Chapter 11: Lack of Trust

Lena came home at 4:00, exclaiming that their charter had been renewed and all was well. Stef sat at the kitchen table, congratulating her wife and then directing Lena's attention to Callie, who had fallen asleep in the breakfast nook.

"She looks like a little angel." Lena smiled.

"That's not it. You need to have a talk with your daughter."

"What did she do now?" Lena asked, annoyance poignant in her voice.

"She invited Wyatt over. I assumed that she called him on her phone, which was supposed to be hidden by the way, and she took it anyway. So I turned it on and checked the call history while our sneaky Miss Callie was asleep, and my hunch was right. I gave her dish duty for a week, but I know you and your beneficial punishments…"

"You'd like me to punish her." Lena said.

"You're much better at it. You can help her learn from this." Stef sighed. "She's having a hard time right now. My poor baby."

Lena smiled. This was her favorite part of her wife: her compassion for their children.

"Okay." Lena said, taking a seat at one of the bar stools in the kitchen.

"I'll go wake up the Callie bear." Stef laughed, ambling to Callie's side and kneeling beside her. Stef put her hand on Callie's back, rubbing up and down.

"Hey, sweets. It's time to wake up. Wake up for me, love."

Callie's eyes began to open.

"Good girl. Mama is home, she'd like to talk to her Callie girl."

Callie squeezed her eyes tightly.

"Oh, come on. Mama's not that scary." Stef joked as she pulled her into an upright position.

"Let's go to my room, sweetheart. Stef grabbed Callie's hands as she pushed her towards Lena.

Callie looked back to Stef with a look of fear as she followed Lena up the stairs. Stef just waved her off and turned back to the newspaper.

Upstairs, Callie was ushered into the moms' bedroom and sat on the bed. Lena began to pace around her, but saw Callie's nervous demeanor and sighed, taking a seat next to her and taking both of Callie's hands in hers. "Callie… when all of this started happening I kept asking myself why this would be happening. I mean, all of this was going so well it seemed, you excelled in school, you were getting along with your siblings, you had mom and me, and a boyfriend… And when this Robert business started, I thought you'd be fine, because you are so strong and you have so many people who love you… But then I realized, there has to be a reason why you keep rebelling against us, and why you hwent out to get drunk instead of talking to us… You don't trust us… or you aren't letting yourself trust us. And I certainly don't blame you, I mean, I wouldn't trust anyone if I had your experiences. We really need to earn your trust, sweetheart." She took a pause. She looked into Callie's beautiful brown eyes. She spoke again. "I have an idea. Your mom will think I'm insane, but I think it'll work."

_Stef sat in the kitchen, anxiously awaiting her wife's return. When she heard a set of heels click down the stairs, she straightened her back and turned to face Lena.

"So, what's up? How did it go? What are we doing to her?"

"We…," Lena started hesitantly. "We are taking her on a trip."

"What? Please tell me you're kidding." Stef rolled her eyes and rested her hands on the counter.

"She doesn't trust us, Stef. She needs to trust us. Especially if we'll be her mothers soon." Stef sighed, thinking it over. "This will help. We'll take a weekend. You said your mom was dying to come visit. We'll leave on Friday after her school day ends, and we'll drive somewhere. We'll spend time with her. We'll let her know she can trust us, and that she can come to talk to us about anything."

"Okay." Stef said after a moment. "I think you're right." Stef's trademark smile appeared on her face. "So, my only real question is: where are we taking Miss Callie?"

"El Dorado."

"The hiking park?"

"Yeah! It's perfect. We can take Callie to the great outdoors! It's only 20 minutes or so from here. It's perfect. There are plenty of cheap little motels around, it's near the beach…"

"Alright! She's still doing the dishes all week, though."

"Agreed."