Family

Emotional Attachments

"Think they're ever gonna stop glaring at each other?" Mia muttered, leaning closer to Heather.

Heather, who'd spent the last several minutes staring determinedly at her plate of mixed turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, shrugged her shoulders. "Probably not."

Seriously, her grandparents should know this by now––put Heather's parents in the same house together, and there was bound to be tension, if not outright disaster.

"Hmm," Mia muttered, settling back in her seat.

There was a moment of relative silence––relative, because almost everyone around the dinner table was talking over each other, or trying to have two conversations at once. The exceptions to this rule were the younger generation, including Heather herself and Mia. Every once in awhile, Heather's grandparents, aunts, or uncles would call their names, asking mild questions and trying to draw the young women into conversation. So far, it wasn't working.

To be honest, Heather would rather be anywhere else right now. Riding horses with Mia, discussing things in the basement, or at a swimming pool. Anywhere was better than here.

Awkward family reunions, indeed.

"Hey, Karen," Mia called to Heather's mother. "Could you pass the corn, please?"

Heather sent Mia a withering glare (did she have to call her mother's attention to them?), which Mia pretended not to notice.

She looked up in time to see Karen leaning across the table, a bowl of corn in hand. The dark look she shot her former husband didn't go unnoticed. By anyone.

"So, uh," said one Heather's relatives––she didn't check which one. "How's work going––"

Mia once again leaned closer to Heather. "Yeah, they definitely still hate each other."

In response, Heather gave her a skeptical look. "You needed proof?"

Mia shrugged her shoulders, looking a bit sheepish. Her vivid green eyes shone with sincerity.

With a groan, Heather went back to pushing the food around on her plate.

It wasn't that Karen and Devin were bad parents. Rather, the divorce had changed them both––in some ways bad, and some ways good. They were better off apart, that was for sure.

It's just that, during the divorce process, they became...not neglectful, exactly, but more distant. Both were so preoccupied with the stress of the entire process that it became more and more frequent for them to ask Heather and her siblings to leave them be. As a result, the emotional attachment Heather had developed when she was younger suffered a bit.

Oh, she still loved both of them. And really, her parents had done everything to ensure their children would go out into the world with an adequate sense of autonomy. But still, there was a reason Heather didn't easily get homesick when she was in college.

Still, it could be worse. Her parents might be a bit distant at times (and used to be quite strict), but they never, in all the time Heather was growing up, used corporal punishment. That was one of the few things Heather doubted she'd forgive.

Trying to shield her mouth with her hand, Heather said to Mia, quietly, "Wanna get out of here?" She cast a glance down the table, at all the people making idle conversation. Some were quite adept at ignoring the elephant in the room. "As soon as it's socially acceptable?"

"We literally got back from horseback riding, like, a half-hour ago." At Heather's unimpressed look, Mia gave her a placating smile. "Definitely. We'll leave in ten minutes. Wanna cruise around or something?'

Saying nothing, Heather gave a short nod and took a bite of her mashed potatoes.

On the far end of the table, at least three seats away from Heather, her grandparents sat with their heads bent together, obviously having some type of private conversation.

Heather had to smile at that. If there were any two people Heather positively identified with in her childhood, it was her mother's parents. Even after being married for...fifty years? Anyway, they were still very much in love, and it showed. Grandma bought Grandpa books she knew he'd like––not for any special occasion, but because she saw a book and simply had to get it for him. Grandpa would make Grandma tea, or similarly buy her things he thought she'd enjoy.

They still held each other's hand when walking together. On occasion, they'd even go out on dates.

If Heather got into a relationship half as loving as theirs, she'd be satisfied.

Looking up, Heather turned back to her cousin.

"So, Mia..."

Glossary:

Emotional attachment: The attachment a child forms with their parents. Specific attachments start at about seven months of age.

Autonomy: Independence.

Corporal punishment: Physical punishment.

Positive identification: When a child identifies positive, loving behavior.