Just Friends

CHAPTER- 11

THE VISIT

Jade came back from her run to find her mother waiting outside the apartment.

"Mom, how long have you been waiting?" She asked.

"Oh I just reached. I was just going to give you a ring."

Jade went ahead and opened the apartment, "Come in. And what brings the busy Amanda Tucker to my humble abode?" Joked Jade.

Her mother was looking a little stressed and serious, which was highly unusual for Amanda Tucker.

"Ummm.... Stuart called in the morning." Amanda said once they sat on the sofa. She fidgeted with her fingers waiting for Jade to say something.

"Who?" Jade asked, even though she clearly knew who her mom was talking about.

"Jade! Your dad called in the morning." Sighed Amanda.

"And?"

"He said he's coming back."

Was this a joke? Seriously! All the people in Jade's life who had left her were coming back in the same week. And she didn't know how to deal with everyone.

"Why?" She asked.

There was no expression on her face. Amanda was almost scared to say anything further.

"He said his work in London is over." She said almost in a whisper.

"Is he bringing his Spanish girlfriend with him?"

Jade sounded so much like a whiny teenager in that one sentence that Amanda almost laughed.

Jade noticed the look of amusement on her mothers face and glared.

"First off, she is his secretary. And second thing she is Mexican not Spanish."

"Mom you want to neglect all his affairs, go ahead! Turn a blind eye and a deaf ear. I'm not doing anything of that sort."

"Jade! It's your father you're talking about. Mind your tongue."

Jade gave a bitter laugh, "Father? Stuart Tucker is not my father. Being a sperm donor does not make him my father."

"Jade!"

"Mom this is ridiculous! He went away when I was 8! 8! He never did anything a father does. So I'm sorry if I don't have any 'fatherly feelings' for him." Jade said viciously.

Amanda sighed, "Jade he sounded serious this time. He apologised. He said he wants to-"

"Apologised?" Scoffed Jade, "He apologised and you believe him?"

"He's my husband." Stated Amanda.

"Was your husband. Don't forget you'll have been separated for more than 14 years now."

"He deserves a chance!"

"He does not deserve anything! And we have already given him too many. You still love him, mom. You know it. I know it. Even he knows it. And that's what he takes advantage of every time." Jade moved closer to her mom, who had dropped her head into her palms and put a hand over her shoulders. "He takes advantage of you. And you let him. He comes back every 2 or 3 years says sorry you take him back and then he's gone again. And every time it takes you months to get over it. Why do you let him behave like this to you? Why?"

"Because I hope. I hope Jade that maybe this time I'll get my old Stuart back. I'll get back the Stuart I had fallen in love with. I can't stop hoping Jade. I know he has affairs. I ignore them but I'm not blind. But every time he comes back, Jade, I can see the old Stuart deep down. And I know he will come back one day."