Sweet Girl by Quell T. Fox
Charlotte
Thenextfewdaysarequiet,butit’swhenIwakeuponeFridaymorningthatsomethingdoesn’tfeelright.ThereissomethingintheairthatjustfeelsdifferentandIcan’tfindwordstoexpressit.
I drag myself from bed and head downstairs. There are boxes and bags lined up in the kitchen, the door wide open. I don’t see anyone in there so I keep searching. When I turn around to head back upstairs, I notice the den looks different and my stomach drops. I step inside the room instead of going back upstairs. Jonathan’s things are gone. I look back to the boxes in the kitchen.
He’s leaving.
She knows.
Why else would he be leaving all of a sudden?
“Mom?” I call out, heading back upstairs. “Mom?” I repeat, heading towards her bedroom, trying not to sound frantic. Hoping she doesn’t know but preparing myself for if she does. The anxiety of this is enough to put me into cardiac arrest.
“I’m here, honey,” she calls from the bathroom. I whirl around.
“What’s going on?”
She gives me a sad smile. “I was hoping we could go out for breakfast and talk.” She doesn’t know. If she did, she’d be angry, right?
“Okay,” I say skeptically. “Just let me get dressed.”
“Meet you downstairs.”
I rush into my room, my head reeling. What is going on?
I don’t spend much time picking out clothes, just grabbing a pair of shorts and a T-shirt, slipping my flip flops on and I’m downstairs in no more than five minutes.
I find Jonathan and Mom having an angry, hushed conversation in the den. Knocking on the door, they both turn to look at me, Mom with a frown and Jonathan with dark eyes and an angry stare. His eyes rake over my body and change instantly, glowing with fire instead of anger.
I look away from him and back to mom, clearing my throat. “Ready?”
“Yes, let me just grab my keys. I’ll meet you at the car.”
I duck my head and walk to the car. Mom gets there only a minute after me.
As we start our journey to Claire’s, I try to make small talk. “Not working tonight?”
“Just overnight tonight.”
“Unless you get called in,” I say with a small laugh, hoping to clear the tension in the air. I completely misread the day when waking up. Reaching for the radio, I flip through the stations to find something to listen to.
“You know me well.”
“You love your job. Nothing wrong with that.”
“I’m glad you think so.”
“Would you like a refill?” The waitress asks, gesturing towards my empty cup of tea with a carafe of hot water.
“I’m all set, thank you. Perhaps some water?”
“Of course. Anything else for you?” she asks my mom who shakes her head.
I wait until the waitress walks away. We’re more than halfway through our meal and Mom still hasn’t said a word to me.
“So, are you going to tell me what’s going on? Is Jonathan leaving? Why? I thought you guys were happy. You were getting married…”
She takes a moment to look up at me and once again, there is that sad smile. It’s not something I’ve seen on her face before. She isn’t one to let things get to her, so whatever this is, it must be big.
Mom is quite the simple person. She loves to stay busy, loves her job. I know she loves me, but I wasn’t part of her plan in life. I don’t take offense to that. She’s never treated me badly over it, we get along, she’s been a good parent, always made sure I had the best things. She sends me money while at school so I don’t have to work too much.
“He is leaving, yes. Things have been… difficult for a while.”
“Why?” I ask, my mouth going dry. I’ll die if she says something about me, I will.
“We just want different things, is all. There is nothing there anymore, no more spark.”
“So you’re making him leave?”
She shakes her head, taking a sip of her orange juice.
“He said he wanted to leave. I told him he could stay as long as he wanted to.” She looks up at me, as if she wants to say something but is deciding against it.
“What? What aren’t you telling me?”
“I’m selling the house and moving, Charlie. I told Jonathan he could stay as long as he wanted to, as long as he paid the bills. Hell, I told him I’d sell it to him for just the price to pay it off instead of putting it up on the market. I wasn’t going to kick him out, but he’s choosing to leave.”
“What? Moving where? Why is he leaving now?”
“I’m not sure, honey, but either way, it’s okay.” She reaches across the table and takes my hand, giving me a reassuring squeeze. “I’m okay with this, trust me. Both of us are, actually. Sometimes things don’t work out. We’re both adults, we know it’s time to move on.”
The waitress drops off my water and walks to greet a couple who just walked in. I finish my breakfast, not saying anything else, instead, trying to understand what is going on. What this means for them. For me… and dare I say him?
Jonathan and Mom aren’t together. Jonathan said they weren’t getting married, but something about hearing this from her, now, it’s hitting me differently.
He didn’t cheat on her.
Does this mean… Can he and I… No, that still isn’t okay. I mean, what if they just need a break. Maybe it’s just a hard time. Mom was always happy with him, things were easy, they seemed to work so well together. No, I need to keep my distance from him. No matter what, being with him can’t happen. I can’t imagine what my mother would think, knowing I was sleeping with the man she once shared a bed with. That would be awful.
“I’m seeing someone.”
I look up.
“You’re what?”
“I’m seeing—Shit, I messed up, Charlie. Okay? I was… I was seeing someone behind Jonathan’s back. I…”
“Were you sleeping with someone else?” I ask in a harsh whisper, leaning towards her across the table. She looks over towards the window, her eyes turning red. I jerk my head back. “How could you do that to him? Mom, Jonathan has been great. He never stayed out late, he has a great job, a good personality. He’s always helped out around the house and with me. When you wanted to work your life away, he stood back and made up for it! He was there when you weren’t. And you go and have sex with—”
“It’s not just about sex, Charlie.” Her voice is harsh, harsher than I’ve ever heard it before. “It’s—”
“Well, fucking obviously, Mom. But when you have a boyfriend, no, a fiancé, I’m pretty sure it’s common knowledge that they’re the only one you’re supposed to sleep with.”
I grab my bag and get up from the table. Anger is surging through my veins and if I don’t get up, I’ll end up saying something I regret.
I don’t know if it’s the feelings I have for him, or just how wrong my mom is in this situation, but I am feeling extremely defensive of Jonathan. How dare she!
“Charlie, where are you going?” She calls after me, causing everyone in the restaurant to look up and watch me, but I ignore them. I exit through the door and pull out my cell, scrolling through my contacts.
“Hello?”
“Hey, what are you doing?”
“Not much, what’s wrong?”
“Can you pick me up?”
“Tell me where you are.”