Picking Up The Pieces (Working Title)

Drug Dealer

Things with Eden were great. She was great with the kids, and they seemed to like her. I’d asked them about it but neither of them had really given me a straight answer; they were happy if I was happy. But given that they got upset when Eden couldn’t or wasn’t coming over, I’m pretty sure they liked her. Even my friends thought she was great. The sex was phenomenal and while Eden wanted it on a daily basis, she was more than happy to settle for three or four days a week. She was even fine with me promising Mom I’d use protection like all the time. That was the big hurdle we hadn’t quite managed to clear yet; meeting my mother. Both Mom and Eden had been pestering me about it and I’d been putting it off on purpose. It wasn’t that I didn’t want them to meet, I just didn’t trust Mom not to embarrass me. I knew it’d come back to bite me in the ass at some point, but I hadn’t expected it to be so soon.

Me and Eden had been going steady for just under four months and she’d officially become part of our lives. Lily had asked if she could call Eden “Mom” but Eden had let her down gently and after a little bit of the silent treatment on her part, Lily had gone back to treating Eden like a mom. Needless to say, quite a few of the parents at the kids’ school weren’t happy with Eden’s bright blue hair, especially after several of the girls apparently asked to have their hair the same as Eden. That was something I was expecting Mom not to approve of. I know that makes it sound like I’m embarrassed of Eden or something, but I’m not. Honestly, I love the fact that she has the confidence to have crazy blue hair and not give a fuck what anyone thinks. And I admire how she deals with people who give her shit over it. Like this one woman who started yelling at us in the street when we were with the kids. She told Eden she was sick of seeing all these teen mothers with stupidly coloured hair and metal in their faces and asked Eden how she expected to get a job looking the way she does. Now, a typical girl with blue hair would no doubt be a “scene” teenager, who probably would’ve attacked this woman with a barrage of insults and every cuss word under the sun. Eden, on the other hand, politely explained that she wasn’t a teenager, nor was she a mother, and that she was a fully qualified nurse who works full time and had been for the last four years. If she could handle a stranger like that, she could definitely handle my mother.

I’d been mentally writing up a pros and cons list; the pro being Eden, the con being my mother, and was trying to build up the courage to arrange for the two of them to meet, when Eden dropped the bombshell that we were going for lunch at theirs on the Sunday. Turns out Mom had been getting some cooking lessons from Maxxie’s mom and she wanted to give the traditional English Sunday roast a go. And while Eden had jumped at the chance to finally meet Mom, we weren’t the only ones going. She’d invited John and Beau since she still counted them as family and, with John’s permission, had invited Mari and whoever it was she was with. Mari not so politely declined but that’s not the point. She’d invited Maxxie’s mom and the old man and had even invited Brent after some gentle nudging from John. I don’t think she ever forgave Brent for puking everywhere when him and Cayden had stumbled home too drunk for their sixteen year old livers to handle.

The day of the meal, I spent the first few hours of the morning sulking in bed. Eden had stayed at hers the night before, so I’d only gotten out of bed to give the kids their breakfast. I’d skulked right back to bed once they’d eaten and they followed me, snuggling up to me under the covers. The three of us stayed there until the very last minute, me and Danny both lazily throwing on a t-shirt and some jeans while Lily spent a little longer picking out something nice to wear. She wanted me to do her hair but frankly I had no idea what I was s’posed to be doing, so we compromised and said Eden could do it for her once we got to Mom’s. I texted Eden to let her know and bundled the kids into the car.

I’m sure you can imagine my reaction when we got to Mom’s to find Eden already there. She’d been there for the last hour or so helping Mom in the kitchen and getting to know her better. Maxxie’s side of the family were there too; his mom was in the kitchen with Mom and Eden and his gramps was sat chatting with Dad. Danny went over to the two of them, sitting himself down on the floor quietly, while Lily headed towards the kitchen in search of Eden.

"Kill me" I whined, sitting down on the couch.

"Why?" Gramps asked and I pointed the kitchen. “I repeat, why?” he asked, following my gaze.

"My mother isn't the sort of person you introduce people to"

"That's my wife you're talking about" Dad chuckled.

"It'll be fine" Gramps said, clapping me on the shoulder.

I did my best to relax, jumping as Eden appeared behind me. Gramps laughed and Eden kissed my cheek.

"Go say hi to your mom, I'm gonna do Lily's hair" she said, going upstairs with Lily.

"You heard the woman" Gramps said when I didn’t move.

"In a minute" I whined.

Gramps laughed. "No, no, I know you had it easy with Max, but you're with a woman now, and what she says goes"

"Really?"

"You poor, poor thing" he said, turning to Dad. "He's got no idea, has he?"

"Not a clue" Dad said.

"What?" I said, fighting back a frown.

"You're in for a steep learning curve, m'boy" Gramps grinned.

He chuckled when I shot him this kind of worried look before heading off to the kitchen. The two moms were busy cooking and Maxxie’s mom flashed me a smile which I returned as Mom turned to face me, leaving her cooking.

“You could’ve warned me about her hair” Mom said sternly.

“Huh?”

“When she knocked on the door, I thought she was a drug dealer or something”

“Why a drug dealer?” I laughed.

“Because drug dealers in this state all look like freaks”

“I’m guessing Eden’s included in looking like a freak, then?”

“I don’t like it, Hadley. I’d rather you were with a normal looking guy than a girl with blue hair”

“It’s not like her hair colour makes her a freak. She’s a nurse, remember?”

“If I was in hospital and my nurse had blue hair, I’d ask for another nurse”

I sighed. “Please just try and get along with her, Mom. She’s really nice”

“Alright, but keep her out of the kitchen”

“Yes, boss” I said, saluting her and heading back into the living room.

See why I didn’t want the two of them to meet yet?