It was me and the boys for the afternoon, since V took Nora out for some froyo. I made her promise to bring me some back. I wasn't going to miss out on froyo.
Whatever the problem was last night, I was glad Vanessa was around. I figured it was a boy issue, and I was right. When V had climbed into bed afterwards, I asked her what the problem was. Nora hadn't wanted her to spill all the details, so I had to settle that she'd had some 'guy issues'. I didn't exactly want to know all the details either. The important thing was that Nora knew I was here for her. I figured she'd probably confide in Vanessa on this kind of thing.
Maybe it was a little selfish, but I wanted to know what Nora was telling her. All parents worried about their kids, but I'd been especially worried about Nora lately. Between her mother, the photo, and whatever happened last night, she had a lot to deal with. I needed to pry a little more.
"She isn't..."
"No, Lin," she told me, and that relieved me a bit. Nora's mother hadn't set the best example and I didn't want her following in her footsteps. "It's just relationship drama."
"Is it that Aaron kid?" I asked.
"Yes," she told me. "They're done. He wasn't treating her well."
That made me itch, knowing someone hadn't treated Nora well. I felt a protectiveness over her; something I didn't feel quite as much with Sebastian and Francisco. I think all fathers of girls must feel that. We all knew what guys were thinking, and we didn't want our daughters being at the center with that.
Vanessa must have sensed me tense, because she put a hand on my hand. "Don't worry. She respects herself enough not to let guy take advantage of her. You're a good model."
I glanced down at my body. "I'm sexy?"
She laughed and rolled her eyes at me. "Role model, smart ass. She sees the way you treat me, and all women. She knows how she's supposed to be treated."
That made me feel better. I settled onto my back, putting my hands behind my head. I knew Sebastian and Francisco were watching too. They would grow up to be gentlemen, and would know how to treat women right.
The next morning, I randomly got a phone call from Laura's ex, Steve. I hadn't heard from him since after the funeral, and wasn't really expecting to hear from him ever again, honestly. Nora wasn't close to him so we had no reason to have contact.
"Hi Steve. What's up?" I asked as I poured out some crackers for Cisco.
"Lin," he said. "Sorry to bother you."
"That's okay," I assured him, though I was still confused. "How have you been holding up?"
"Well, you know..." he said. He sounded tired and like he might be hung over. "As well as can be expected. Listen, I got a phone call from Laura's sister yesterday."
I wasn't really familiar with Laura's family. She may have mentioned as some point she had a sister, but I don't think they were close.
"Yeah? What did she need?"
He sighed. "She's trying to get hold of Nora."
I felt my heart drop a little bit. If she was anything like Laura, she wasn't a good influence. Still, she was blood.
"Why does she want to get ahold of Nora?"
Another sigh. "Beat me," he said. "She didn't even come to the funeral. She lives in Chicago, but she's in town. I don't know, I think she maybe wants to get to know Nora."
"Have you ever met her?" I asked.
"No," he told me. Steve had only been around a year or so. If Nora hadn't seen the sister in a while, Steve wouldn't have either.
"What's her name?"
"Shannon," he said. "She's younger by a couple years, I think. Anyways, she asked for Nora's number but I didn't want to give it to her until I'd talked to you first."
I was grateful for that. Nora seemed to finally be on an upswing, and she didn't need something like this coming out of left field. "Thanks, Steve. Do you have her number? I'd like to talk to her first."
He gave me Shannon's phone number and I wrote it on a piece of paper. Steve and I hung up, and I busied myself taking care of Cisco and playing with him. The rest of the morning, I thought about Shannon. What would I say to her exactly? What did she want from Nora? Was she like Shannon? Should I tell Nora about it?
After lunch, I put Cisco down for his nap. I decided it was time to call up Shannon. I carefully dialed her number and it rang.
"Hello?" A rough sounding voice asked.
"Hello, is this Shannon Thomas?"
"Yes," she said. "Who is this?"
"Hi, my name is Lin. I'm your niece, Nora's father. I heard from Steve that you were trying to contact her?"
"Oh. Yeah," she said, sounding surprised. "Um, is she around?"
"No, she's at school," I said. "I just wanted to talk with you first before I told Nora you're trying to contact her."
"Well, I'm in town from Chicago and I just thought it would be nice to see her," she said.
"When was the last time Nora saw you?" I asked, like it was an interview.
She inhaled, thinking. "She was little. It's been a long time. And I'm sorry for that. I just thought, you know, with her mom being gone, she might want to hear from me."
"You didn't go to the funeral?"
"I couldn't get away," she told me. "I wish I could've been there."
"Listen," I decided to level with her. "Nora's had a really tough time lately. She's doing a bit better now and I don't want her getting upset and going downhill again. Sorry to be blunt, but do you have your life together? Are you clean?"
She seemed a bit thrown off by my forward questions. "I'm married and I have a bachelor's degree," she told me, but there was no way I could tell if she was being truthful. That had never been Laura's specialty.
"I'll be straight with you," I told her. "Nora doesn't need any drama in her life. So if you're going to cause her any heartache, I'll have to ask you to stay away."
I didn't think beating around the bush would do any of us any good. I had no problem being tough with people when it involved any of my children's welfare.
"Wow," she said. "Shouldn't you leave it up to her?"
I knew that Nora would feel obliged to connect with her if she knew she was around. I think Nora craved connection to her family, particularly to her mother. My daughter was only 15, but I respected her opinion. I hated to admit it, but Shannon had a point.
I sighed out and ran my hand through my hair. "I'll mention it to her, but don't assume she'll be in touch with you."
"Fair enough," she said, and after some pleasantries we hung up.
Nora came home after school, looking exhausted. Her backpack looked incredibly full.
"Hi sweetheart," I told her from the couch.
"Hi, Dad," she said, pulling off her tennis shoes.
"Lots of homework?"
"Yeah," she said. "Lots of make up work."
She went to the pantry for a snack, then joined me on the couch. Nora rested her head against my shoulder and sighed. I kissed her head as she began to munch on some crackers.
"How's the music coming?" she asked me, referencing my current project for a movie. I had the program up, where I could play around with sounds.
"Good," I told her, clicking around. "Wanna hear it?"
She nodded so I played what I had so far. It was mostly instrumental.
"I like it," she said.
"Good," I said, smiling. She and Vanessa were the hardest to impress. If I could get either of them to say it was good, I knew it was on the right track. I sighed and closed the lid of my laptop.
"I need to talk to you about something," I told her, setting my laptop aside.
"Uh oh," she said, eyeing my suspiciously.
"I got a phone call today from Steve," I began. "Your mom's sister, Shannon, contacted him. She's in town and wants to know if you want to see her."
She ran her tongue across her teeth a little in thought. "I haven't seen her since I was, like, five."
"I'll be really honest with you," I told her. "I'm not totally sure if she has her life together, and I don't want you getting bogged down if she has drama."
She blew out a breath through her mouth and nodded in agreement. "Mom's drama was enough."
"Did you hear from her at all since you were five?" I asked.
"She called Mom every once in a while," Nora said. "But I never really talked to her."
"You're 15 and you're old enough to make your own decisions," I told her. "I'll leave it up to you if you want to contact her or not."
I set the piece of paper with her number down on the table. Nora looked at it and didn't move to pick it up right away. A few moments later, she folded it and tucked it into her pocket. I would give her some space so she could think about it.
"Well, I better get to my homework," she said, getting up. "See you in a few hours."
I chuckled. "Let me know if you need help."
"Wanna do my math homework for me?"
"Your teacher wouldn't be able to read it," I told her. "Plus I'd get them all wrong."
Nora decided it wasn't worth the trouble. I heard her door close and I closed my eyes for a moment, sending her some good vibes. I didn't want her to feel pressured to get with her Aunt Shannon. She needed to focus on herself, and I hoped she would do that.