Walking toward her dad, Margie answers, “I was at Rosemary’s meeting with Jordan. This is Miss Rogers. She teaches at the high school.” As an afterthought, she adds, “She’s Leah’s basketball coach.”
Her dad meets us at the front door. After opening the screen, he turns his attention to his daughter and asks, “What is she doing with you?”
“Go get Mom,” Margie says. “I’ll tell you together.”
Margie’s dad looks like he’s in his early forties. In fact, he almost looks too young to be her dad.
Leading me into the living room, my new roommate gestures toward a pale blue sofa. “We can sit here and wait for them.”
Moments later, Mr. Flynn returns with his wife. She’s got curly brown hair like her children, and she’s wearing an apron. She appears to be around her husband’s age.
Approaching me, she reaches out her hand to shake mine. “Leah’s told us a lot about you. Thank you for taking on coaching the girls.”
“Leah has always loved basketball,” her dad interjects while sitting down on the loveseat across from me and his older daughter.
“Your daughter is very good,” I tell them. “I give her all the credit for the school agreeing to have a girls’ team.”
Sitting next to her husband, Mrs. Flynn offers, “They couldn’t have done it withoutyou, so thank you. We love that our daughter is being given this opportunity.”
The Flynns behavior doesn’t seem to be quite as egregious as I was expecting. In fact, they seem very supportive of Leah, which makes me wonder if they might come around to be the same for Margie.
Margie’s mom says, “I’m Holly, by the way. My husband is Nathan.”
“I’m Allie,” I tell them.
“So, what are you doing with Margie?” Nathan asks. “Do you have her for a class in school?” Before I can answer, he gives his daughter a look of frustration and demands, “Are you in trouble there, too?”
I hurry to respond. “I don’t have Margie in school,” I tell them. “In fact, I just met her this morning.” They look more confused than ever, so I explain, “I was having coffee with Coach Riley. Margie and Jordan joined us.”
“We haven’t seen Jordan since Margie told us she waspregnant,” Holly says angrily. I already know this, so I simply nod my head.
“It’s a lot for both of the kids to handle.”
“It wouldn’t have to be anything if Margie just got an abortion,” her dad says.
Okay, I guess we’re jumping right in. Clearing my throat, I respond, “About that. Margie tells me you aren’t in favor of her keeping the baby.”
“In favor of it?” her mom demands. “It’s hard work raising children. The moment you have them, your life is no longer about you. Not ever.”
Her father’s tone softens slightly. “We were hoping for Margie to actually have a life before being in this position.”
“I can certainly see why that is,” I tell them both. “But as you know, Margie has a big decision to make.”
“It shouldn’t be her decision,” Holly declares. “She’s just a child.”
Margie practically growls, “You might not realize this, but I turned eighteen yesterday.”
They both look shocked by the news, which makes it clear it wasn’t a day any of them celebrated. Nathan says, “We’ve all had a lot on our mind recently, I guess we forgot.” He belatedly tells his daughter, “Happy birthday, Margie.”
She simply rolls her eyes. “You guys told me you won’t support me having this baby so I’m leaving.”
“Leaving?!” her mom demands. “Where in the world do you think you’re going?” Then she looks at me. “Oh, I see. You’ve decided to get involved in this mess, have you?”
“Allie is going to let me stay with her for a while,” Margie tells them. “At least long enough for me to think some things through.”
Her mom stands up with her fists clenched at her sides. “If you leave, you’re not moving back home.”
Nathan’s expression doesn’t seem quite as determined as his wife, but he doesn’t contradict her.
