Game Over: Life's Over

Priorities

Mom and I didn't talk much while we ate dinner. Mom put on a Christmas movie for us to watch that kept our attention. She was never one to watch Christmas movies growing up. I usually watched them with Alex and his family. It was weird not doing that with him and doing it with Mom instead. Even the holidays were different since my diagnosis and it was a hard change to get used to.

Mom only ate one slice of pizza and sipped at her glass of Diet Pepsi. I didn't know why she suggested pizza and wings if she wasn't going to eat them. I would have been fine with Chinese take-out. I made it through a piece of pizza and several wings before she even reached the crust.

Mom put my drink into a regular cup with a straw, which I was grateful for. I knew she only did it because sippy cups didn't like carbonation but it made me feel normal for a change.

I took a sip, getting the straw and the sides of the cup covered in sauce as I did so. "How come you aren't eating?"

"I'm eating." Mom nodded at the leftover crust on her plate.

I gave her a look.

She shrugged. "I'm just enjoying my time with you."

"You seem off today. Is something wrong?"

"No, nothing's wrong."

"Then what is it? You've been acting weird ever since I got home."

She wiped her hands off on a napkin before she grabbed the TV remote and paused our movie. "You know that I love you and I would do anything for you."

I nodded, apprehensive about where the conversation was going.

"You've been in a good place lately and Eric and Theo are doing an exceptional job taking care of you in their home. While I, by no means, plan to stop seeing you and spending time with you, I've found my time here a bit lonely."

I had no idea what she was getting at. Was she planning to adopt a kid or something since she missed having me at home with her? If that were the case, why didn't she just ask for me to move back home with her? All I needed was a caregiver during the day. And it wasn't like Mom didn't have the money to afford one.

"I've picked up more hours at work to compensate for my extra free time. It's really just more time to devote to the cases I already have. But nonetheless... because I've been in the office so much, I've spent a lot of time with my coworkers. Particularly, my coworker, Collin."

"Well, yeah. That's bound to happen if you're there longer."

She smiled. "Of course. We've started seeing each other outside of work."

"Like you do work from home together?"

"No, honey. We're dating. We've been on a few dates so far and things are going really well."

Mom had a boyfriend? Mom who devoted all of her time to work and nothing else took time away from that to flirt with a coworker and start a relationship? She never had time for me growing up but now suddenly found time for romance? It didn't make sense to me.

Mom turned so she was facing me more. "I know this is a lot to take in so don't worry about needing time to get used to this. I expected it to be a bit of a surprise. It was a surprise for me, too."

"I just... I didn't know you were dating."

"I wasn't looking for anyone, it just sort of happened. We got put on this case together which meant lots of late nights together. We're trying this whole thing out to see where it goes."

"Is he nice?"

"He's very nice. I think you'd like him."

"Do I have to meet him? He's not coming over this weekend, is he?" I wasn't sure I was up for a meet and greet with Mom's new boyfriend. I was still getting used to the idea of her dating.

"No, no, he's not. I wanted to wait a while before we jumped to the introductions. I didn't want to overwhelm you."

That was a relief. I wanted some time to get used to the idea of Mom having a boyfriend before I got stuck calling him 'dad'.

I picked at the crust from one of the slices I'd already finished. Suddenly, I wasn't so hungry.

Mom patted my knee. "Hey, I know this is a lot for you to take in but don't stress about it. We're not going to let it ruin the weekend. We're going to have some fun, okay?"

How was I supposed to have any fun after finding out that my mom had other priorities than me?