“Whatdoyoumeanyou haven’t decided yet? You’ve had the invitation for two weeks already.”
I give Becca the side eye as we jog around the neighborhood. “I haven’t decided if I’m going.”
“What does Trent say?”
“He wants to go. But helovedhigh school. He was popular. The very little bit of time that I was, was only by default because I was dating him.” Or the little remnant from after we broke up before people realized I wasn’t cool without him.
Becca scoffs to my left as her red ponytail swishes back and forth. I opted to braid my long dark hair today, and I’m regretting it as it thwaks against my back with each step.
“So little miss perfect wasn’t popular.”
I stop dead in my tracks, hands landing on my bent knees while I gasp for breath. “Stop. You know I hate that perfect shit.”
“Sorry, Les. It’s the persona you’ve somehow achieved. And Trent doesn’t help with it since he thinks you’re God’s gift to Earth. Or at least to him.”
“Well to him, I should be because I’m his doting wife. And before you say it, most kids think their parents are perfect because it’s all they know. Then high school hits and they all hate us.”
“Robert definitely doesn’t think I’m perfect.”
“I said most.” I run the back of my hand along my brow, wicking away the beads of moisture. It may be April, but it’s pretty temperate out. The perfect running weather, not too hot and not too chilly. Though, for southern California, chilly is a bit of a subjective thing.
Becca had kids young like I did, though she was eighteen instead of my twenty-one. Her son is already the age where he gives her some trouble, especially because she’s not with his dad anymore.
She waves her hand through the air. “Anyway, it’s been ten years. I think you should go. I’ll take the kids for the night so you and Trent can go have some fun and not have to worry about it.”
“I can’t let you take them all. That’s far too many kids and not nearly enough hands.”
“You forget that I’ve taken them before. Besides, they’re amazing kids who listen better than I could ever dream of Robert listening. He’ll be the hardest one, including Charlie.”
She’s not wrong. One thing I can say is that my kids are good listeners to anybody that’s not me or Trent. At school they’re perfect angels. When they’re home, their devil horns pop out. But they love Becca. Enough that she’s become Aunty Becca. It’s easy when she’s been my best friend since we moved to the bay area from Stanford.
It’s where Trent and I reconnected my freshman year. I didn’t make it easy on him, but I did still love him, so it wasn’t hard to take him back.
After his graduation, we bought a house and I commuted every day for classes until I got pregnant with Jessica. At that point we had the discussion of whether my continuing—while pregnant—was worth it in the long run or if it was better for me to stay home. We both agreed: Me being home with our babies was important for them, so I dropped out and never looked back. And here I am, running with my best friend at one in the afternoon because my girls are at school and Charlie is at his program, too.
It’s not quite school, but it’s beyond daycare. They work on starting to identify colors and shapes as well as social interaction with peers. It was great for my older two, and Charlie loves it.
Besides care for the kids, there’s really no other reason for me not to go, except that I hate it and don’t want to.
Maybe I should call Veronica and see if she’s going. While we were best friends in high school, we drifted a little, especially with the revelation of my relationship with Trent when I showed up at the senior prom. Understandably, she’d been upset that I lied to her. But she was there for me when Trent broke it off.
Like most people, we just happened to lose touch during college, which makes sense when I stayed local and she went across the country.
“Fine. I’ll talk to Trent about it. I’m not sure I want to stay though. It’s close enough that we can just go for the event and be home late.”
“Leslie.” Her tone and the use of my full name makes me stop again. “Take the night. You and Trent deserve some time to yourselves, an evening of fun and with no kids hanging off of you. Please at least do it for me so I can live vicariously through you since I’m for sure not having any nights like that any time soon.”
Becca’s love life does leave a little to be desired, not that mine is stellar. With three kids, it’s hard to find time to be a couple, let alone have any adult time. Not to mention after a day of being hung all over and mommied to death, the last thing I want is somebody else touching me.
In reality, things with Trent aren’t wonderful most of the time. We don’t see each other much and when we do, we argue or talk about meaningless nonsense. We’re not the couple we used to be.
Not that anybody would know, including Becca. Gotta keep that image of perfection going, right?
Instead, I let on that everything is wonderful and everything anybody would dream of. Because on paper it should be, and I don’t want to seem ungrateful for the life I have.
So why isn’t it?
Chapter 5
