"Now you were wrong for that." Alex said as she drove she and Joy home.
"Wrong for what?"
"Your behavior. That is no way to treat your mother!" Alex fussed.
"That's no way way for my mother to treat her daughter."
"That's not the tone you want to use with me, so watch yourself little girl." Alex said in a stern tone.
"Sorry." Joy mumbled. "I just didn't want to be there anymore, so I pretended to not be there by not talking or doing anything."
"But sitting in your room for four days, that's not cool. Don't you try that nonsense with me and your daddy."
"I won't. She's the only one that deserved that."
"No she's not, she's your mother."
"You just don't understand. I'm like Cinderella in that house. That woman is evil."
To Alex, LaTrice was a mean woman. She never understood how one person could bare so much negative energy and spread it around wherever she goes. After the fiasco at her wedding, she lost all respect for LaTrice, but tolerates her for Joy and Drew's sake.
Alex agreed with Joy that LaTrice is a mean person, but she would have added her being bitter along with being mean. She couldn't say those things around Joy because she knew she'll then become a bad influence on the teenager.
"Don't say that." Alex said, keeping her eyes on the road.
Joy sucked her teeth, "Why not? It's the truth. You guys always told me to express my self and speak my mind."
"Right now, I'm telling you to watch what you say. That is your mother and you're going to learn to get along with her."
"I get along with her, she just doesn't get along with me."
Alex let out a very light chuckle. "How about we just drop that topic. You're coming back home, so now you don't have to worry about any bad vibes from your week with your mom. But make sure you call her later on today."
"Why?" Joy frowned. "I just left her house, what in the world would I call for?"
"Joy..."
"I'm not calling her. I just spent a week in what felt like bootcamp in her house, now you want me to call the drill sargent herself? Ugghh."
"Stop being so dramatic." Alex said. "You're gonna call her and that's the end of that discussion."
Until they got home, Joy stared out the window with a frown on her face. She was happy to see that her dad was home when they got home.
"There's two of my favorite girls." He greeted them at the door.
"Hey, love." Alex said as Drew gave her a peck.
"Hey, darling." he said to her, then he looked at Joy whose face was still frowned. "What's wrong with her. I thought she'd be leaping for joy around this house just being home."
"She will, after she calls her mom." Alex said.
"Yeah, you do need to give her a call." Drew agreed.
Joy was now frowning at her dad. "What's with you people?"
Alex stared at her, while Drew stood confused.
Joy reached in her crossbody bag and pulled out her cell phone. "I'll call her right now, so you could be my witness." She tapped her mother's icon on her phone's screen.
"Just let her know that you're here and that you'll see her later." Alex said. " You don't have to hold an hour long conversation with her."
Joy put the phone call in speaker so that they could hear. It rang four times then the call went to voicemail. "See, now l no answer." She ended the call.
"You could have just sent her a text message." Drew said.
"Thanks for suggesting that dad right now dad." Joy responded in a sarcastic tone.
Alex let out a sigh. "Just forget about it." She walked away.
Once Alex was gone, Drew looked at Joy, "Keep that attitude up and I'll send got back to your mother's for two weeks. You shouldn't have that kind of attitude towards her, nor Alex who is only trying to help you." Drew said in disappointment.
"I'm sorry, daddy, I just had a long week."
"That's because you made it a long week. Your uncle called me after Alex picked you up from his house, he told me that you was in your room for days ignoring your mom. Wassup with that?"
"Mama left me at home while she and Brice go out and have a field day. She went to granny's house while I was home by myself, so I called one of my friends and had her pick me up so we could hang out."
"Did you let your mother know?"
"For what?"
"Because as a child, you know that when you're going somewhere, you let an adult know where you're going. You know that."
"No I didn't let her know because she didn't care to answer her phone when I called."
Drew find it strange that LaTrice doesn't answer Joy's phone calls, but she always answers his. He's known LaTrice for a very long time and he must say that she had changed a lot. Her entire personality was different from the moment they met. Maybe he didn't know her as well as he thought. After all, he did find out she was in love with his best friend, but she's a different person now.
Joy didn't deserve to be treated how LaTrice was treating her, that made him glad that Joy wasn't living with LaTrice because he would have to fight to get his daughter out of LaTrice's home.
He was glad he had Alex, someone who could be a positive influence on Joy by listening to her and teaching her things from a woman's perspective. He knew that he could only do so much as Joy's father and that Joy needed a woman's influence inside their home.
"Look, just don't worry about it. Leave it alone. You had a long week, so just rest up. We're going out for dinner tonight, okay?" He said.
"Okay, daddy." She said before she walked up the stairs.
He walked through the house to see where Alex had gone off to. "Alex?" He called her name.
"I'm in here," he heard her voice come from the bedroom.
Walking into the bedroom, he closed the door behind him. "Are you okay?" He asked as she turned to face him. He face was red and her eyes were watery.
"What's wrong sweetheart?" he asked.
"Nothing, I'm fine." She answered.
He reached for her hand and held on to it. "Alex, tell me, what's wrong?"
She looked him in the eye and more tears came out. "I just don't get how a mother could neglect her child that way. You should never ignore a child to where doesn't even want to come out of her bedroom in your house. That's so sad. That woman should have given up her parental rights to you because she's not being a mother." She cried. "Then again, what do I know? I'm no mother."
"Listen to me," Drew started, as he sat on the bed and pulled her into his lap, "we'll work on Joy, okay. She may not have LaTrice around, but she has you and I'm glad she has you. You're a perfect example of what a mother is. Just because you don't have any children that you've given birth to, doesn't mean that you can't be a mom. You do great with her and I love the relationship the two of you share." He explained.
"That's not the point. Joy needs her mother and she's not even there for her. I know how that feels and I'd hate to see someone else go through what I've been through. That teenage girl in there just wants her mother attention and she can't even get that. The woman doesn't even answer her calls. What kind of mother is that? Sounds like the one I had."
"Baby, don't stress yourself out about what she does, okay? Let me deal with it."
"It's just so heartbreaking to witness this."
He wrapped his arms around her, "everything is going to be okay. Alright? Don't you wory about anything."
"If you say so." She said in a hopeless tone. He wiped her tears away as she sniffed. "I'ts just sad." She shook her head.
"Give me a kiss." He said to her.
She smiled. In her mind, she had the sweetest, most kind and patient husband ever and she loved him very much. She leaned into him and they shared a kiss.
"I love you." He said. "I always mean that."
"I love you too, handsome."
There was a knock at their bedroom door.
"What's up?" Drew said.
Joy slowly opened the door, "Do you guys have on clothes?" She asked before they saw her face.
They both giggle. "yes, sweetheart. Come in." Alex said.
Joy walked in and saw Alex sitting on her father's lap. "Looks like y'all were almost getting to the clothes snatching part of whatever this is." She pointed as she frowned at them.
"Hush, lil girl, what you want?"
"I was wndering," she started, "since my last competition has past and school is almost out, summer is near and I wanted to know if I could have a few friends over? You know, before the summer starts and every goes off to camp, or work, or whatever." She requested.
Alex and Drew exchanged a look with no words.
"Like a slumber party?" Drew said.
"Dad, no one calls it a slumber party anymore. "Let's call it, girls weekend." Joy said.
Alex chuckled.
"We'll think about it." He said.
"While you think about it," she sat on their bed, "keep in mind that I've kept my grades up for the last two report cards, taken care of my brother, and also keeping up on my household chores."
"And also, I'll keep in mind that you totaled your car a few weeks ago." Drew added. "Oh, not you, but your friends."
Joy sucked her teeth, letting out a sigh of disappointment. "Daddy, I said I was sorry about that."
"Yeah, I know, but we'll think about it." He said.
She frowned her face as she stood up from the bed and walked to the door. "Okay."
Once Joy had lef their bedroom, Alex and Drew looked at them and laughed.
"She is so serious." Alex stated.
"She thinks I'm playing about her car. I'm not letting that slide and she think she's going to have some sleepover. I sure hope she didn't tell her friends that she could get us to say yes, because I'm saying no." Drew stated.
"How about we let her have this small gathering and then once that's over, her punishment begins." Alex suggested. "She needs to be around some friends right now. Maybe that'll get her mind off of some things for now."
"I don't know, babe. I get that she's been trying and all, but I think it's only because she's trying to make up for the car, however, you do have a point. I don't want my sixteen year old daughter to be stressing out or having emotional issues over her mother, so..." his voice trailed off, "i guess she can have this slumber party." he agreed.
Alex grinned.
"I can tell how much you love Joy because you're her voice of reason. You save her all the time." He said.
"She's a great kid, we just have to be patient with her." Alex said.
"She can have the sleep over, but I'm not telling her until the last minute."
Alex giggled. "Awe, that'll be fun."
"I love you." He said.
"I love you too, Mr. Robinson." She kissed his lips.
"I say we go to the gorcery store and find something to cook tonight?" He suggest.
"We could also discuss where we're going for our family vacation this year." she added.
"We could discuss that over dinner." He said. "I have a few places in mind."
"So do I." She grinned.
"But sweety?"
"Yes?"
"We're not leaving the country." he smirked.
She sucked her teeth. "Why not? It'll be a great experience for you guys."
"We'll talk about this over dinner." he said. "Right now, I just want to love on you before we go to the store." He kissed her neck.
"Oh, you want some of this good lovin'?" she said.
"You know I do." he kissed her again.