I made this for you.”

“Why?”

“I told you.”

“Because you like me.”

“That’s right. And I know that you love
this type of breakfast.”

Abbie paused in her eating. “What, you mean
fattening?”

Lonna actually laughed momentarily, something she’d
never done with Abbie before. “No, I mean eggs and bacon and
toast. I like it, too.” She studied Abbie for a moment.
“Jesus, Abbie, neither one of us need to worry about a few
extra calories.”

It may have been a trick of the light, but Lonna
thought she might have seen Abbie smile. Then she was piling the
last of her eggs into her mouth. “That’s true.”
The coffee had cooled off a bit and she took a few big gulps. “So
let me get this straight. You made this for me because you say you
like me and you know I like it. What’s the catch?”

“There’s no catch. I’ve been living
here for months now, and...” Lonna paused to take another sip
of coffee, thinking about what she wanted to say. “We haven’t
exactly been the best of friends.”

“You can say that again.”

“I wasn’t finished. What I mean is, we
haven’t been friends, but that’s never been my intention.
If it was up to me, we would have been friends all along.”

“I’m not in the habit of making friends
with every woman my father sleeps with since chasing my mother away.”

Lonna took a deep breath. As far as she knew, there
were a couple of inaccuracies within that last statement. She let it
go. “I don’t blame you. But I’m really talking
about you and me, not anyone else. And the fact is, I like you, and
I want to be your friend. I don’t like us avoiding each
other.”

Abbie popped the last of her bacon into her mouth and
chewed it up. “Oh, I get it. This is my birthday present from
you, isn’t it?”

“You’re birthday is tomorrow.”

“I know, but...” She took another gulp of
coffee. “I’m just trying to figure this out.”

“There’s nothing to figure out. Although,
now that I know how much you really like these big breakfasts, I
should warn you.”

“Warn me? About what?”

“You’re going to be having them a lot more
often.”