Dad's Got a Girlfriend

by Sarah Casey

"She won't ever be my mother, but maybe, if I let her, she'll be my friend."

Thoughtfully, Jordan put down his pen and looked at the essay he'd just finished. The assignment was to write about someone who'd had an effect on your life, someone not in your immediate family. It wasn't due for another week yet, but Jordan had been thinking about it all weekend. Cara, his father's girlfriend, had been over for dinner Saturday night. He wasn't sure how he felt about her yet. She didn't say a lot to him or his brothers. He hadn't mentioned to his mom that he was going to write about Cara. He wasn't sure what she would say when she found out, but he knew it wouldn't be good.

Jordan had two bothers, one older and one younger. Neither of them liked Cara or would consider giving her a chance. Mom hated Cara, even though she'd never met her. She didn't need to meet her; the mere fact that Cara was involved with Dad and that Dad was bringing her into their lives was enough. Cara wasn't their mother, she hadn't raised them and fed them and sacrificed for them the way Mom had. Jordan knew this; he wasn't sure what Mom was worried about anyway, Cara didn't seem to want to be their mother. He laughed along when Anthony, his older brother, made fun of her to Mom Sunday night. And he didn't say anything when Keith, his younger brother, cried on Friday night because he didn't want to go if he had to see her.

"Anthony! Jordan! Keith! Dinner," Mom called from downstairs. He tucked his finished essay carefully into his notebook and put his notebook into his school bag before leaving his room for dinner. Maybe he would get a chance to talk to Dad about it before he showed it to Mom.

He was the first one downstairs into the kitchen where Mom was putting out plates while dinner cooled. Meatloaf, yuck. Maybe he'd have peanut butter and jelly instead. He went and snuggled up against his mother, getting in her way, but she pulled him into her and he knew it was okay.

"Hey sweetie, what's up?" she asked him, ruffling his hair.

"Nothing," he smiled up at her, a big crooked-tooth grin now that his adult teeth were mostly in. Anthony came in at that moment and rolled his eyes.

"What's that all about? You think you're too old to hug your mom?" She grabbed him and pulled him into a fierce bear hug.

"Mo-om!" He drawled, struggling in her embrace, exasperated as only a 12-year-old can be.

"You think you're so grown up." She let him go. "I do everything for you, I take care of you, I'm your mother, you wouldn't even exist if it weren't for me and I can't even get a hug from you now?"

"No, mom, I didn't mean it like that." A desperate whining note came into his voice, the exasperation gone as he attempted to placate her.

"Oh, then how did you mean it?" She folded her arms over her chest and looked at him, waiting for his answer.

Guess I'll eat meatloaf, Jordan thought unhappily as Anthony struggled to find an answer that would make her happy.

"Hi mom! Hi guys! What's for dinner?" Keith bounded into the room, oblivious. He flung himself into his chair and looked at them expectantly. Anthony and Jordan both smiled in relief at his interruption of the unfolding drama.

"Meatloaf," Mom answered.

"Oh good! I love meatloaf."

Anthony and Jordan joined Keith at the table, slipping quietly into their chairs. Mom put out meatloaf for Jordan and Keith and herself. Anthony looked at her, confused, when he didn't get any.

"Mom, how come Anthony's not eating too?" Keith asked.

"Oh, Anthony can eat, but he thinks he's too old to hug me so I think he's too old for me to take care of him the way I do you and Jordan. He'll have to get his own if he wants any." She looked at Keith as she spoke, as though Anthony weren't there. She didn't look at him when he got up and she didn't help him while he struggled with the spatula and hot pan.

"Jordan, have you decided who you're going to write your essay about?"

"Uh," Jordan stammered, choking on his mouthful of meatloaf, "I, uh..."

"You could write about Ca-ra," Mom laughed, stretching her name mockingly. "But this essay is supposed to be about someone important in your life, isn't it?"

"Cara's not important to us!" Keith shouted as Jordan struggled with his meatloaf.

Over by the stove, Anthony's eyes blurred with tears and, in a second of carelessness, he relaxed his hand, resting it on the meatloaf pan. "Aargh!" he shrieked, dropping his plate and jumping back. Mom rushed over to him, Jordan's essay forgotten. Anthony burrowed his face into her side while she turned on cold water to run over his burned hand.

Later, alone in his room, Jordan took out the essay he'd written and re-read it. Listening for the sounds of his mom going into Keith's room to say goodnight, he slowly ripped the essay into the tiniest pieces he could. The pieces went back into his notebook and back into his bag, so he could throw them away at school where there was no chance of Mom finding them.