Fight With Mom Part I
+2 Bonus
The next morning January was struggling to get her ass in gear, and her daughter was no better.
“I want my dad.”
“He’s in Burlington. He told you he’d be back after school. He’s picking you up.”
“But I want him to drive me to school.”
“Well, he can’t.”
“It’s not fair.”
“Life isn’t fair.”
“Mom!”
“Kaylee!”
“I swear if you two don’t stop the bickering, I’m spitting in your breakfasts.” Analia broke up the argument and pushed January into her seat and then motioned at Kaylee to take her seat. “I’ll do your hair while you eat your toast. Come and sit down.” She pointed at January, “drink the coffee cranky pants.”
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“I’m not cranky.”
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Fight With Mom Part I
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“You are. You didn’t sleep again last night. I heard you up to the bathroom at least four times. Nobody pees that much.”
“I’m fine.”
“You need to rest, January. You’ve not slept in a couple of days now and it shows. You look exhausted. You’re edgy. You’re bickering with a seven–year–old like you’re the same age. You are antagonistic.”
“On that note,” January started to push back from the table.
“Sit your ass down,” her mother was making quick work of putting Kaylee’s hair into pigtails. “Drink the coffee. I’m going into the city today. Your father is at the garage already. You have to drive her to school.”
“I wasn’t expecting you to take her to school Mom. I was going to finish getting ready. I’m not the only one cranky.”
Her mother huffed, “you bailed yesterday when the skunks showed up. How am I supposed to know when you are sticking
around?”
“You could have left. Gulliver had it in hand.”
“It seemed rude to just leave him here!”
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Fight With Mom Part I
+2 Bonus
“He made a choice to interfere in our lives, Mom. He’s the one who is pursuing us.”
“Why are you fighting?” Kaylee asked quietly as she pushed her toast around her plate. “Is it because you don’t like my dad?”
January closed her eyes and took a deep breath as her mother immediately squatted next to Kaylee and gripped her hands dramatically.
“Kaylee, honey, we like your daddy just fine. We accept that he made a big mistake and we’re going to try to move past it. It’s just hard to have so many new people around all the time. Nana and Papa are used to doing things on our own. You go to school. Mom goes to work. We do our things. Since your dad came, we haven’t been able to do the things we need to get done. You haven’t gone to school. Mom hasn’t really been to work. I stayed home two days in a row to help your mom. We just want things to get back to normal, that’s all.”
“Nana, what if I really want my dad to stay. Is he going to be in your way and you won’t like him anymore?”
“Not at all. We just need to keep doing things together and making sure we’re all on the same page about our plans. Mom needs to work. I need to work and so does Papa. Your dad also has a job. When he moves closer to us here, he’ll be able to Bitch in more and we’ll sort out schedules out. It’s just hard when he doesn’t live close and he stays here late at night. We
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Fight With Mom Part I
+2 Bonus
have to make sure we’re being good hosts to a guest instead of leaving him here alone. That’s all.”
“I can be a good host.”
January heard enough of the conversation and she spoke up, “Kaylee, what Nana is saying is that when your dad visits, she feels she needs to be the one to make sure he is taken care of as our guest and since he’s your dad and you are my daughter, it should be me doing it and not her.”
“Now hold on.”
“It’s what you’re saying, isn’t it Mom? You think because he’s the father of my daughter I should be the one responsible and instead I left yesterday when you were all dealing with the skunks.” When her mother glared at her, she didn’t back down. “Say it Mom. You think it’s my fault our life is suddenly upended and you think I should be the one to cater to his whims and his bullshit?”
“Well, I was understanding when you said you needed to go to work yesterday but I wasn’t as keen to find out you bailed on us when we were dealing with Gulliver, a bunch of baby skunks and a veterinarian who wouldn’t stop talking about how much she looks like some kid named Mitsos, to go on a coffee date with Darwin’s dad.”
4/6
“His name is Ernst. He’s a nice man.”
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Fight With Mom Part I
+2 Bonus
“You went on a date with Darwin’s dad? Is he going to be my brother for real?”
“No. I went for coffee. We are not anywhere near him being your brother.”
“Did you kiss him? Can I have a baby sister?”
“Oh my god!” January slapped the table. “I can’t do this with you all. You’re all insane.” She looked at her mother, “you have made your point clear this morning. This mess is of my doing. I am the one who made the mistake of having a child with a man I couldn’t trust and so I’m the one responsible to make sure when he visits her, it’s all my responsibility. Don’t worry Mom. I won’t rely on you to help me navigate this. Maybe moving forward, I’ll just do what I did the other night and completely remove us from the situation, and I’ll take her to Burlington to stay in hotels so you and Dad can be alone and not have to deal with it. I’d hate to take up a couple hours of your time in the day for me to go get some perspective and my head on straight after being put in a situation I wasn’t expecting for a full twenty–four hours straight.”
Her mother blinked as January tore into her and January didn’t give an ounce.
“January.”
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Fight With Mom Part I
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“Save it. As you pointed out, I’m cranky, I haven’t slept and maybe, just maybe it’s because my entire world is flipped upside down and you’re freaking out that you had to deal with my shit for four hours. Kaylee go get your backpack. It’s time to go.”
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