"... and I release Betsy Eleanor Parker to your joint custody!"
Addison smiled despite the nervousness and she squeezed Kevin's hand. They both looked at their girl, who avoided them openly, angrily.
Addison sighed and stood up, walking to her. "So," she smiled again, more softly. "Do you want to go shopping for your room before we go home?"
"No!"
"What about clothes?" Kevin added. "Addison loves shopping for clothes, you know. Oh, and shoes."
"And bags." Addison raised an eyebrow, smirking slightly as she remembered her second encounter with Betsy.
"Whatever. I need to call my boyfriend asap so let's hurry up and leave."
The two adults looked at each other, but when Kevin opened his mouth to scold the teenager, Betsy was already gone.
x
As soon as they entered the house, Betsy ran upstairs without a word.
"She hasn't said anything since the judge said she had to come with us. I'm worried."
"Don't worry too much babe, she's a teen. It's just... it'll go away. If we give her some space to think about the whole situation, she'll come around. You'll see." Kevin kissed her on her forehead. "Come on beautiful, let's cook lunch."
x
"Betsy? You want dessert?" Addison peered into Betsey's room, holding a plate with a slice of cake.
Betsy rolled her eyes, and turned up the volume of her I-pod.
"It's nice." the redhead sat on the edge of the bed. "I like it." she smiled warmly at the girl, although she knew well she wouldn't react. "What's your favorite color?"
Betsy looked at her briefly. "That's a stupid question, Addison."
"Well, I just want to get to know you." she patted her leg.
"Tonight I'm not in the mood." the girl grumbled. She grabbed her phone, answering an incoming call. "Hey, babe! Why weren't you picking up earlier? I have a bunch of things to tell you..."
Addison sighed, put the plate on the bedside table and left the room with one last loving glance towards the teenager.
x
The following day, Addison left the practice earlier than usual. She wanted to surprise Betsy buying her some curtains for her room, some brighter and more colored ones.
She was walking in direction of a shop Naomi and Violet had suggested her, when she saw Betsy with some other girls on the other side of the road.
That morning Kevin had taken her to school, but apparently she didn't really go there.
She considered for a few seconds her alternatives, buy decided to talk to her at home: they could end up fighting and yelling and she didn't want that with a lot of people around. She kept walking, asking herself if not taking her in when she was a kid was her worst mistake.
x
"Can I come in?" she knocked gently on the wooden door. Betsy was sat on the bed using her laptop; she had asked Kevin if she could borrow it.
The teen nodded, and she entered with her usual smile on her lips. She wasn't mad at Betsy anymore, because she understood that she did it because in her life no one had ever told her it was wrong. Or, if they did, it surely was in an exasperated way that could only lead the girl to do it more.
"How was your day?" she asked when she saw Betsy looking at her expectantly.
"Normal. I felt sleepy for the first two hours, slightly lost during the third, and the rest of it was boring. The only fun moment was lunch, because I met some girls and we talked."
"I'm happy you made some friends. Maybe you could ask them to come here one day; you could spend some time on the beach."
Betsey didn't answer, pondering Addison's idea.
"I bought something for you." Addison said, picking up the bag with the curtains. "They're yellow. I didn't know if you liked the color, but I think it's nice. Tomorrow we can put them on your windows. Do you like them?"
She nodded, touching the tissue. "They're nice."
Addison smiled warmly. "Good. So... what are you doing?"
"The girls I told you about gave me their e-mail address and now we're chatting."
"Alright, I'll leave you to it then. I'll call you when dinner's ready." she stood up from the bed and walked to the door. Right before exiting, she turned around. "Oh, and Betsy? I know you skipped school, I saw you. For this time, as you may have noticed, I won't say or do anything about it, but I don't want it to happen again. You can hang out with your school friends after your homework, and I'd like to know where you go. Alright?" she didn't wait for her to reply. "There's a baseball match on TV at eight thirty, and Kevin is watching it. If you like sports, he'd really be glad if you joined him."
x
"I did athletics for two years, but then I stopped. I really liked it."
"You can start again anytime." Kevin told her during the match break.
"Really?"
"Yeah, sure, why not? We'll ask around."
"Thank you." she forced herself to say. She had problems to admit it, but she liked Kevin a lot.
"I'm sorry Kevin, can you turn it off for a minute?" Addison appeared in the living room, her voice slightly expressing her anger.
"What's going on honey?"
Addison walked to Betsy. "Look Betsy, I'm really trying to be an understanding person but... I found this." she showed her a pack of cigarettes. "And I don't like it one bit."
"Betsy..."
She glanced at Kevin, pouting. "I've never made a secret of it. I smoke. End of."
"You used to smoke. End of." Addison answered, firmly.
Betsy rolled her eyes. "Oh, come on. You're making a big deal out of nothing."
"Out of nothing, Betsy? Do you know what happens to your body when you smoke? Smoking causes cancers in parts of the body, including the kidney, cervix, and bone marrow. It causes cataracts and contributes to the development of osteoporosis, thus increasing the risk for fracture in the elderly. It causes prematures deaths. There is a reason why they write that it harms you on it."
The girls breathed heavily. "Well, so I'll die young. So what?"
Addison closed her eyes to calm herself down a little.
"This is important." Kevin's voice was firm and grave. "Quit smoking. If you need help, you'll get it. But quit smoking, or you'll get yourself in trouble. And trust me, I mean it. I'm serious and I want you to keep in mind that there will be consequences."