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Chapter Eleven: Deaf Ears.

After dinner, I helped Sam wash and dry the pan, bowls and cutlery before Mrs Uley came down the stairs, having let her helping go cold. Sam rolled his eyes at her antics as she stumbled down the stairs, trying to put a pair of very high heels on, while I frowned in confusion. Surely she couldn't work in such high heels? When she finally stomped onto the last step, she looked up and smiled at us.

I noted the dark circles barely covered in makeup and her hair looked hardly brushed through. If I didn't know better, I'd think she was sick but Sam would have said if she was. Guessing she had one too many beers last night with her guest, I watched her straighten a short, black skirt while fiddling inside her large handbag.

"Hey kids." Her overly cheerful voice made Sam grind his teeth together, "How about I make you some-"

"We already ate." Sam interrupted sharply and Mrs Uley's facial expression froze.

"Okay…did you have dessert?"

"No, we haven't got anything in the cupboards for dessert."

"Of course we have." She laughed and Sam scowled as she began searching through the cupboards, "I only went shopping-"

"Two weeks ago." Sam snapped, "Mom-" Then his eyes cut to me and he took a deep breath. Clearly, he didn't want me to see them arguing, "Why don't you do your homework in your room Bella? I'll come up and help you in a minute."

"Sure." I quickly gathered my things and hurried upstairs. But I didn't go into my room. I crouched at the top of the stairs and listened in. It was wrong to eavesdrop, I knew it was, but I overrode my morality with curiosity.

"Mom-"

"Don't start Sam, I haven't got time." Mrs Uley slammed a cupboard door shut and I flinched.

"That's your problem; you don't make time for anything." Sam replied with quiet anger, "Bella lost her father a week ago and needs a parent in her life. But all you're interested in doing is working and bringing home men."

"Don't you dare-"

"She needs a mom right now, some stability. You nearly traumatised her last night, I doubt Mr Swan brought home strange women in the night."

"Sam-"

"You didn't even go shopping and you promised you would before Bella got here. I had to go to Mrs Call's store today."

"I'm s-"

"No, you're not. You're too interested in your own life to care about anything else. Bella had to get the bus, on her own, today because you couldn't manage to get up this morning. She's barely ten and she's getting the bus on her own. Mom, you can't do that. You told Mr Black you could take care of her."

"I can-"

"Really? Because it doesn't look like it!" Sam's sneer shocked me; I had never heard him so unpleasant to someone.

"Now listen here Samuel Uley, don't you dare talk to your mother like that. I am working hard to make money so I can pay for us all! So what if I forgot something, once, it won't happen again. Every parent forgets now and then."

"But it's irresponsible. Some parents forget to pack yoghurt or a carton of juice, not to take their kid to school at all because they were drunk! If you don't take care of Bella, she'll be taken into care."

"Don't be ridiculous!" Sam's mom's tone of voice suggested that she was at the end of her temper and I worried for Sam handling her. I used to overhear dad speaking to Billy and Harry about parents hurting their children and I hoped Mrs Uley wouldn't hurt Sam. They were arguing over me, I was the one causing trouble, not him.

"That's what's going to happen mom! Unless you do something now. That means buying groceries, taking Bella to school, actually being up and here when we need you. Do you think you can do that mom?"

There were several beats of silence and I wondered what was going on downstairs. But before I could move to see, I heard the sound of the front door slamming, vibrating through the wooden house. Mrs Uley had left without a word. Without thinking, I ran back down the stairs to Sam, who stood with his hands buried in his short, dark hair. I wrapped my arms around his middle and hugged his tightly.

It was my entire fault. If I hadn't moved into the Uley household, they would never have had that argument. I was ruining their relationship. Or, it felt like it; because I knew they weren't close to begin with. When I had seen them around the Reservation on a rare occasion, they were distant to each other. Mrs Uley was usually busy talking to someone or on the phone while Sam did his own thing. But it still hurt to think I was making it much worse than it was already in their fragile mother-son relationship.

"I'm sorry Sam." I whispered into his broad shoulder and his hands came down to wrap around me too. For a moment we stood silently before Sam drew away. Wiping a tear from my cheek, he sighed.

"Have you finished your homework yet?" He asked quietly. Shaking my head at him, he ruffled my hair and offered to help me with a grin. Then, as I mirrored his smile, we went to fetch my homework and his, and spent the rest of the evening working together on the living room floor surrounded by workbooks.

If anyone looked in on us, they'd see two kids laughing and talking over numbers, not realising the drama that had engulfed us after dinner. But that was how Sam and I handled it, together, comforting each other and forgetting everything else. Keeping the outside world oblivious to our dirty laundry. It was as if Mrs Uley and her visitors were a separate universe when we were alone and happy. Just as a family should be.