Privately, I call her âLittle Miss Sulkyâ. Tara, my wifeâs daughter from her first marriage is a mass of seething teenage hormones and temper tantrums wrapped up in a nicely curved-in-all-the-right-places, curly-blonde-headed package. She is an fairly ordinary, nice looking kidâŚno thatâs not right, emerging young womanâŚor rather, she would be without the constant sulkily pouting lips and sullen frown. She really is very pretty when she smiles, which is all too seldom.
Tara fiercely resents her mother for finally leaving and then divorcing her husband to escape the regular drunken Saturday night beatings and marital rapes. Tara still thinks the sun shines out of the bastardâs backside! Her face lights up whenever it is time for she and her brother, Jim Jnr, to go on one of their court-ordered visits. It seems as if that is the only time she is ever happy.
But even more fiercely, Tara resents that one day her mother met me â in a clash of trundlers at a supermarket checkout! And she is really pissed that Shelley and I instantly liked each other, became friends, then lovers, and then decided to marry, thus cutting Jim out of the picture altogether. Besotted with her father, Tara has made life hell for the rest of us ever since. Even Jim Jnr doesnât escape her wrath. Her battles with Shelley are frequent and immense, and usually end up in tears with Tara slamming her way to her bedroom in high dudgeon. And the hot stares of pure hatred the girl throws in my direction on a daily basis need to be seen to be believed! I do my best to talk to her, but my attempts at gentle humour are received with disdain and âone of those looksâ.
I became a househusband. A few months after our wedding, I got caught out in an accident on a construction site when some contractors were tearing down an old building before the company I worked for as a civil engineer could start the new project. Under normal circumstances I would have been out of harmâs way, but a collapsing wall demolished the lightly fabricated site office where I was working. Two of my assistants died and I ended up in intensive care. Laid out immobile on my back, I speculated that no doubt Tara was pretty disappointed that I survived. Luckily, our income didnât suffer too greatly. Shelley was able to go back to working at the bank, where she had been an account manager until Tara was born, and she was quickly re-assimilated into that role. And as I got better, I resumed some of my engineering work, but by remote as a consultant instead of full time.
Therefore, I am generally here when everyone gets home. Jim Jnr spends lots of time with his buddies after school and only arrives to wash up before dinner. Shelley shows up between 6.30 and 7pm, although she sometimes surprises us all by getting home early. So most often, Tara is the first one to show her face and, of course, she heads to her room without even acknowledging my presence.
But the day before yesterday is differentâŚ
Instead of going to her room, Tara comes into the kitchen, where I am starting to prepare the evening meal. She doesnât speak, just stands at the other end of the room leaning against the bench with her back to me, drinking the glass of water she has just drawn from the tap. I notice that her shoulders are slumped. In fact, her whole body language says that she is thoroughly dejected.
âWhatâs up, kiddo?â I ask, speaking quietly and not looking at her. âBad day at âthe officeâ?â
I am startled by a muffled sob. I shoot a quick glance in Taraâs direction and see that her shoulders are shaking.
I stop what I am doing and dry my hands. âHey Tara, whatâs up? Any way I can help?â
âNoâŚthereâs nothing you can do!â
The usual helpless feeling a male gets when he is faced with a female in tears overcomes me. I move close to her and put my hand on her shoulder, âCâmonâŚeven though we donât get along the best, Iâm still here for youâŚâ There is a sudden thought in the back of my mind that maybe Tara has got herself pregnant. âYouâre not âin troubleâ are youâŚ?â
She turns to look at me. Tears streak her cheeks and her eyeliner has run. âIn troubleâŚ? OhâŚnoâŚyou meanâŚ? No, nothing like that!â She smiles ruefully and murmurs again, âNo, nothing like thatâŚâ more to herself than to me.
Tara mops her face with the backs of her hands, spreading her makeup around even more. She looks like a rather sad Panda. âItâs just girl stuffâŚâ
âAaaaahâŚâ Another instant male reaction â the time of the month!
âNo, itâs not that either. Itâs just that on the way home two of my best friendsâŚor at least I thought they were my best friendsâŚcame out and told me I am a fat slob. And then they said that Iâd never get to go out with any really good-looking guys until I lose a lot of weight. They were so meanâŚ!â
Tara stands no chance of some day walking the catwalks as a model, the stocky, build she inherited from her father is against her, but if she is sensible with her diet and gets plenty of exercise, neither will she get fat.
âOh come on!â I exclaim. âI donât know where they got the âyouâre fatâ bit fromâŚyou look just fine to meâŚperfectly normal in fact. And you certainly arenât a slobâŚyou look after your hair and clothes and things beautifullyâŚno bullshit! I suppose theyâre a couple of skinny flat-chestedâŚ!â
âThey are so slim and pretty! And they have nice tits. All the guys chase after themâŚâ
I shook my head, âJesus, some people! I tell you, if I were a young guy looking for a girlfriend, Iâd pick a curvy, good-looking girl like you before one of those anorexic bitches who walk like theyâve got a broomstick permanently up their buttâŚ!â
To my surprise, Tara turns to me, puts her arms around my middle and presses up to my front. I instinctively put my arms around her.