Finding Light

Adrienne turned a page in her book and let a yawn escape from her lips. She read a paragraph and let her eyes wander off the page and over to the digital clock on her dresser. It was 2:30 and Billie Joe still hadn't come home.

He had left hours ago and mentioned he was just going out for a few drinks and was planning on coming in early. Adrienne tried to find reasons for him. He hadn't had a chance to go out with Mike and Tré since June and they probably had a lot to catch up on.

Adrienne tried to act satisfied with that thought, but it wasn't like him to stay out later than expected and not call. 'He's a big boy,' she thought to herself, <i]>He's fine

Carefully placing a bookmark on a selected page, Adrienne dropped the novel on the bedside table before turning off the light and settling under the covers.

Not long after she found a comfortable position, the phone began to ring.

"Fuck," She muttered, rolling out of bed and swaggering sleepily over to the phone. She hoped it wasn't another emergency with her father, who had recently suffered a heart attack.

"Hello?" she murmured into the cordless phone, she walked over to the bed and sat on the mattress.

"Hello Mrs. Armstrong? This is Officer Rodriguez of the Oakland Police Force," A thick voice came through the earpiece and woke up Adrienne's sleepy mind.

"Yes?" She asked, now worried, "Is everything alright?"

"I'm afraid not Ma'am," He said slowly, in the background Adrienne could hear dogs barking. "You husband is under arrest for driving while intoxicated. I pulled him over for speeding about an hour ago on Depot Road and he failed a breathalyzer test."

Adrienne rubbed her forehead with her free hand; she could feel a headache coming on. 'Not again,' she thought. "Okay," she said into the receiver.

"We posted a bail," Officer Rodriguez continued, "Your husband wants to know if you'll be coming to bail him out tonight."

"Tell my husband," Adrienne started sternly, "That I have two sons who are sound asleep right now and that I cannot possibly leave them alone just so I can bail him out of jail at two thirty in the morning. Although, he should already know that."

"Alright," Officer Rodriguez said carefully, not wanting to set her off.

"Tell him I'll be there sometime tomorrow morning," She instructed, running a hand through her hair in frustration.

"Will do Ma'am."

"Thank you for everything Officer, and have a good night," Adrienne said as nicely as she could, considering how much anger was building up in her.

"You too Mrs. Armstrong," The Officer said politely before hanging up the phone and ending the conversation.

'Fat Chance,' Adrienne thought bitterly, slamming the phone down on the bedside table.
*-*-*

"Ouch, please don't bite sweetie!" Adrienne begged as she sucked air in through her teeth at the pain caused by nursing her youngest son. "I really need to start weaning him soon."

Lisea hummed a response, her eyes were focused on the coffee table, and she seemed deep into her own mind.

"You alright?" her best friend asked her, removing the 10 month old Jakob from her chest and placing him in his play pen for a nap.

"I don't know," Lisea answered, rubbing her temple with her fingers.

"Is everything alright with you and Tré?" Adrienne asked, sitting back down next to Lisea on the leather couch of the Armstrong's living room.

Lisea closed her eyes and shook her head. Adrienne instantly put her arm around her friend and pulled her into a close hug. "What's wrong?"

Lisea shrugged, "Everything." She said. "He is never home anymore and whenever he is around all we do is fight. I can't take it anymore Adie."

"I know," Adrienne soothed, "But that's marriage Lise, you have to work through all that."

"That's not all," Lisea continued after Adrienne spoke "I just got this job offer to be a fulltime photographer for Vanity Fair magazine. God, Adie it's the gig I've been dreaming of. But it's in New York and I know Tré would never move out there. He loves California too much."

Lisea buried her head in her hands for a minute, breathing deep breaths of frustration. Adrienne waited a moment before asking the question that racked her brain. "So what are you going to do?"

Lisea opened her mouth to answer but was interrupted by the sound of little feet stampeding across the wood floor.
"Mom!" a breathless Ramona ran up to the couple first, followed by Joey. Both were holding construction paper in their hands. "Look what I drew!"

She unraveled the rolled up paper to show her mother the drawing she had made. It was her family; all four of them standing in front of their large home. It was a typical work of art people would expect a four year old to make. "Wow sweetie, that's beautiful!" Lisea complimented scooping up her little girl.

"You're the one holding the camera," she pointed toward the stick figure that was supposed to be her mother "And that's Daddy with his drumsticks."

"You did a great job sweetheart," Lisea smiled, squeezing her daughter, "But you have to sign it before we put it on the fridge."

Ramona put the drawing on the coffee table and picked up a green crayon. She didn't know how to read or write yet, so she signed her picture with an 'I 'heart' U' before returning it to Lisea who smiled and kissed her little girl on the head.
"I love you too, baby."

"The only thing that sucks," Joey said to Ramona as they swung next to each other at the playground "are the uniforms."
Joey was explaining the school that both teenagers would now be attending in about a week. Ramona was nervous about starting at a new school, especially with the rumors circulating about her Mom, and she sought out Joey for advice.

The conversation started out extremely awkward that morning. Surprisingly, both teenagers never had the chance to be actual friends since they were little kids. They would see each other occasionally when Ramona came to visit, but the bi-coastal distance made it impossible to keep any sort of relationship between the two alive.

But eventually it seemed that the two picked right up where they left off, only now they were ten years older. Conversation came easily and before they knew it, it was going on two in the afternoon. And Ramona felt as if she had actually made a new friend.

"What do you think people will say?" She asked as they walked over to a picnic table and sat down next to each other.

"About you?" Joey asked, and Ramona nodded "Nothing, they won't even care." He shrugged.

"Yeah, right," Ramona rolled her eyes and began picking at the chipped paint on the table.

"Well if they do... I'll kick their asses," He said with an attitude that he really didn't possess. Joey was never a tough guy. "Hey, before you know it, you will have forgotten all about it."

Ramona suddenly fell silent and began to peel the paint off the picnic table with a force.

"Sorry," Joey said quietly, hanging his head down.

"It's alright," Ramona murmured, "You didn't know what you were saying."

Silence hang between the two before Joey cut through it with a hand saw "Do you remember any of it?" he asked cautiously

Ramona took a deep breath. Images instantly flashed through her mind; the bottle Whiskey, the prescription jar, the Post It Note, Mrs. Potter's bathrobe, her Dad's voice telling her everything was going to be alright even though she knew everything was falling apart.

Ramona shook her head wildly as Joey put his arm around her shoulders "Bits and pieces of it," she said quietly. She didn't cry though, it was almost as if it hurt too much to cry at this point.

Joey searched for the right thing to say, he wanted nothing more than to make her feel better at this point. But all he could think of to do was to stay there and be with her for as long as he needed her, even if it took forever.