“I’m home!” Lisa called out, guiding the door behind her to a close with one hand. Her eyes skimmed what she could see of the house from where she stood; the entrance of the living room and the hallway leading to the kitchen. Silent and seemingly vacant. Nothing out of the ordinary.

She gently kicked off her sneakers, using her feet to make sure they were positioned neatly on the mat next to her sister’s smaller pair.

“We need to talk.”

Lisa flinched at her mother’s sudden voice. It was unusually cold, a tone she rarely ever heard. She walked slowly towards her from down the hall. Lisa involuntarily gulped, her eyes meeting the older woman’s. The warmth she was used to seeing was no longer evident in them. Her mind immediately began concocting the worst possible scenarios that could have evoked such apparent distaste.

Did she know she was gay? Did she find out about her and Jennie? 

“About?” her voice cracked. She immediately cleared , rubbing her neck with force she didn’t intend. She was losing her composure with the mere thought of being discovered.

“Jennie’s aunt came by today,” she started. Lisa’s heart sped up tenfold at the mention of the woman. She let out a shaky breath that went unnoticed by her mother – or at least that’s what she hoped.

“She wanted to return the clothes you left at her home the night of the storm. The same night you said you stayed at Rosie’s.”

Her eyes widened at the revelation. She opened to speak but no words came out.

“Why did you lie, Lisa?” She crossed her arms with raised eyebrows, anticipating her daughter’s explanation.

Lisa did not consider lying her forte. Honesty is the best policy her father had repeated the same cliché phrase to her for the entirety of her childhood. It stuck with her, taunting her, when all she needed was a simple lie to save her the consequences. She found it ironic now. She had been lying to herself her whole life. But she did learn for a fact that the truth eventually comes out.

“I-I was afraid of what you might think,” she paused. “What dad might think, after everything he said.”

“Oh sweetie,” her mother’s tone softened.

Lisa let out a breath of relief.

“I’m sorry for lying.”

She stepped forward and lent her a comforting hand; lightly squeezing her shoulder.  “It’s okay, I get it.”

She stood staring at her for a second longer, moistening her lips before speaking, “Your dad is just looking out for you, you know. I think you should consider his words.”

Lisa closed her eyes and breathed in. She knew her mother would side with her father, but there was always a small part of her that had hoped she could prove her wrong. However, it diminished with that statement. As she slowly let out her breath she also let go of that small hope.

 “I know. But she’s- she’s my friend mom. She’s not a bad person.”

Her mother simply averted her gaze and nodded, “I see.”

The conversation came to a halt after that. Lisa felt almost uncomfortable with the way her mother had ended the subject. Her features emanated a concerning nothingness. A wave of unease washed over her as she pondered on these observations. Nothing gave her so much as a hint to her mother’s thoughts on Jennie.

She sometimes compared her to a robot; programmed to follow her father’s orders with no objections. Lisa had never seen or heard her mother’s opinions in matters. Just the same recycled phrase in agreement to whatever her father considered right.   

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