Welcome to the Family

It was the usual Tuesday morning for me. I'd woken up as early as the sun, done my supermarket trip, been on a short run which I had been promising myself to do for weeks now, and I was back home ready to enjoy my day off from work. I had no particular plans other than to watch movies all day, and cry in front of the television when I saw somebody in love with another.

That's what made these days off drag, being alone. It had been 4 weeks yesterday since my precious perfect boyfriend, Jacob, had been arrested in front of me on a romantic dinner out. You question how somebody could hide so much from you, how somebody can be so dishonest and secretive. The truth is, I suppose part of me knew he was up to no good. Coming home after 3 days being absent from me, coming home with more money than sense, he came home jumpy, never interested in having sex with me, he never had an answer apart from 'work' as to where he had been for 3/4 days straight. He worked in a hard wear store, and his excuses was the 'night-shift'. It was one night, he hadn't been away doing anything suspicious for six or so months, I honestly believed the sneaking around had stopped. He had taken me out to my favourite Italian restaurant, 'Ciao Bella'. That was when the police came in. They were armed, you could see the adrenaline was firing up in the officers as if they'd 'finally' caught the guy they were after. He was arrested for a dozen rapes, along with theft, and one word I can never forget. Murder.

I still find bits of his lying around the house. They make me physically sick, I don't know if to throw them, hang them to the police like I had to do with everything else he owned, or keep it when I'm low and miss him. I disgust myself when I realise at times, that I miss him. It's days like today, when I'm alone watching people on the TV screen happily in love. It makes me miss what we once had. But when I remember what he did, and how little he must have felt about me, it soon brings me around to my senses.

As I was turning 'When Harry Met Sally' off, deciding that was just too much love for one day, I get a knock on my door. I instantly knew it was my mother, I could tell from the tone of the knock. It was light and she knocked in a rhythm I would always remember. I was just folding my blanket away, and throwing away the snotty tissues I had cried into so I wouldn't get a lecture about Jacob, and there was another knock. Which wasn't mom's. I peaked around my window, to see if I could see who she brought with her this time. It was always some councillor for me to talk to about my problems, or it was a different aunt that I had to tell my story too. All I could see was my mother, dressed up more than usual. She was a pretty lady anyway, but her hair was curled and she had her 'special' earrings in.

I walked over to my front door, and took a breath, preparing myself for whoever she was bringing to see me this time. As I opened the door, she stood in front of me, holding hands with a younger, attractive man. He had dark aviator sunglasses on, his hair was spiked and up to the top, it was jet black. He had ripped grey jeans on, with posh leather black shoes. His t-shirt was plain white, v-necked, showing off tattoo's on his chest. He smelt, amazing. It wasn't an overpowering cologne, it appeared to be a natural scent of vanilla with a hint of lavender. I felt my mom noticed me staring, she cleared her throat to catch my attention.

"I'm sorry-" I shook my head. "Come in, both of you"

"We're sorry to drop by unexpected.. we've just had a long weekend away and thought we'd stop off on the way back" her voice had changed. It was, more high pitch and girly. As if she was giving off the illusion she was younger than what she was. My mother has always been age conscious, and now, with what appeared to be a 'boyfriend' that looked at least 10 years younger, it was probably going to bother her more. "Where are my manners?!" she joked, following a fake giggle which I had never heard. "This is Brian!"

It made a little more sense. My mom had text me last month saying she had been on a date with a man named Brian. I really expected, a less hot, older.. Brian..

"It's good to meet you," I nodded, opening my hand out to him. He grabbed it and shook it well. "I'm Sadie"

"Pleasure to meet you, heard lots about you" he had a small grin on his face as he said this. He then removed his aviators, disclosing the brightest eyes I had ever seen. Around the eyes, were dark circles, his eyes were quite deep. His crisp, hazelnut pupils seemed to bring out the darkness as they were so prominent. I really need to stop admiring this guy. "I'm sorry do you have a toilet I could use?"

My mother took his hand, again, and took him to the bottom of the stairs, pointing the direction to which my bathroom was. She kissed him on the cheek and watched him jog up the stairs, like a teenager in love.

"Mom," I frowned. "Where was the warning?"

"Oh I'm sorry, I knew you wouldn't be doing anything" she rolled her eyes, quickly realising her insult.

"So where do you wanna begin mom? What's going on with you, you're all different"

"I know what you're gonna say to me Sadie, but remember I am 49 years old and I can make my own decisions" she tutted, taking charge and filling up my kettle to boil.

"And how old is that guy?" Whether I was asking for my mom or for me, I didn't know.

"He's 36" she began. "Too old for you lady, don't you get any ideas"

My face reddened like a poppy worrying if I had made the admiring obvious. "Mom, he said he had heard lots about me.. you haven't told him-"

"No! It's not his business!" she smiled reassuringly. "Well- he knows a small part of it." Before I could comment, we heard footsteps coming back down the stairs. I just shook my head and began making the drinks. "2 black coffee's honey"

"Black?" I questioned. "You've never had black coffee?" she grunted to me in a way which told me I shouldn't had said that. But nevertheless, I proceeded to make 2 cups of black coffee.

"You have a lovely home" Brian spoke to break the awkward silence. "H-have you lived here long?"

The fact the lovely home was in fact my ex's and I had to move out within a number of months made it even more awkward. "Oh thank you," I said anyway. "I moved in about 2 years ago"

"Shame," mom sighed. "Have you found anywhere else yet?" I'm not sure why she pushed things to unnecessary heights constantly.

"You're moving?" Brian questioned confusingly. "But it's lovely" My mom whispered something into his ear, which I couldn't overhear, to which he swallowed uncomfortably. So when mom said he knows a small part, he knew it all. I placed the two cups on the table they were sitting at, I sat at the other side wondering what I could say to make this encounter any less awkward.

"So, where did you go this weekend?" I asked them.

Brian began to speak, but mom spoke over him. "Well, Brian over here, took me to Las Vegas for a long weekend" she giggled. Las Vegas. Classy. This guy was not my mothers type. She prefers a long weekend at home ordering table covers from a catalogue, not Vegas.

"Oh. Lovely" I nodded. It was back to being awkward again. I didn't know what to say to the pair. My mum wasn't being herself with him, everything I said could possibly contradict everything she's ever told him and I would hate to be the one to mess things up for her.

"Brian!" she yelled, randomly. "Well, Sadie, Brian here is very good with his hands.." she paused, and giggled. I rolled my eyes in disgust, he seemed to cringe too. "He's good at DIY, I mentioned it to him last week and he was really up for fixing those holes in your bedroom and the hallway that Jacob punched-"

"Mom!" I snapped, quickly to shut her up. "It's fine, I'll sort it myself"

"But you need to get the house on the market honey you're not allowed to stay here for much longer!" she reasoned.

My mom really needed to shut up. I felt like I was being embarrassed in front of my boyfriend, but no- hers! Jacob wanted me out of his house, and when it was sold, he'd get all of the money 'ready' for when he comes out. Unfortunately there wasn't anything I could do. Legally, it was his house. I just moved into it. So my mom was completely right, but nevertheless I wanted her to stop talking about it in front of him.

I looked over to Brian. "Sadie," he began, with his soft voice. "I'll come over tomorrow evening to sort them out for you"

The way he spoke to me so softly made me calm after the way my mom was ranting on. I was clearly crushing on this guy, and I didn't want to make it obvious in front of my mom. Was it selfish to actually think I deserved this guy more than my mother did? I don't even know anything about him and I already want him.

Notes

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