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Talk about a blunder.
“If you’re curious about our family life, I can tell you a bit. I was stupid enough to fall for a good-looking eighteen-year-old, a spoiled, rich kid. I got pregnant. He promised he loved me and would support me. When Erin turned one, he left, but I was lucky he had decent parents. They came to see me.”
Interested, Tim raised his eyebrows. “They gave you money or wanted to take the baby?”
“Neither. They said they were sending their only son to college, but they’d never abandon their granddaughter. They opened a trust to pay for her college and first house, and another to cover her daily needs until she reached eighteen— school, vacation, food, clothes, toys, and whatnots. I couldn’t complain. In exchange, they wanted their granddaughter to spend a week with them at Christmas, Easter, and in the summer.”
“Good people.”
“Yeah, but Erin disappointed us all by repeating my mistake. She got pregnant and dropped out of college in her second year to marry Ben.”
“From what I can see, she had a happy marriage.”
“He ruined her future,” Teresa hissed, her jaw gritted. “She was a bright student who should have finished college and could have had a great career.”
A great career and lots of money. Just like he did. Like Jessica did.
Was that the definition of happiness?
Jessica’s husband had left her for another. Annette had cheated on him. If he ever found her secret lover, he would beat him to a pulp, but it wasn’t the lover’s fault that his wife had betrayed him.
“What’s wrong, son? You look ready to jump down someone’s throat.”
He snickered.You can say that again, Granny.
***
“Was Tim here yesterday?” Erin asked the next morning when Brianna came downstairs to have breakfast with the children.
“Yes, Daddy came to drop off some of my clothes. He’ll pick me up tomorrow evening.”
“Ah, all right, sweetie. Finish your eggs, you two,” she told Debbie and Brianna, “Then wash your faces and get dressed to play outside.”
So Tim would come to pick up his daughter on Tuesday evening, after Erin had left for work. Was he avoiding her?
She poured herself a cup of coffee and sat on a stool, not hungry, despite the appetizing smell of fried bacon and eggs her mother had cooked.
After the last kid had brought her plate to the sink and left the kitchen, Erin turned to her mother. “Mom, did you see him?”
Teresa twisted her mouth. “He spent an hour here. He had coffee and tiramisu while we chatted.”
“So he’s avoiding me. Why?” Erin crossed her arms on her chest. A flash of grief ripped through her. He’d hardly answered her messages and came to visit when he knew she wouldn’t be present.
Had she really upset him when hesitating about going with him to his company’s ball? Was that a reason to resent her and stay away?
Four months had passed since the plane crash, four months of grieving and surviving, four months that had brought them closer together.
Maybe she should start living in the present, make the best of what she had, instead of wallowing in the past. She and Tim should have an open-hearted chat and talk about their relationship.
“I’ve decided to accompany him to the ball.”
Her mother sighed. “That won’t happen. I didn’t make a lot of sense from his convoluted explanation. I don’t know whether he’s not ready to go out yet, or if the banquet wouldn’t be enjoyable, really no more than a business meeting. The fact is he said to forget about it.”
“No way!” She banged on the kitchen table with both fists. “What is wrong with him?”
“I don’t know, Erin. He wasn’t himself. He didn’t smile for the whole time. I tried to make him talk. Instead of answering my questions, he asked his own. Typical lawyer.”
Crestfallen, she sighed and drew her own conclusions. “So, he doesn’t plan to come again?”
