Coffee with a Side of Bitterness

Pat, Joe’s aunt, called me the following week and asked to meet me for coffee at the diner near my house.   I nervously left Zach over at my sister’s for an hour while I pulled into the Dice Cafe and looked around for her. I was trying to remember what Joe had told me about [...]

Unexpected Visitors

It was about six thirty at night on a Tuesday night.  I’d come home from work with Zachary, changed into shorts since the early spring day was unseasonably warm, and sat on the sofa while he made a mess of the toys in the living room.  He chattered about while I put smiley faces on [...]

Letters and Late Nights

After I put Zachary to bed that night, I allowed myself to wallow in my thoughts about our earlier conversation.  It had now been over five years since I’d last seen Joe, but it felt like yesterday when he’d walked away from me and never looked back. I’d been telling myself that I could make [...]

Daddy Issues

“Mommy, why don’t I have a daddy?” Zachary and I were playing on the living room floor with his Thomas the Tank engine trains.  The windows were open for the first warm day of Spring, early this year in April.   They were his new favorite thing, and we had eight or so of the cast [...]

Wrongs, Rights, and The Stuff In the Middle

It was three days after I broken up with Dennis, and the phone was ringing.  He usually called me on Thursdays, to touch base on our Monday evenings in case one or both of us needed to beg off.   I knew it was him, and couldn’t decide whether or not to pick up the phone. [...]

Snow Day In School

It was five am in Mid January.  I’d gotten up early to see if the predicted snow had actually appeared.  A glance out of my window confirmed the forecast of multiple inches of snow on the ground, the endless white giving a false glow to the early morning darkness. Days like today were tricky.  Zach’s [...]

Drunk Dialing

It was 1:45 am.  I had had my friends over for New Year’s and everyone had brought something to drink.  We’d sat around eating and playing cards, and for a few moments, I’d forgotten about my difficult teaching job, my married boyfriend, my single parent status, my dead mother and my absent father.  For a [...]

The First Noel…After

I was trying, really trying, to hold it together for Zachary. Thanksgiving with my father in Maryland had been great.  He was staying in temporary housing while he found a place, and there was plenty of room for Z and I.  We spent the holiday with my father’s family, replete with grandparents, aunts, uncles and [...]

This Is All I Have

“So how many of your students got the Thanksgiving basket?”  Dennis poured me another glass of wine as we sat together on my sofa.   It was Monday, our night to be together.  Which meant that he went to his regularly scheduled bowling league with teachers from school at seven, he bowled till 8:30 or so, [...]

New Traditions

“Mommy, when are we going to see my grandpa again?” It was early November, and Zach and I were playing on my living room floor with a variety of stuffed animals, building blocks and large piece puzzles on the floor.   Weekends were downtime for me, a time to spend hours with Zach, catch up on [...]