a freak of nature

"You, baby her way too much." Lisa wasn't budging from the sofa. Naturally, her two were climbing all over it and Charlie was there looking at them as if they might be animals. "Geo, wasn't there for me, you know. Not in the last few months when I was pregnant with these two. He was off at bootcamp."

Lon kept smiling. There was a mess of lemonade to clean up on the floor. Lisa didn't offer to help. Charlie went to get paper towels. He pulled all the drawers out. Climbed on counter and got them. Soon he was down, he slid the drawers back. Lon almost laughed, but he guessed he shouldn't have let him, but Charlie was amazing. Everyday.

"How is Geo?" Lon sat there watching Lisa bite into a cookie. She was impossibly thin. It was as if this whole move back home had taken a toll on her.

"Depressed." She assured him.

Lon nodded wondering who's fault that was.

"Have you found a job?" He asked.

"What could I do?" She winced as if her job was to tell everyone what they weren't doing right.

"I dunno. What do you like to do?" He couldn't think of her possibly liking anything.

"I'm not creative, like Ellie." She reminded him.

Lon smiled. It was funny to hear her say something nice about her sister. "Well, I'm sure you must have a hidden talent."

Lisa looked at him sad then. "I think Geo would leave me, if he could."

Lon didn't know what to say to that. He really didn't want to know their troubles, but he guessed she needed someone to listen. "Maybe you two, just need some time away. You know, get to know each other. Again."

"If I could only find someone to stay with them." She looked at her children as if they were thing one and thing two.

"Right." Lon knew he better not say he and Ellie would keep them, because he knew Ellie wouldn't go for that.