Free The Best Thing for You by Annabel Lyon Page B

to have acquired over the years.
    “Sit,” Liam tells Ty, holding the bottle up against the light and tilting it. Liquid rolls thickly inside. May and Jupiter look content enough but there’s an edge to Liam I’m not liking. “We need to work on your conversation skills,” he says. “You can start by telling us about your real, actual homework.”
    “How about he just goes and does his real, actual homework?” I say. I haven’t let go of Ty’s shoulder.
    Liam puts the bottle down.
    “I have a biology lab,” Ty says quickly. “We’re doing a genetics unit and the parts of the cell. You want me to tell you the parts of the cell?”
    May and Jupiter have gone still.
    “Yes,” Liam says.
    “No,” I say. I put both my hands on his shoulders and turn him to face me, so he can’t see his father. “I want you to go upstairs now and finish off what you’re doing. I’ll bring you your dessert up in a little while. And not so loud with the music, we’re trying to hear ourselves think down here.” I give my eyes a Nixon-flick towards our guests, hoping he’ll pick up on it.
    “Good night, Mrs. Chan, Mr. Chan,” he says. “It was nice to meet you.”
    “Good night,” they say. Their voices sound small and quiet.
    “Go,” I say. I turn him away and give him a push towards the stairs, a little harder than I mean to. He goes.
    “What you see here is a difference of parenting styles,” Liam says when the sound of Ty’s light step on the stairs has disappeared. “On the one hand, I’m trying to raise our son to be a moderately decent human being. On the other hand, Kate here doesn’t care what he turns into so long as she gets to be the good cop. Brandy?”
    Jupiter quickly lifts a flat palm, dismissing the bottle. May, blushing, shakes her head. I see them exchange a glance, see Jupiter straighten up in his chair, preparatory to leaving. I know if they go now there’ll be a rent between May and me that no amount of bubble tea and friendliness will repair. “Coffee, dessert,” I say, eyebrows raised, nodding encouragement, trying to make it a question and a statement at the same time.
    May looks at Jupiter. “I would love a coffee,” he says. “Could I just use your bathroom?”
    I lead him out of the kitchen and down the hall. “Should we go?” he says, when we’re out of earshot. I like how he does it – unembarrassed, matter-of-fact. His manner makes it easier to respond in kind.
    “Not at all,” I say, reaching in for the light and stepping out of his way at the same time. “I’m sorry about that back there. Ty’s always been a great kid, great grades, nice friends, cleans his room, you name it, and suddenly these past few weeks it’s just been one headache after another. It’s just – caused a few tensions, lately. It’s just karma, right? I guess now we have to pay for all those years of him eating his vegetables and so on.”
    “I like the alien abduction theory.” Jupiter squeezes past me so that now we’ve traded spots – him in the doorway, me in the hall. He lowers his voice to a cheesy intense whisper and wiggles his fingers by his ears to be spooky.
“That’s not really your kid out there.”
    “That’s not really my husband out there. This isn’t really me, for that matter. We must sound pathological to you.”
    He does a double take and a smile, and puts one hand on the door. “You seem like slamming parents to me, Kate. I know May thinks the world of you.”
    “But?”
    He grabs his belt and does a little collapse at the knees with a frazzled look on his face.
    “Go,” I say, laughing, turning away. “I’m the good cop. I’m not stopping you.”
    In the kitchen, May and Liam are talking about the clinic.
    “It’s a problem,” May is saying. “Salaries here just aren’t competitive with the States. It’s almost impossible to keep new nurses in the country.”
    “You stayed, though, for instance.” Liam doesn’t look at me.
    “My family is here, my