Jess is happy to know that her mother, Mona, wants to spend more time with her children during their summer holidays. She even tries to look past the fact that Mona just wants her to divorce Matt, her husband. But when Jess goes to a café during her lunch, she gets a lot more than the menu offers. You know the saying goes that ‘Mother knows best’? Yeah, that doesn’t apply to every situation, even though I thought that my mom was the best person in my life. My mom, who was instrumental in everything from my teenage years to my wedding, decided that despite the millions of men around,
she just had to have my husband. Here’s what happened: I’ve been happily married to Matt for eight years — or so I thought. We have two daughters and live a pretty relaxed family life. Now, my mom, Mona, lives about twenty minutes away. I just loved the idea of having her so close because, growing up, it had always been the two of us. Mom’s a single lady who is all about looking much younger than she is. I’ll credit her skincare routine because she does not look her age at all. For the longest time, she’s just wanted to find love and settle down. I don’t blame her because my father left us when I was about three years old. So, naturally,
Mom isn’t the babysitting type. When my kids were born, she didn’t want to spend time with them. She said she would be the best grandmother come Christmas and their birthdays, but she wasn’t ready to do the dirty diapers. Which is fair — Matt and I wanted these babies, so it was up to us to do everything. “I’ll do school drop-offs and pick-ups when they’re older, Jess,” Mom used to tell me. But here’s the thing. Mom’s been coming over often, claiming she wants to help with the kids during the summer holidays while Matt and I work. Matt works from home as a medical writer, and I’m a paralegal. When Mom said she wanted to be around the kids, I thought it would be a win-win situation — the kids would be entertained, and Matt wouldn’t be bothered by them while working. So, I’d come home every day, and while I cooked, Mom would sit at the counter and tell me what she and the kids got up to that day. But for weeks, all she would say to me was how lazy Matt was. “He sits behind his computer for hours. And then, when he’s not doing that, he’s watching TV. He doesn’t even come to check on the kids and me, to see if we’re okay or if he can join in.” “Mom, that’s just how he works. He takes a break in between the writing,” I said.”No, it’s more. He’s lousy. You should leave him, Jess.” I continued to brush it off, thinking she was just a nag — Mom had high opinions about everything from who I dated in school to the laundry detergents I bought. Fast forward to last week. My friend Sim invited me for coffee during our lunch break.
