Serenity (Inevitable #5)(96)

After each visit to Hayley, things would be quiet for a few days, and Matthew would keep his fingers crossed that this time he had finally gotten through to her. But then Lindsey would call yet again, sounding more hysterical and upset each time, and fill him in on Hayley's latest escapades. And she, too, began to hint that maybe if Matthew moved back in - at least for a few months - that it might be the trick to help Hayley through this bad patch.



       
         
       
        

Matthew had given a weary sigh. "Jesus, did Hayley put you up to this? Never mind, because my answer is the same. No, I am not moving back in. No, you and I are never getting back together. Yes, I am still pursuing this divorce and one of these days I'll find a way to get you to sign those damned papers. I will do whatever I can to help Hayley deal with her issues, but moving back to Hillsborough is definitely not one of the options. So drop it, Linz."

"Well, we have to figure this out sooner than later, Matt. I swear I don't know how much more of this I can take," she had wailed.

"Look, the kids have just about a month or so left in the school year. I still maintain it would be much better for Hayley to transfer to a different school in the fall. It would get her away from some of those friends you insist are such a bad influence on her. There's a couple of excellent private schools here in San Francisco I've been researching that would be perfect for her - small class size, lots of individualized attention, that sort of thing. I think the change would be good for her. She could live here with me, and you know how much she likes San Francisco."

"No." Lindsey had been stubbornly adamant. "First, I doubt she'd agree. She's very close to her friends and it won't be easy to separate her from them. Second, what's she supposed to do when you're out of town on business for a week or two at a time? I'm not allowing my sixteen-year-old daughter to be on her own in a big city."

"Haven't you been telling me every single time you call that her friends are part of the problem?" he'd argued back. "This would take care of that problem nicely. As for the other, I'd have to hire someone to live in while I travel. Not a nanny, since she and Casey are both far too old for that, in spite of what you say. More like a companion or personal assistant, that sort of thing."

Lindsey had given a disdainful sniff. "And you're forgetting another reason why an idea like that would never work. Hayley can't stand your girlfriend, so you wouldn't be able to have her over anymore."

"Like hell I wouldn't," Matthew had replied sternly. "Hayley needs to make way more of an effort to get along with people. There is absolutely no reason why she shouldn't like Sasha, none at all. Sasha has been nothing but kind to Hayley, far more than she deserves. And before you say it, Linz, I am not taking sides here. Yes, Hayley is my daughter but that doesn't mean she's always right, or that I always have to take her side. Especially when she's acting like a spoiled brat when it comes to Sasha. So if she can't grow up and learn to treat people decently, and accept the fact that Sasha is a part of my life, then I suppose another alternative is a good boarding school somewhere." 

"But I don't want to be separated from her!" Lindsey had wailed. "I'd hardly ever get to see her if she went away. And it's been lonely enough without you here, Matt. I can't imagine what it would be like without my baby girl."

Matthew had stopped himself just in time from asking Lindsey in a very scathing tone how she could possibly be lonely given the number of men she'd been sleeping with - more than ever according to the weekly reports he still received from the private detective. "Well, unfortunately, you can't have it both ways," he'd told her instead. "On the one hand you're constantly complaining that she's too much for you to handle, that you're going out of your mind trying to cope with her antics. And then when I offer up two different solutions, you argue bitterly against them both. Make up your mind, will you, Linz?"

Lindsey had started crying again, though to Matthew her tears sounded as fake as her tits. "I just don't know what to do," she'd cried. "This is too much for me to deal with alone, Matt."

"Well, I've already given you two ideas on how to handle Hayley. Here's a third - we send her to counseling. In fact, when I was down there last week I might have threatened her with that possibility if she doesn't start behaving better. But maybe the threat should become a reality."

Lindsey hadn't liked that idea any better than the others, and had finally hung up on him in something of a snit. It had occurred to him then - and certainly not for the first time - that this whole situation with Hayley was a set-up of sorts, intended to make him feel badly enough that he would cave in and move back into the house. But while Lindsey was more than capable of something so devious, Matthew couldn't believe that his little girl would be a willing party to that sort of deception. Besides, he'd reasoned, Hayley had been moody and withdrawn for almost a year now, even before he had filed for divorce, so her issues couldn't be blamed entirely on his moving out.