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Co-parenting is crucial for us. My parents split up when I was ten-years-old and they couldn’t even be in the same room for the first couple of years. Separate households is hard enough, but watching my parents made things much worse. I intend to be amicable with Lee and always put our daughter first. That’s exactly how it should be.
“Hey Nessa, how did work go?” he asks, ushering us inside and into the kitchen.
“Work went by fast. So that’s nice.”
I mess with my cuticles, and try to keep the conversation simple. I’m a guest in his home now.
“Daddy, you should see the new house. When are you coming?”
I’d like to eat dinner before we dive into that. This headache is getting worse, and once things get emotional and I start crying, it’s only going to make it worse. Food first, please!
“Daddy got takeout! I got you Orange Chicken,” Lee says, pointing to the table.
She runs to it. “My favorite.”
He lingers behind and his hand caresses my chin. “You look rough. Are you not sleeping?”
I smack his hand away. “That’s none of your concern anymore, Lee. Don’t worry about me. I’ll be fine.”
Okay, so maybe I overreacted, but these little moments are inappropriate, and we need to set boundaries. So, I need to make it clear.
I march over to the table, and have a seat next to Sherrie. She is already placing orange chicken on her plate and then some combination Lo Mein.
“Hey! Save some for us, sweetie.”
The white takeout boxes are arranged in a straight line. Lee always goes overboard when it comes to food. As a family, we would get Chinese takeout once a week, normally on a practice night, because we would get home too late for me to cook anything. It’s nice for her to be able to stick to that routine.
“I got you honey walnut shrimp. Devour that yourself.”
I roll my eyes and smile. On our first date, back before he got his big promotion, he took me to a Chinese restaurant in Dallas not too far from here. It was buffet style and he made fun of me for an hour because all I got was the honey walnut shrimp. Three plates worth. I admit that’s probably weird, but it’s literally making my mouth water right now just thinking about it.
He hands the box to me, and I dump it out on my plate. Sherrie stares, and dumps some more Lo Mein on hers, and smiles.
“So, do you like mommy’s new house?” Lee asks.
I glare at him, wanting to wait until after we are done eating to get into the conversation. Why is he in such a hurry? She is going to start asking questions and I haven’t even been able to take a bite yet. So, I shove four pieces of honey walnut shrimp in my mouth.
“The bed is comfy, but when are you coming?”
I close my eyes, and my breathing hitches. Here we go. The moment where her life changes forever, and she has no say in it. It makes me think back to the day my parents split up. She threw his suitcase out the door, and told him he wasn’t ever allowed back. As a child, I never understood why she did that. I never wanted Sherrie to have to experience this, and now I’m wondering if we should have split up all those years ago. Maybe it would have made things easier because Sherrie would have been accustomed to us living separately from the start. Too late now.
“Well, honey. You and mommy are going to stay at that house, and I’m staying here,” he says, putting down his fork and giving her his full attention. His eyes search for a reaction.
“Why? There’s enough room.” Sherrie turns to me with squinted eyebrows. “Did you make daddy mad?”
My heart sinks. Why does she automatically assume that I did something wrong? Seeing my little girl look at me with such disappointment, makes my heart break.
“No, she didn’t do anything wrong. Your mom and I just aren’t going to be living together anymore, sweetie.”
Sherrie shakes her head. “Why can’t I live with you?”
Her eyes search for an answer from her father, but he’s speechless.
“Mommy wants you to live with her.”
She stands up out of her chair, and yells, “I don’t want to. You can’t make me.”
She takes off upstairs in tears.
