Free Julia's Daughters by Colleen Faulkner Page A

school. That’s what Ben wants to do. She’s not a boarding school kind of girl. I send her to school in another state and she’ll end up a runaway or worse, Laney. I know she will,” I whisper desperately.
    â€œSo send her to me. I’ll put her in school here.”
    I smile sadly. Not only does Laney always have a plan, but she’s willing to throw herself off a cliff to see it executed.
    â€œI can’t push her off on you. It wouldn’t be fair to you or your boys.” I dab at my nose with the toilet paper. Ben’s bought the wrong kind again. It’s like wiping my nose with a piece of newspaper. I would never complain though. I haven’t been inside a grocery store in, well, at least forty-nine days. “She’s my daughter,” I say. “I’ll figure it out.”
    â€œI know you will because if you don’t, if you don’t do something sooner rather than later, Jules, she’s going to end up in jail or in drug rehab.”
    Or worse . I think it, but I don’t say it. I can’t bear to say it. I think about the pills, about Haley’s dangerous behavior since Caitlin’s death. It’s about Caitlin; I know that. While I may have been in a fog for the last two months, my visibility hasn’t been that reduced. I’d have to be blind and an idiot not to see it. Before Caitlin died, Haley was certainly no angel. But it had been typical rebellious teenager stuff: being late for curfew, not turning in homework, saying she was one place when she was actually at another. But nothing serious. Nothing like stealing drugs and sneaking out in the middle of the night to go to a crack house.
    â€œI know I have to do something,” I say into the phone when I find my voice again. “I just don’t know what.”
    â€œSo Ben says send her to boarding school. Is that his only idea?” Laney asks.
    She’s being pushy. Really pushy. I’m beginning to wish I hadn’t called her. I can’t do this right now with her. I don’t have it in me to defend my family or myself.
    â€œWhat’s Ben saying?” Laney asks when I don’t answer.
    She’s like a dog with the proverbial bone. I know her too well. I know she’s not going to let go of it.
    â€œJulia?” Ben calls from the bedroom. “You in there?”
    â€œCan I call you back?” I ask Laney, thankful for the reprieve. I don’t want to talk to Ben, either, but I’d rather talk to him right now than to Laney. “In the bathroom,” I call. Then into the phone: “Ben’s looking for me. I should go.”
    â€œYou two need to sit down and talk about Haley,” Laney tells me. “You’re her parents. You owe it to her. You owe it to Caitlin,” she says fervently.
    I dab at my eyes with the toilet paper. I hear Ben’s hand on the bathroom doorknob. “Call you later,” I say, trying to grip the phone and my towel.
    Ben opens the door without knocking, which irritates me. I’ve always liked my privacy in the bathroom. If the door is shut, in my book, that means you’re not welcome, unless invited. It’s not that way with Ben’s family, though. They think nothing of brushing their teeth while a spouse sits on the john. I don’t want to see Ben clip his nose hairs or have him watch me remove my tampon. Some things should remain private, shouldn’t they? Isn’t that a way to keep up the romance in a marriage?
    Of course, obviously we’re not doing so hot with that. That writing was on the wall even before Caitlin died.
    â€œThere you are,” he says. He’s dressed in jeans and a red polo with his family’s lawn care company logo on it. The shirt looks too small; it’s pulling across his belly.
    â€œI was talking to Laney.” My towel begins to slip and for some reason I feel a sense of panic. I don’t want him to see me naked.
    Why don’t I