"You ready to go?"
"No. I don't want to go to Dad's this weekend," her daughter said.
"You know your dad loves you, right?"
"I know. Or at least I know he says he does."
"Honey. Listen. Your dad left me, not you. Whatever happened, happened between me and your father. And yes, he does love you."
"Then why is he always with her?"
"His girlfriend?" her mom asked even though there was no need to do so because the answer was obvious.
"Well, yeah. When he lived with us, we always did stuff together. Just me and Dad. Now...she's always around, and we never do anything!"
Trying to be a good mother and be honest she said, "Your father is in love, honey. That's what people who are in love do. I know it's hard, but just give him some more time, okay?"
"I guess," her daughter said with zero emotion.
"Okay. So hurry up. He's gonna be here any minute. Go on. Get changed. Pack a bag. Go! Scoot!"
Her mom knew the divorce and the joint custody were hard for her daughter, but she also knew there was nothing she could do about it any more than she could have stopped him from having the affair—or running off with his new girlfriend.
It killed her to have to admit those things had happened, but the truth was they had. It was also true she could find another husband. Her daughter, Courtney, was 14, and could never find another father. And she was right. This new woman stuck to her ex-husband like glue making it impossible for Courtney and her dad to the kinds of things they used to do—alone.
And yet, like she always did, Courtney kept on keeping on. She was her mom's rock and her best friend—mature beyond her years.
Mandy Barrow had just turned 42, and had officially been single for six months; eighteen if the year before the divorce was final counted. Since then, she'd gone back to work at the same bank she'd spent ten years at before quitting to be a stay-at-home mom.
So much had changed during the decade she was away from banking that it was almost like starting over. She'd gone through the worst kind of learning curve her first year back and was just now finally feeling comfortable again. The manager she'd worked for back then was still there, and he'd allowed her to keep the seniority she'd once had, and that had given her her choice of jobs. As a result, Mandy preferred working in new accounts and also took care of the safety-deposit boxes.
It was nice being able to get out of house, but she desperately missed being married and staying at home. And truth be told, she missed lovemaking almost as much as the comfort of having that special someone to be there even if they were doing separate things in separate rooms. That said, she vowed never to marry the first guy who came along (or any guy for that matter) she found charming or interesting. Loneliness was bad. Marrying the wrong man—again—was far worse.
And in the six months or so since she'd started dating again, she'd met several nice men. And yet no matter how nice they were, she just wasn't ready for any kind of commitment. Between the stress of raising of raising her teenage daughter alone and the constant strain of never having enough money, romance was her bridge too far.
It wasn't that she didn't want or need it, she just couldn't enjoy it when she was constantly preoccupied with so many concerns. Currently, her biggest concern, other than her daughter, was the mortgage. Thankfully, the bank she worked at owned her home, and the manager who'd rehired her had it made it clear he was more than a little interested in her. Mandy had no romantic interest in him, but his in her made being late or only making partial payments month after month possible.
However, she knew she was getting very close to the end of her rope, interest or no interest from the bank manager. She was already working as many hours as she could, and to his credit, her ex-husband was never late with child-support payments. Even so, the mortgage was crushing her, and she also had all the other bills everyone else had.
She'd already cut back on all luxury items, and she and her daughter were eating about as little as they could and still remain healthy. Mandy had always been thin and even now was a size 4. Fortunately, she didn't have that 'hollowed out' look many so-called supermodels had from malnutrition.
In fact, she was still a very attractive woman who found twenty minutes every other day to do so form of aerobics or resistance-band training to keep her body fit and toned. She still wore her very dark hair almost to her shoulders, and her young-looking face made doing so look amazing. With just a touch of makeup, she was definitely the kind of women men noticed. She just wasn't really doing much noticing the other way. Well, she was noticing. She just wasn't ready to act on it.
She still had a very nice, rather extensive wardrobe but could no longer afford to buy herself nice things, and that was fine as long as Courtney was taken care of. So she gladly wore the same things over and over (meaning once a month or so), and rarely gave it a second thought.
This day was no exception, and once Courtney was on her way with her father, she would head off to work wearing a very pretty, light-pink dress with white heels and a strand of pearls with the pair of pearl earrings her ex had bought her for their fifth anniversary.
Things had been so good back then. He was making money hand over fist, and Mandy was able to stay home with their daughter and devote all her time to that most enjoyable task. And for several more years, things were equally sunny and happy. And then the business started losing money and not long after that came the occasional late night at work which became more and more frequent until he 'needed' to go in on Saturday afternoons and just before she found out, Sundays, too.
Mandy had always been there for her husband in every way from supporting his career to the bedroom where she was as eager for love as he was, and she was very good at it, too. Therefore, the affair still made no sense to her, and the only reason she could come up with was that he'd just gotten bored 'eating steak' every night.
One evening he set her down and broke the news and her heart all at once.
As hard as it had been for her, it had devastated their daughter. Courtney was a 'daddy's girl' from day one, and since he left, she'd been even more quiet and reserved than normal. Her grades were still very good in school, but they'd fallen from straight A's to all A's and B's. Mandy could live with all that, but it was still hard to watch.
Courtney came back downstairs packed and ready to go, and as always, her ex showed up right on time. However, when Mandy saw his girlfriend coming up the steps, she said goodbye to Courtney then let her open the door and deal with the hot, younger girl her father was doubtlessly banging every night.
Mandy didn't hate her even though she was younger and gorgeous and had to have known she was dating a married man. She didn't even hate her former husband. She just felt so...cheated and betrayed as the life she'd planned to live and so dearly loved was ripped from her in an instant. The affair had been going on for months, but to her, the 'big reveal' made it seem like it had happened literally overnight as her world crashed and burned in that instant.
Mandy had barely settled in at work that morning when the branch manager stopped by her desk.
"Well, well. Don't you look nice today, Ms. Barrow."
"Thank you, sir," she said, hoping he wouldn't start flirting with her—again.
"Listen. I got a call from Mrs. Martin, and she's going to be stopping by this morning."
"Oh, my. It's been a year already?"
"Well, she's come in once a year for as long as I've been here, and it's always on the same day, so yes, I'd say it's been a year."
"No worries, sir. I'll take good care of her."
"I have no doubt, Ms. Barrow," he said with the smile he only seemed to sport when he was talking to her.
He went to leave then stopped, turned around and said, "Just a friendly reminder. You're a little over two months behind on your mortgage. If you get to three months, then even I can't help you."
