CHAPTER 1
Sitting on the pool coping, legs dangling in the water, Jenna (15) and Thomas (11) watched their father in the shade talking to the two women who figured in their lives now their mom was gone.
Debs died four months ago of breast cancer. As their dad Sean Munro had said, forty-two was too young to die but the family was mostly over it now. He also said life must go on and he’d begun dating Isobel, a beautiful and stylish woman assistant who worked in the architectural firm in which he was principal partner.
The kids had been unsure about Isobel and the shock of seeing her in their mom’s side of the bed last Sunday morning was already a dimming memory. Nothing had been said to them. Their dad just put his fingers to his lips and whispered, “Shhhh, Isobel’s sleeping.”
The kids had left the one cup of coffee and two slices of buttered toast on Sean’s beside cabinet and fled to the kitchen in confusion.
“God, dad’s fucking her,” Jenna said, cheeks red.
“I didn’t see nothing,” Thomas declared. “Anyways you said she’s too young for dad.”
“But not too young for doing what they were doing last night,” Jenna said grimly. “That bitch is as good as dead.”
“Goddamn it Jenna, dad will whack your butt with a rolled newspaper if he hears you calling Isobel a bitch.”
“Watch your mouth Thomas. You know too much for your age. What are we going to do about this?”
“Nothing of course, it’s none of our business.”
Jenna said less than convincing, “We must do something, we can’t sit back and let this happen.”
Thomas sniffed and put two pieces of bread in the toaster.
“Can’t we? Well you just wait.”
Jenna looked thoughtfully at the back of her brother wondering how was it he was running the show?
A few days later after their rude awakening, the uncertainty over their father’s intentions with Isobel came to a head. Isobel was over for dinner and took Jenna aside and said, “Your father wants me to move in with you guys. I’d like your opinion about that?”
Jenna shrugged and said, “It’s all right I suppose. Dad need’s his piece of ass.”
Isobel cried, “Jenna,” and looked rather startled, perhaps never have been referred to like a piece of meat. She recovered quickly and placed a hand on Jenna’s shoulder.
Jenna looked at the hand but left it there and heard the intruder say, “You must understand your father needs more than that other thing. He also needs adult conversation and adult company and the affection and rivalry that goes with an adult relationship that molds us into more complete persons.”
Jenna said she supposed so. She recognized that little speech as philosophy and wondered how an architectural draftswoman came to believe she was authorized to speak like that to the wounded daughter.
She decided to have a swipe at smug Isobel.
“What do you think Mrs Rose will think about you carrying on with dad?”
“I’m not carrying on with anyone,” Isobel cried defensively. “Anyway you know very well the relationship I intend having with your father is designed to make us better people. What your father and I decide has nothing to do with Laurel.”
“Is that so? Mrs Rose was here helping to look after us before you arrived on the scene. What if Mrs Rose was having sex with dad?”
Jenna thought smugly, well that little bit of a tease should place smart-ass Isobel on the back foot. Isobel would burst into tears and leave, never to be seen again.
But she was surprised that the reaction was the opposite of what she’d expected. Isobel’s face turned dark and her jaw pushed out and she yelled, “Sean fucking Munro your two-timer, where are you?” and went striding from the room like a Warrior Queen.
Oh shit, Jenna thought, anticipating the consequences, and ran and locked herself in her room.
The door handle rattled and then ‘Thump, thump’ her dad’s fist rattled the door.
“Jenna you lying little bitch, open the door or I’ll break it down.”
Close to panicking, the tall and slender blonde said, “You promise not to hit me?”
There was a brief pause and her father said he promised.
She opened the door, he entered and closed the door behind him gently and sat on the bed alongside her bed and he commanded, “Sit, we need to talk.”
“First we’ll talk about Thou Shalt Not Lie and then what my feelings are for Isobel and then belatedly I’ll ask do you mind if Isobel comes to live with us.”
He frowned. “You lying little bitch, you are responsible for me almost getting my head knocked off.”
“Well pity you. If you talked to ask first none of this would have happened.”
“Us? Who the hell are us? Thomas is too young to understand.”
“Dad, keep your voice down and don’t be so bad-tempered. We are adjusting after mom leaving us and you are expected to be our leader. And if you must know ‘we’ includes Mrs Rose.”
“Why is she been dragged into this?”
“Dad, are you prepared to listen to me?”
“Yes of course,” he said, resting sideways on a forearm. “I plead guilty to not having consulted. This tragedy appears to have changed you from being an off-the-wall teenager into almost a woman.”
“Oh thank you very much,” she grimaced and added, “Apology accepted. Well the first thing to point out is although he’d only eleven, Thomas is no dummy. He knows enough to have discussed with me about why you and Isobel were screwing. He also understands the consequences of her moving into this house.”
“No dad, shut up,” she said, noticing her dad about to comment. “Let me finish. So please be aware Thomas has feelings too and that his understanding of situations is perhaps much greater than you are aware and if he doesn’t understand anything or is confused he comes to me and not you and while I’m on that point dad, that shift occurred when mom fell sick. You have a big job to win back your son.”
“Christ,” Sean breathed, his dark eyes glistening.
“I’m okay dad. Although I have moments of uncertainty, I’ll get through this because I can think things out and am not afraid that the kids other than my friends treat me like some kind of freak because my mother died.”
She saw he father close his eyes and shake his head briefly.
“As I said, I’m okay and as for Thomas, the mothers of his pals are no longer talking to him as if he were a freak and had no family. I know it’s called adjustment.”
“The second thing I wish to say is I think as a family we coped with this thing very well because we got better coping the sicker mom became and our acceptance that her time was near arrived when she was hospitalized. But now I think we have become a bit cav.. cav…”
Sean offered, “Cavalier?”
“I think we have become a bit cavalier with each other. The glue that held us together is missing. I’ve read about that.”
“The third thing is as I’ve just said, we all knew our family spun around mom and now mom has gone. You are not going to like this dad but Thomas and I have discussed it when we could see where you and Isobel were heading. Thomas and I believe we would rather be with you spinning around Mrs Rose. And why dad? Because we think she’s the better fit. Isobel is okay but Mrs Rose reigns supreme.”
“That’s all,” Jenna said, watching her father gape.
He began defensively.
