State of Grace (Complete)

The Cool Mom

Ch. 20

My dad leaves for his conference, as promised, three days after Christmas. Mommy celebrates by staying in bed, quite out of the ordinary for her. Before he left, Daddy gave me a bunch of money.

"Here, Sweetpea, for groceries and stuff, okay?"

"Sure, thanks."

"Be a good girl, Gracie, I'll see you in the new year." He plants a quick kiss on my forehead and dashes out the door with his suitcase and briefcase. It looks like he packed for a year, not just five days.

I text Chris to ask if he wants to come with me to the grocery store. I have to take a taxi if Mom doesn't get up, and I'm not going to hold my breath. Instead Chris messages back that Andrea is going to take me, since she has to go anyway. I throw on my coat and run across the yard. When I get in their house Ian is sitting in the living room.

"Here again, Grace? Nothing better to do than slum it with the neighbours?" Ian says, glancing up from the TV.

"Actually, I'm going grocery shopping with Andrea because my dad left until after New Year's and my mom's in bed again, and there's no food in the house. I have to take care of her and do everything until my dad gets back. At least he left me money this time." I am in no mood for his snarky comments. He used to understand how crappy my parents are.

"What do you mean, this time?" his voice has a growl to it and I can't really gauge his reaction.

"Let's see, in Manchester, he went out for three days without telling us, leaving my mom and I in a visiting faculty building with no idea if he was coming back—he swears he told us about the conference, and thankfully the university allowed us to eat in the cafeteria. Um, in Versailles he went out with a group of visiting profs for two days and we were stuck in a professor's home by ourselves. Then there was the tour he took in Switzerland...Really there were about five different times where he just kind of forgot we were there and left us with nothing. Every time he left, my mom would freak out on me, like it was my fault and abuse me verbally until she took to her bed for at least a day or two. If people hadn't been so kind, we would have been without a place to sleep, let alone food, and there were a few times we did go without a few meals." I am angry that I am telling him all this, I that I have to tell him this, but I am sick and tired of him being mean to me.

"Honestly Grace, your dad's is an ass." I seriously want to say 'takes one to know one' back at him, but I'm too old for that now.

"Yeah, but I'm just the poor little rich girl who went to Europe, who was excited about getting jeans because no one in my house would ever think of getting me any." I storm out of the room to the kitchen to calm down because I'm shaking.

"Ready to go, Grace?" Andrea gives me a hug and I feel a lot better.

"Yep, I have my list and the money. Thank you so much for taking me."

"It's my pleasure. With Maggie gone, there's far too much testosterone around here for my liking." I'm guessing she overheard my argument with Ian.

Have you had lunch yet?" I want to do something nice for her.

"No."

"Well, let me take you, my treat," I offer.

"No Grace, you never know when you'll need that money. You'd better hold on to the extra just in case, but I'd love to treat you to a meal."

"Thanks, are you sure?"

"Of course."

At lunch, Andrea asks me how my mom is doing, and I admit to her that she's not doing well. We talk for a long time, and it is just so wonderful, I've really missed having a real parent. Chris, Ian and Maggie don't know how lucky they are. We go grocery shopping afterwards, and she shows me how to pick out good produce and suggests some easy meals that I can make. Honestly, if it wasn't for her, I'd be eating microwave junk all the time.