Tasha
“Could you please say something to me?” my husband pleaded.
“What do you want me to say? This is hard. I really just need a bit to think about this.” How could he expect an answer? His mother hated me, I hated her. We hated each other and neither one of us took offense. It was a peaceful dislike. Now he was asking if this woman could move in with us in our garage “in-law” apartment. That just wasn’t funny. An in-law wasn’t supposed to move in. Keep your enemies closer my ass!
“It’s not that I just want my Ma with us, but babe, she’s sick. And not like medication sick, she’s just gonna get worse. I still don’t know what all these Alzheimer’s symptoms mean or everything the doctor said, but honey we both can’t work and check on Ma. That will involve driving back and forth and that puts an extra two hours on our afternoon.”
“On our afternoon? What do you mean our afternoon?” Just hearing the words come out of my mouth, I hated me.
Victor pulled the car over and to a sudden stop. “Seriously? After fifteen years and you would bail on me like that? It’s always been we, us, so yes Tash, our. Don’t do this okay? I know your girlfriends have dysfunctional relationships and marriages, but don’t take us there. WE make all of our decisions, so don’t act like this is a me argument.”
I gotta say, he was right. All of my friends are on the outs with their relationships, but I’ve been in a loving marriage with my husband for fifteen years. The one thing we’ve successfully mastered was communication. It may have come down to heated discussions like this, that didn’t necessarily get resolved in one night, but the point was, the discussion took place.
“You’re right Pa. I owe us this conversation, but please give me some time for it to sink in. I don’t want to argue about this, I really don’t. I get it. She’s sick. But you know how we don’t get along. I want to say yes. I really do. But you know your mother. She disrespects me in front of the kids. I’m not going to have her talking crap about me in front of the kids, while in my house. I’m not.”
“Thank you. Thank you for considering and knowing what an important decision this is for us. I know my mother. Trust me I do. But, you know my brothers aren’t going to step up. They’re not going to look out for her health and well-being. If you do say yes, there will be rules she will have to live by,” he squeezed my hand.
“If she can remember them,” I laughed at my dementia joke.
“No. Nope. No dementia jokes. Those are off the table, Tash. I mean damn, what is wrong witchu? She’s sick baby. This is not a momma joke moment.” He put the car in drive and pulled back onto the road, while we held hands.
“You couldn’t think of anything quick enough, huh?”
“Not a damn thing. You got that.”
© 2013 Mia L. Hazlett
All Rights Reserved. Excerpt from Conundrum- March 2014 release date.
Mia L. Hazlett 