Lights Out by Ruthie Robinson

assessment of her home. It was large enough for the children and their stuff. But who knew they could use so much stuff?
    She felt the buzz of her cell against her butt. It was tucked into her back pant pocket.
    “Hello,” she said, cautious, not recognizing the number.
    “Hello, Renee. It’s me, Christina.”
    “Christina. It is so good to hear from you. How are you? Where are you?” she asked, walking out of Ken’s room and entering the hall leading to her bedroom.
    “I’m fine. How are Ken and Taylor?” she asked.
    “They are okay, but they miss you.” It was quiet on the phone for a second, and Piper could hear Christina crying.
    “I’m sorry that you have to take care of them. That was not my intent. I wanted your father to take care of his kids. They are his kids,” she said, her voice changing from tearful to angry. It was quiet for a few more seconds. Piper could hear her revert back to the crying again.
    “I’m sorry. My mother’s been ill, is ill, and I hadn’t known. Plus your dad…” she said, stopping, not finishing her thought. “Between leaving and my mother’s illness, I can’t seem to get it together,” she said.
    There was a pause. “Did you get the list of things to do for the girls? I left one at the house for your father,” Christina said, angry again.
    “Yes, I have it.”
    “How is your mother?” Piper asked, hoping that was a safer topic than her father.
    “Oh, Renee, I don’t know if she’s going to make it. She has cancer. Do you know I haven’t seen her in thirteen years? I left her because of your dad. I chose him over my family. She didn’t want me to marry him, said he was too old.”
    Renee didn’t know which way to go now, what to say.
    “What do you want me to do?” she asked.
    “Would you take care of the girls, please? I feel comforted that they are with you. You know what your dad is like.”
    “When do you think you might be back?” she asked.
    “I don’t know. I don’t know what I’m going to do. I thought about coming back for the girls, but with school starting soon and taking care of my mother. He couldn’t do this one thing I asked. I’ve given up so much up for him, and this one thing, to take care of his children, he couldn’t do. Is that too much to ask?”
    Renee didn’t know how to respond to that one, either.
    “The girls seem to be adjusting, and I’m getting to know them, which is an upside,” she said, hoping her humor would help.
    “Are there any good schools near you?” Christina asked.
    “I don’t know.”
    “Would you check into that for me? I don’t know how long I’ll be here,” she said. “There will be things they will need in order to be enrolled. Your father can help. You’ll need to make a trip to San Antonio to get those for me. Thank you so much. I’m glad the girls can depend on you. Mac is such a…” She thought better of it, and stopped talking again. It was quiet on the phone.
    “I miss them so much,” she said and started to cry again.
    “Maybe if you come back, Mac might be ready to discuss it with you. Maybe he would listen to you now.”
    “I don’t know,” she said, sounding lost. “I’ve got to go. I’ll call soon to check on the girls. Thanks, Renee. You don’t know what this means to me, knowing that you are watching over them. Can I talk to Taylor?” she asked.
    “Sure, let me go get her,” Renee said, walking out of her room and down the hall to Taylor’s new digs. She knocked, noting the Do Not Disturb sign hanging from the door.
    “What?” she heard through the door.
    “It’s your mom calling,” she said, listening as the door opened and an arm reached out. Piper placed her phone in Taylor’s hand and the door closed.
    Okay, she thought, and walked over to the top step leading downstairs. She sat, waiting.
    What a mess. Christina was a nice woman, a few years older than her twenty-seven. She met and married her dad at age twenty and had Taylor a year later. At