She answered it after six rings.

Billy and Tony had been caught in a department store, shoplifting some cheap items they could easily have paid, for. She was asked to come to the store.

Lynn didn't know what to do, but she didn't have much choice.

If she refused to go to their aid, Jake would be very angry with her. He had, after all, left them in her care. Jake wanted her to run the house and his family like any mother so he could devote his time to his growing career. If she valued her marriage, she had to confront the store manager, attempt to get her stepsons out of the problem and try to punish them as Jake expected of her.

Approaching the department store, Lynn trembled, fearful of entering. Billy and Tony were in there, and she dreaded facing them after what they had done to her.

The manager was kind with her, giving the boys a stern lecture on shoplifting and what it could lead them to, then he released the boys to her, promising not to contact the authorities unless they were caught again.

Billy and Tony acted contrite and sorry for their act, but once they were out of the store, alone with Lynn, they changed completely around.

"That old fart," Billy scoffed. "We would've gotten away with it if he hadn't come along at that time, huh, Tony?"

"Yeah," Tony replied. "Up his!"

"Now don't talk that way," Lynn admonished, trying to exert some influence over them, but her voice sounded shaky. "It isn't nice."

"You can piss up a rope," Billy said, making Tony snicker. "You don't own us, Lynn."

"That's right," echoed Tony.

Lynn didn't like the way they talked. Telling her to piss up a rope had been the start of that degrading experience this morning, and she didn't want a repeat of that! Maybe if she kept her mouth shut, they would leave her alone.

At home, the boys, she saw gratefully, went to their rooms upstairs. She gathered up the soiled laundry, planning on doing the washing. The washing machine and dryer were set in a small room near the garage, and she would feel safe from her stepsons there, she felt. Loading the washer and turning it on, she leaned over it, not wanting to go back into the house. She was afraid Billy and Tony would be downstairs.