Artemis smiled cheerily and knelt by the sofa, miming cooking and stirring. “Okay, then,” she said. “Here I am, making breakfast for me and my husband and my daughter.”

Leah giggled and knelt next to her and tugged at her sleeve. “Mommy, Mommy,” she fake-whined, “when’s breakfast going to be ready? I’m hungry!”

Artemis patted Leah’s hair and replied, “It’ll be ready soon, I promise. Now, go wake up your daddy and tell him breakfast is ready.”

Taking the cue, Nathan sprawled out on the couch, feigning sleep as he let out loud snores. Leah laughed and scampered over to Nathan. “Daddy, Daddy,” she giggled, “wake up. Mommy’s getting breakfast ready.”

Nathan let out a great yawn and sat up. “I’m up, I’m up,” he replied. “Let me shave real quick, and then I’ll eat breakfast. I need to hurry, though. I have to go to work today.”

Leah ran back over to Artemis and announced, “Daddy’s up. He’s shaving. He has to go to work, so he’ll have to eat real quick.”


“Well, that’s fine,” Artemis responded. “Here, you can eat breakfast, and then you can get ready for school. Now, what would you like to eat?”

“Pancakes and doughnuts!” Leah replied, grinning.

Artemis pretended to serve food to Leah. “Here you go, Leah. Chocolate chip pancakes with whipped cream and chocolate syrup, and a chocolate doughnut. What would you like to drink?”

“Chocolate milk!”

“Okey-dokey,” Artemis said cheerily, pretending to pour.

“Thank you, Mommy. You’re the best mommy ever.”

“You’re welcome,” Artemis replied. She looked over at Nathan, who had just finished feigning shaving his face and was walking over. “Good morning, honey. You need to eat a big breakfast before you go to work.”

“Thank you,” Nathan responded. “I’ll just serve myself. That way, you can eat. You need your energy, too.”

“Thank you!”

“You’re welcome.”


Lisa scoffed and rolled her eyes. “Like it really happens like this in real life,” Lisa remarked bitterly. “Let me tell you what’s more realistic: Nathan’s cheating on Artemis with me, Leah isn’t really Nathan’s kid; she’s really the product of an affair Artemis had with her doctor or someone like that. Oh, and the doctor is selling drugs for extra money.”

“Someone’s been watching too many soap operas,” Eva muttered to Sean, who nodded in response. “Look, Lisa, if you don’t want to play, you can watch TV or read a book. But don’t ruin it for the rest of us who do want to play. My life sucks, too, but I’m not taking it out on everyone else.”

“You don’t know anything about life sucking,” Lisa shot back. “Just because you get picked on at school--”

“--You call coming home with cuts and bruises all over your face and blood on your clothes getting picked on?” Eva snapped. “You have things pretty easy. Your mom might not spend much time with you, but at least you have people who care about you. And people at school like you, at least. When’s the last time you came home from school, wanting to cry?”


“Career Day, when you’re supposed to have your parents come in and talk about their jobs. And the time I had to make a family tree in class; the teacher didn’t believe I didn’t know who my dad was. Is that enough, or should I keep going?” Lisa shouted, tears in her eyes. “At least you know who your parents are.”

“At least your parents aren’t always at each other’s throats,” Eva retorted. “Miss Lia and Miss C are like the best friends ever.”

“But they’re not my parents!”

“They’re like parents to you!”

“Please, calm down,” Sean interrupted them, setting a hand on each girl’s shoulder. “If you’re going to argue, do it somewhere else. But I don’t think the rest of us want to watch you two fight.” He smiled over at Artemis, Leah, and Nathan. “Go ahead and continue,” he said to them. “Please.”