I’m walking through my reasons whythe word girlfriend surprised me when I unlock my own front door, and I can’t really figure out why.We’ve gone on a date or two each week for more than a month.We talk every single day on the phone, and text most days on and off all day.He came to Thanksgiving, and he helped me with Halloween.He’s been supportive in every way, even if he’s busy right now.
I’m still ruminating when I realize how dark everything is.Vanessa and Trish must’ve gone home.I walk through the kitchen silently, and I head for the family room.The blinking golden lights of the tree always calm me down quite a bit, especially when I’m worried about something or fretting.
Only, not tonight.
Because tonight, Trace is kissing Clara under them.
The word I say isn’t a nice word.It’s not a word I’m proud of, but I do say it rather loudly, and the two of them spring apart.
“Mom.”Clara glares, and then she darts for her room, like a mouse fleeing the kitchen lights switching on.
“Uh, sorry.”Trace looks down at his feet, then his head snaps back up, his eyes meeting mine.He’s smiling when he shrugs, and then he shoots out, even faster than Clara did.
So much for the holiday lights helping me think.I stumble into the kitchen and collapse on a chair.I should call my boyfriend.Maybe Cillian will give me some perspective, but instead, I find myself calling Mason.
“Hello?”
“Hey, I know you’re in—where are you again?”
“Spain,” he says.“There’s a conference on?—”
“I don’t actually care,” I say.“I just wanted to make sure I wasn’t waking you up in the middle of the night.”I freeze.What if he’s not alone.“Or, you know...interrupting something.”
“You aren’t,” he says.“I was putting together a proposal on my computer, but that can wait.What’s wrong?”
All of a sudden, I remember the hundreds of times he’s been there when things have gone wrong.When Amelia needed stitches after flipping over in a hammock.After the fundraiser I planned for the elementary school fell apart.He was my rock when I got the flu the night before a big social media campaign.He was slow with household tasks, and he didn’t pay enough attention to understand a lot of things the kids needed, but he held down the fort when my grandmother died, and I was a wreck for several weeks.
Mason may have completely wrecked our life together, but he’s stillMason.
“I caught Clara kissing Trace Littleton.”
He swears loudly—the exact same word I said.
“You get it, at least.”I groan.“What am I supposed to do?”
“I’m ordering an industrial strength chastity belt, and I’ll pay for overnight delivery.”
I laugh.“Stop.”
“I mean it.It’s got a bio key, so she won’t be able to get that baby off without your thumb print or mine.”
Now I’m really laughing.“Mason, be serious.What can we do?Anything I say, to Claraorto Vanessa, is sure to hurt feelings.It’s complicated, and he’s not an awful kid.”
“Agree to disagree.He’s a pothead, for heaven’s sake, who’s barely getting Cs.They celebrated when he got one B.I heard Vanessa say that, like it was worthy of an award.”
“Every kid is different,” I say.“But he’s not who I’d pick for Clara.”
“The smartest kid in the entire town.”Mason huffs.“Me either.”
“Okay, but we need some kind of plan,” I say.“He’s really good-looking, and thanks to hurling, he’s popular at school, too.If we forbid this, it’s going to get bad.What do we do?Do we ignore it?Confront them?Talk to Vanessa?”I hear that I’m becoming hysterical, but I’m not sure how to stop.“What am I supposed to do here?You have to tell me.”
“You buy a nightstand, and it comes with a manual,” he says.“You’d think someone would have a manual for this kind of thing, right?”
“Mason, I don’t have time to buy and read another book on positive parenting right now.It’s too late for that, clearly.Clara ran to her room after I swore at them.”
“Right, yeah.I’d have done that too.So, huh.”
“You said the exact same word.”
