But did she love them more than she loved having Fred in her life – not from a distance, but next to her, trying to swipe her movie snacks and teasing her about crying during the sappy parts?
She left those taunting words sitting in that text box but closed it before opening Mandy’s number.This time, she pressed call and waited.One ring.Two.Three.Four.
“Merry Christmas!”Mandy sang into the phone.
“Remind me why Fred was a bad choice.Why did I turn him down?”
“Okay, so that’s not the proper response to Merry Christmas, but I’ll go with it,” Mandy replied.“Is your dad there yet?”
“No, he’s going to be late.There was an emergency call out.”
“Well, I guess we can’t have people freezing on Christmas Day, now, can we?”Mandy’s voice was sweet.Too sweet.She was stalling.
“Remind me why I turned down Fred in grade eleven.”
There was a deep exhale on the other end of the conversation.“Because he was going to be a mechanic.All he loved was music and cars.”
Yeah, that’s what she remembered.Mandy hadn’t approved of such things.It would have been a “bad look.”
“And,” Mandy added, “it could have ended your friendship.”
Tears were falling in earnest now, and Esther sniffled.
“Hey, what’s wrong?”Mandy asked.
“It’s over.”
“What?Did Steve break up with you?”
“No.Fred did.”
There was a moment of silence before Mandy said, “You weren’t dating Fred.”
“No, but I used to be his friend.And not just from a distance.”
“You are making little sense.”
Esther reopened her conversation with Fred and sent a screenshot of it to Mandy.“Open that.”She stood and walked around her living room, stopping at the bookcase where a picture of her and her dad stood next to a ceramic Christmas angel.
“How did we become friends?”she whispered as a thought struck her.
“I’m sorry?What?I was reading this screenshot.”
“How did we become friends?My dad wears coverall and often smells like fuel oil.”Those were two of the reasons Mandy had given for Fred’s desire to be a mechanic to be beneath Esther – or more precisely any friend of Mandy’s.
“I’m still not seeing the connection to what we were talking about.”
“Fred’s like my dad.Why did that make him unacceptable for me, when you were fine with being friends with the daughter of a repair guy?For that matter why was Fred okay for me to have as a friend but not a boyfriend?”
“Um…” Mandy seemed lost for words, which for Mandy was not normal.“Do you think we could have this conversation in person?Because my answer isn’t going to come across well.”
“Just tell me, Mandy.”
“You know my mom.”
“Yeah.I do.”
“She’s, well, um, she’s always expected me to be a certain way.To her, everything has to look good.”
