Temporarily Mine

3

'Course you won't be home, who's shocked?

Not me.

This entire conversation is a pointless one anyway, and all formality.

I ask for something, she plays out the whole scene, makes it seem dangerous, makes herself sound concerned in case my dad asks me about it later, but it's nothing more than a mother-daughter role we play.

A role we both know and understand and don't acknowledge.

"Actually, Ms. L, my parents will be around, they're staying at our property around the corner, but they're coming to dinner one night and they'll be checking in at the hotel here and there. It'll be super chill. Dinner, some dancing, rides on the boardwalk."

I look from Kathrine to my mom.

"I swear I'll be safe," I add on. "You already know how Kat's dad is, there will be staff security surrounding the hotel, and she just said he'll be around if needed."

My mom nods, in too much of a hurry to get out of here to go full-on pretend I have reservations mode. "I suppose that would be okay, so long as you answer when I call and keep in contact all weekend."

She won't call. "I will."

"And please, Josephine, safety in the bedroom as well."

Mandy sits forward. "So... if you don't care if she has wild sex all weekend, what's the point of contemplating her going at all?"

I fight a smile.

My mom, of course, misses the contempt in Mandy's question - or chooses to ignore it, she's good at that - and laughs, grabbing her purse off the countertop. "A reminder of safe sex is always worth mentioning. Nobody wants to get pregnant and ruin their lives in high school."

Ouch?

"I have to go." My mom smiles at me. "I'm meeting the Welch sisters for dinner, don't wait up."

I turn to my friends who give a rueful smile.

My mom isn't necessarily a bad mom, but she's basically over mothering. Her and my dad had me their junior year of high school, but still wanted the large, fancy future, so she worked her ass off at low paying jobs while raising a baby, supported us while he went to college - a fact she never failed to throw in his face.

Six years later and four months after he started his law firm, he left her for his business partner.

My mom was bitter at first, even though she drove him away by never being happy with what he gave her, but she quickly decided she enjoyed blowing his alimony and child support checks better than she liked being his wife anyway.

Now that I'm old enough to basically care for myself, can drive, and no longer need her help with schoolwork, she's living the years she lost - her words.

I know she loves me, and I love her, my dad too, really, but they're both absent parents more than anything. My dad at least makes an effort where my mom is annoyed when she has to do motherly things, but I mean, I can't complain.

It's what most teenagers would kill for, freedom to do as we wish.

"Oh, and Josephine." My mom pulls the door open, her focus falling to my thighs as she says, "I'd say that's enough carbs for you today."

Wow.

I'm a fucking dancer, have been in hip-hop classes since I was five, what the hell does she expect? She should have put me in ballet if she wanted me to be a tighter stick, we work an entirely different set of muscles.

She goes to walk out but freezes mid-step, staring straight ahead.

What is she doing?

After a few seconds, a strong, heavy voice floats around the frame and into the house. "Ms. Langford..."