Episode 861: Girl At Home

Ryley removed his jacket and shoes and joined his two favorite girls, kissing them hello.

“Busy. I’m sorry about that, I should have scheduled better. I hate that I missed checking in with you two on the phone, it’s my favorite part of the day.”

“Ours, too, but if you’re swamped you’re swamped, we understand.”

He shook his head. “Maybe we should meet in person for lunch everyday, it’ll ensure we each take a breather, I can get away from the office and relieve you of some kid duty, too, plus, midday, I’m just really missing you two. What do you think? Somedays I’ll come home, and somedays you two will get out of the house for awhile...” When his wife failed to respond, he added, “only of course if it works for you, I mean, if you wanted to maybe leave Miranda with me for an hour or even take her with you to help your sister on that project, I’d be totally supportive.”

“It sounds nice,” Adria said, though what she sounded like, was distracted.

He touched her arm to grab her attention, hoping the distraction was about something positive. “Have you considered her offer at all?”

“It’s weighed on me ever since Justine stopped by this morning.”

“Wait, so she was here, and now you’re considering it? That’s awesome. It’s not acting but at least it’s in that world, and consulting doesn’t have to take you away from Miranda, so that’s right in line with you wanting to be a very hands-on mom.”

“Justine rescinded the offer.”

“What? Why? What the hell is with your family and how spiteful they can be? Is it all because you didn’t instantly jump at it? Doesn’t she get that you're in the very early stages of figuring out how to balance motherhood and-”

“Ryley,” Addie said with a firmness that suggested she’d said his name a few times before he’d managed to listen. “Justine rescinded the offer because she gave up the job herself, so did her firm.”

“Well,” I’m sorry about that,” Ryley said, “but I’m glad it was some sort of business decision and not another case of your family acting less than family-like.”

“It was only sort of a business decision, it was also about me.” She explained about Dustin and the theater and Justine electing to walk away from the situation. “So now Justine’s losing out on a challenge she was excited about taking on, and that beautiful old theater may not have as buzzy a re-launch as it deserves.”

“Neither of those things are your fault, they’re his. He is the only one who has anything to feel guilty over. Maybe it’ll do him some good to struggle with this re-launch, have a setback remind him that he’s not entitled to everything he pleases.”

Episode 862: Problem