Chapter 9
“M om, I can’t find my algebra homework. Have you seen it?” Abby called from the living room as she finished her conversation with her assistant regarding the last-minute meeting that had come up on her schedule.
“It should be on the desk Abby. I told you to put it in your bag last night,” she added grabbing it before dropping a kiss onto her forehead. “Go you’re going to miss your bus.”
“Thanks Mom, you’re the best,” Abby said with a grin before rushing out.
Lisa shook her head, letting out a breath as she grabbed the files for the meeting, which meant she would have to go into the office today instead of working from home. It was the best part about the job, and she loved being able to work in her lounge clothes instead of dressing up every day. It also gave her more time to spend with Abby but that obviously wasn’t happening today.
She rechecked her information before getting dressed, groaning when she heard a knock on the door. It was likely her neighbors again, wanting her to have dinner with them or something worse. The couple was big into alternative relationships, and she was tired of telling them she wasn’t interested in anything they suggested.
She opened the door and stood there in surprise for a moment before getting over it and growing annoyed. “What are you doing here?”
“Nice to see you too Lisa, yeah the drive was great, the family’s great too,” Gerald said taking a step towards her. “Are you going to invite me in or not Sis?”
“Not, I didn’t invite you so just leave.”
“No, not until we talk,” he replied and the look in his eyes said he’d spill everything right from where he stood if she didn’t let him in. She wasn’t sure exactly what he was likely to say but it wouldn’t be pretty from the way he was acting.
“Fine, come on in, but I have to be out in less than an hour to get to my meeting on time,” she said stepping back to let him inside. She closed the door and stared at him waiting for him to talk.
“What the hell is your problem?” he asked getting straight to it. “You haven’t answered anyone’s calls in months. You move without telling us anything. It took me three months to figure out where you were. Your supposed best friend hasn’t heard from you in ages, she didn’t know what you were up to, didn’t know you’d broken up or moved out of the city when you lived right next door to her! Not to mention the fact that you broke up with the one person that we actually liked. Do you honestly enjoy screwing up your life?”
“Are you finished?” she asked when he finally shut up. “Good,” she said at his nod. “Then listen closely because I’m only going to say it once. It’s my life. If I want to take a promotion and move without telling you nosy ass people where I’m going, then I’m going to do it. Now get out of my house so I can get to work. Some of us make our own way in the world. Some of us don’t rely on Mommy and Daddy to provide them with jobs. Some of us worked our asses off to get where we are and aren’t about to let others ruin it for us. This is my life, if you don’t like how I live it, then get the hell out.”
“God, I thought you’d finally grown up. When you were with Corey, you seemed like an actual human being who cared for more than just them self. Do you know how much you hurt him—do you? I do because I saw him a month ago when I was in New York looking for you. He looks like hell but all he told me was that you’d left to move here. You used Dad’s tiny heart scare to break up with him and then don’t have the decency to even make sure he’s still breathing. Yeah, I’m sure you were very concerned about him. It’s always been about you, hasn’t it Lisa? If you weren’t the center of attention, then you didn’t care. For once in your life, put someone else ahead of you and call our mother. She’s going frantic trying to get in touch with you. I don’t need her dropping dead of a heart attack and having to take on the running of the resort. I like my life the way it is, whether you think I worked for it or not.”
“Get out,” she stated pointing to the door. She waited until he’d gone before grabbing her stuff and heading to her meeting.
It was almost six before she got home, and she didn’t feel like cooking. She took a single look at Abby’s face and asked, “How would you like to go out for dinner? Your choice.”
“Dave and Busters—we can get a dessert and have it for dinner,” Abby suggested with a grin that she couldn’t resist.
“You’re on,” she agreed. “Just let me change first alright?”
“Sure thing, Mom,” Abby agreed, and they headed out wearing similar outfits of skinny leg jeans, boots, and tops, Abby’s was blue while she settled on black. The restaurant was crowded being a Friday night, but they managed to get a table and seated within twenty minutes.
“Come on let’s split a chocolate cake, just think of all the calories and gooeyness of it. It’s the perfect way to end the week, isn’t it?” Abby said as they looked over the menu.
“Alright, but just this once we’ll have dessert for supper,” she agreed and somehow the chocolate and her daughter managed to make things better.
“Abby! Oh my gosh, hey Dad, this is Abby,” a girl about Abby’s age said excitedly as they began to move through the restaurant towards an empty table.
“The famous Abby, it’s nice to meet you,” the man with her said as Abby gave them a smile.
“Mom this is Jazz.”
“It’s good to put a face with a name finally,” she stated giving the girl a smile. “I’m Lisa,” she added to her father.
“David, it’s nice to meet you too. I’ve heard so much about Abby that I almost thought it was all made up.”
“Dad!”
“It’s the truth, but I’m sure they’d like to get back to their food. Our table’s ready over there,” he told his daughter as the hostess waited impatiently because of the crowd.
“Why don’t you join us,” Lisa suggested seeing the eagerness to talk between the girls. “I vaguely remember hearing Jazz’s favorite game was Skee-Ball and they do happen to be right across from us,” she added making the girl smile brightly.
“Please Dad,” Jazz said, and she saw him give in, much as she did with Abby.
They let the hostess know and she relayed the message to the waiter. She saw him head back with refills on their waters and took the others’ drink orders before letting them know he’d be back to get their food orders.
“I feel bad making you watch us eat,” David told her as the girls gossiped about their classes that day.
“Don’t tell anyone but we didn’t order real food—just a little pick-me-up treat, in the form of the chocolate cake.”
“I’ve done that before, although usually it was because the refrigerator was empty.”
“The fridge is full it’s just been one of those days. I didn’t feel like cooking after the hassles, and it was Abby’s idea to order the cake first…bad mother for not pushing the vegetables but you’re only their age once.”
“True,” he agreed and despite not feeling anything for the man she enjoyed spending time talking with him while the girls played games.
They started meeting on Friday nights, taking the girls to dinner together and it was nice having a friend she could be honest with about her daughter. Abby asked if Jazz could spend the night the next weekend and she discussed it with David as the girls ran to the arcade area of the pizza parlor, staying where they could see them.
“I don’t mind her staying at all. It’s just Abby and myself in the condo.”
“Jazz said her father’s not in the picture at all, that must be difficult on you.”
“You can’t miss something you never had.”
“He didn’t want anything to do with you and Abby?”
“He doesn’t know about Abby,” she admitted regretting it when she saw him pull back and the judgmental look that crossed his face.
“How did he not know?”
“Until May, Abby was living with my mom’s cousin Diane in California. No one knew I was pregnant in high school. My parents wouldn’t have approved, they wouldn’t have wanted me to have her, but I couldn’t have an abortion. I hid the pregnancy with bulky sweaters and bags, pretty much how they do on TV shows only obviously better, and when I knew it was about time for her to come, I went to California to my Aunt Diane’s for Spring Break. Abby came along, I asked Diane to take care of her and she did until I finished with the school year. I went back to them the moment school was over and spent the entire summer there. I tried to convince my parents to let me stay with Diane for the rest of high school, but they refused so I went back but spent every holiday I could manage with Abby. I went to UCLA for college and lived with Diane. Then stayed in LA until I had the opportunity to take a promotion in New York. The only thing about the promotion was the hours the job would require, so I had Abby stay in California with Diane while I went to New York. I got a job offer here and both Abby and I were missing each other so much that the only thing to do was to come here together. My hours here are far more reasonable, and I have never been happier, neither has Abby thanks to her new friends.”
“I see,” he said, and she could tell he wasn’t as impressed with her any longer. “And you have no regrets about not telling anyone about Abby, not even her father?”
“She doesn’t have a father. She has a genetic donor and that’s all she’ll ever have from him. No, I don’t regret doing what I did—keeping her away from the people in the town I grew up in because they’re not the most forward-thinking people on the planet. What I did, was for Abby’s sake and I would do it all over again tomorrow if I had to.”
“I don’t think it’d be wise for Jazz to spend any more time with you. Abby is welcome to come over, but I don’t want my daughter thinking it’s okay to keep secrets from people and I don’t want her thinking that it’s alright to keep a daughter from their father,” David stated as their pizza arrived.
“And I’d rather my daughter not stay with people who judge without knowing the whole story so I’m afraid Abby will not be spending the night with Jazz,” she replied trying to hold down her anger while the girls came back. It was difficult but she managed to make it through dinner although telling the girls they couldn’t spend the night together the next weekend was even harder.
Abby wouldn’t let it go as they headed home, and she did her best to ignore the question, the same way she’d ignored her questions about her and Corey. Each day of the week, she added more and more whining to the questions until she finally sighed and just had to tell her the truth. “Look, David and I had a major disagreement. He is very big on father’s right and I’m not going to just tell him what happened. To be honest, I don’t know if I want you around him if he’s not even willing to concede to anyone else’s judgment over his own when they don’t have a clue as to what happened. I don’t mind you being friends with or hanging out with Jazz, I just don’t think it’s a good idea for us to do dinner with them anymore.”
“Okay, I’m sorry Mom,” Abby said, and she gave her a long hug kissing her forehead.
“It’s not your fault. Some people just jump to judgments rather than think that the person in the situation might know best,” she cautioned Abby, and she was glad to see her smiling again the next morning. “I’ll probably be a little late tonight. I have a meeting at four so it may be six before I get home.”
“Not a problem Mom,” Abby said before heading out to school.
“So did you ask your mom what was going on?” Jazz asked the second she got there. “Dad said it was nothing for us to worry about.”
“Yeah well, it’s something for me to worry about, and I’m sorry to say but your dad’s a jerk.”
“Hey! Don’t call my dad a jerk. I didn’t say anything when I found out your mom was only sixteen when she had you.”
“Well, I’d rather be the daughter of a sixteen-year-old than the daughter of a guy who thinks that fathers should have rights no matter if they deserve them or not. Your dad doesn’t know what my mom went through and to judge her because she didn’t tell the person whose DNA I share isn’t right. It’s her business not his.”
“Wait, what?” Jazz said in shock. “What are you talking about?”
“Your dad got mad at my mom because she never told my genetic donor that she was pregnant with me. He doesn’t know the rest of the story but he’s not getting away with treating my mom like crap,” Abby warned, and Jazz was still completely confused but let it go seeing how angry Abby was.
Abby let it fester until school let out and she headed over to Jazz’s house at four-thirty knowing her dad got home around then. She rang the doorbell and held her tongue when he opened the door, surprised to see her there she could tell.
“Abby, I didn’t know you were coming over. Come on in and I’ll let Jazz know you’re here,” David said, and she moved past him into the house, stopping him before he could go get Jazz.
“Jazz didn’t know I was coming over. I’m actually here to tell you something.”
“Tell me something? If this is about the argument your mother and I had…”
“You’re damn right it’s about the argument you had with my mom about a subject that doesn’t concern you in the least—you know that, don’t you? What my mom went through is her business but because Jazz has been the best friend I’ve ever known, and I don’t want to lose her because you’re too pigheaded to see beyond your own feelings then I thought I’d stop by and tell you why I don’t have a father and why I don’t want to have him.”
“Abby, I think you should leave,” David stated seeing and hearing her anger.
“I will after this,” she said, her mother’s daughter inside and out. “My mom was fifteen when she got pregnant with me, sixteen when she had me. That father you’re so concerned with wasn’t her boyfriend, wasn’t a friend, and wasn’t even remotely close to her age. He was someone that I never want in my life—someone who hurt my mom in ways I can’t even imagine, but she still kept me—loved me entirely. I was mad when she moved to New York, furious that she could leave me, but she did because she wanted to keep me safe. The person who got her pregnant—was someone she should have been able to trust—someone who made her do things she didn’t want to do. You chose to have sex with your girlfriend and got her pregnant—my mom’s only choice was to have me and protect me. She kept me quiet because that man who did all of that to her would have killed her or us rather than anyone find out about me so don’t stand there and say that you don’t want Jazz around my mom because she didn’t tell him. I’d rather have my mom love me enough to make sure I was always safe than have a father that can’t see past his own crap and a mother who ran away and never looked back.”
“Abby,” David said as she turned on her heel and headed to the door. “Abby wait please,” he said seeing the tears on her cheeks. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have gotten angry with your mom. That’s my issue, not yours or Jazz’s. I had no idea that your mom…”
“And that’s supposed to make it better? Do you have any idea what my mom’s given up for me? To begin with, she left me with my Aunt Diane when she didn’t want to be away from me for a minute, but she did, for me, to keep me safe. She moved to New York, so the person whose DNA is the other half of mine wouldn’t find me because he was following her. And if all of that wasn’t enough—when I showed up at her apartment because I couldn’t stand not being with her anymore, she told me the truth—the whole truth. She gave up the last bit of pride she had to make sure I knew that everything she’d ever done was to keep me safe and love me. But she didn’t stop even there—she gave up the one person I know she loved even though she denies that she did, but she gave up him in order to keep that disgusting jerk from ever finding out about me. That’s what a mother does—that’s what my mother did for me. So, if there’s someone that Jazz shouldn’t be around, it sure as hell isn’t my mom,” she said before leaving the house and running down the sidewalk crossing the street to get to the bus stop.
“Abby!” Jazz shouted, catching sight of her as she left the house. “What the heck was that?” she asked her dad as they headed after her.
“It doesn’t matter honey,” he said as the sound of screeching tires hit them.
“Abby, no!” Jazz screamed as the car came around the corner, cutting it short, and jumping onto the sidewalk as Abby began to go around the corner the other way.
“Abby!” David shouted, racing across the street as the car began to reverse and Abby fell off the hood. “Abby…Abby…” he said over and over as they reached her. “Someone call 911,” he said taking his hoodie off and wrapping it around Abby.
“Dad,” Jazz said, and he looked up at her unsure of what to say at all. He’d never felt so unsure of anything in his entire life, and he still had to face Lisa.