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She flung herself down on the bed and sobbed.
She was crying so hard she didn’t hear the door open, but she did feel the bed dip as her grandmother sat down next to her.
“Go away,” Mack hiccupped. “I want to be on my own.”
“Is that really what you want? Personally I hate being on my own when I’m upset. Every time I discovered another of your grandfather’s affairs I used to lock myself away, when what I needed to do was have a good vent with someone who loved me.”
“No one loves me.” Mack choked into her pillow. “I don’t matter to anyone. I want Ed. I wish Ed hadn’t died.”
“Oh, honey—”
Mack felt her grandmother’s hand on her head. Part of her wanted to push her away, but another part wanted to fling herself into her arms and be held.
“I wish we’d never come here. I want my old life back.”
“Change is always hard, especially when it wasn’t your choice. Do you want to tell me what happened?”
Mack discovered she did, and in halting, choppy bursts she told her grandmother about going to visit Scott after school and what she’d seen.
She’d expected to see her shock reflected in her grandmother’s face, but Nancy didn’t react the way she’d expected.
“You saw them kissing.”
“It was more than a kiss. It was like one of those movie kisses where the people look desperate. Kiss or die, that kind of thing.” She brushed the tears away from her eyes and stiffened defensively. “You look pleased. How can you be pleased?” Her voice rose. “No one understands. I hate everyone. I hate my mom, I hate Scott and most of all I hate my stupid life.”
Instead of reacting to this dramatic announcement, Nancy patted the bed next to her.
“Sit up. It’s time you and I had a talk.”
“We’re talking.”
“No. You’re sobbing into a pillow and giving me teenage drama, but I have no idea how to deal with teenage drama because I skipped that part of parenting, so I’m going to have to treat you as an adult. You did say you wanted to be treated like a grown-up, didn’t you?”
Had she really said that?
Right now she wished she were back in kindergarten waiting for her mother to pick her up.
Mack hauled herself upright. Adult. Right. She wasn’t feeling it, but she could probably fake it. “What do you want to talk about?”
She noticed that her grandmother was wearing anot
her of her brightly colored scarves. This one was a swirl of turquoise and green. Mack wasn’t used to seeing her so glamorous. Everything and everyone was changing round her.
“Why don’t we start with your telling me why it upset you seeing your mom and Scott together.”
Wasn’t it obvious? “Dad just died! I mean Ed. Ed died. Mom was supposed to love him and now she’s kissing some guy—”
“She was kissing Scott.”
“Sure, Scott, but—”
“Scott who is, in fact, your father. A man she also loved very much.”
“You can’t love two people! That isn’t how it works.”
“Welcome to adulthood.” Nancy’s voice was loaded with sympathy. “It’s messy, complicated, the pieces don’t fit and the picture rarely looks the way you want it to. It’s called real life.”
“Real life sucks.” Oh yeah, very adult, Mack.
