Chapter 33, enjoy!
"What in the hell have we done wrong Eric?" Tami shouted once she and her husband were alone in their bedroom. The rebel child, A.K.A. Gracie, had gone to bed, for real this time, and Julie and Jason had each gone to their respective rooms as well.
"I don't know hun," Eric replied.
"Well I told you a while back that we needed to get locks on our windows, specifically Gracie's , and I think we do now," Tami told him.
"I think that that will only make it worse because it will seem like we don't trust her," Eric stated.
"Like she has any reason for us to trust her! She has now snuck out, skipped school, gone to a party, and got drunk at a party. She's only 14! How are we supposed to punish her for this Eric, we've already taken away everything she owns and grounded her, and that obviously hasn't done any good."
"Maybe we should both just calm down and talk this through with her. Maybe we can figure out why she is acting out like this," Eric suggested.
"I guess it's worth a shot," Tami decided.
Eric's phone, which was laying face down on his night stand began ringing. He picked it up and flipped it over to look at the screen. Buddy Garrity's name flashed across the screen as the phone rang, begging him to answer it.
"Who is it?" Tami asked as Eric simply stared at the screen.
"It's Buddy again," Eric told her.
"What do you think he wants?" Tami questioned as the phone continued to ring.
"It's Buddy Garrity, who knows why he's calling," Eric replied.
"So are you going to answer it or just let it ring?"
"I'll tell him to call me back tomorrow," He decided. He pressed the green accept button and held the phone to his ear. "What's up Buddy?"
"Not too much," Buddy replied over the phone. "Just wanted to call and talk to you, see how you and your family are doing. It's been a while since we've talked," He explained, testing the waters. Buddy didn't want to jump into the football business he was truly calling about just yet, he wanted to get a feel for Coach Taylor first.
"Buddy, I would love to catch up with you, but we are an hour ahead of ya'll and it's getting late. We've had a crazy day, how about I just call you tomorrow?" Eric told him.
"Yeah sure, sounds good," Buddy defeatedly replied. Just another delay on getting Dillon football back to how it used to be. "Talk to you later, Eric," Buddy added as he hung up.
"What did he want?" Tami asked when Eric sat his phone back down on the nightstand.
"He just wanted to talk and catch up," Eric reported.
"So he called twice, just to catch up?"
"Yeah."
"It's Buddy Garrity. He doesn't just call to talk, and he called twice."
"Maybe the guy just needs someone to talk to."
"I bet he's got an agenda," Tami pointed out.
"So what do you thing his 'agenda' is?" Eric asked.
"Who knows," Tami answered. "So," Tami started, wanting to circle the conversation back to her problematic daughter. "We decided to talk things out with Gracie and go from there?"
"I think it's our best option, nothing else has worked so far," Eric replied. "What do you think?"
"I don't know what else to do. I'm used to handing out a grounding or taking away devices. Good old fashioned punishment always worked for Julie-"
"But it obviously hasn't worked for Gracie, so I think we need to try a new approach," Eric cut her off.
"You do have a good point," Tami agreed. "I guess we can try it and see how it turns out."
Tami and Eric both finished getting ready for bed. They turned out the lights and each slipped under the covers. Eric easily got comfortable and was beginning to fall asleep. On the other side of the bed, Tami anxiously tossed and turned. The paranoia of another attempted sneak out was haunting her.
"I've got to make sure she is still in our house," Tami announced as she climbed out of bed. She quietly walked down the hallway and carefully pushed Gracie's bedroom door open. Gracie was sound asleep in her bed, so Tami returned to her own bed where she felt less anxious. She was still afraid Gracie would attempt to sneak out again, but seeing her asleep in her room - where she was supposed to be - helped calm Tami's nerves.
Hope you enjoyed that chapter! Deep deep depo down Gracie is a good kid and you'll see that... eventually.