Most girls would be jealous of Calliope Draycott. She seemingly has it all. The friends, the money, the boyfriend, and in a few years, if all goes to plan, she'll have the job too. So why doesn't she feel happy? It's after a disastrous family dinner...
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This is the mature thing to do. The right thing to do.
It's only fair after spending the weekend at home to then go and spend a day with my mother and her boyfriend. The thought of my mother having a boyfriend sends a shiver down my spine.
Especially since, somehow, she knows I spent last weekend there.
I really don't want to be here though, I don't know if I'm ready to see my Mum with a man that isn't my Dad. But, I'm already here, and it's too late to turn around now, so I smooth out some of the wrinkles in my dress, and knock on the door.
It's a nice house, modern, but it's not exactly my mother's taste. I really can't picture her living here. She's always preferred older homes, with character, rather than modern homes. She says that modern architecture is "trying too hard" whatever that means.
An elderly man opens the door, and for a moment, I'm floored. This is who she's left my father for?
But then I see her on the arm of a different older man, and she's smiling up at him. Good. I'm glad she's happy, because if she's had to split up our family to get there, then she better be at Mary freaking Poppins levels of happy.
I want her bouncing off the walls because she's so ecstatic.
I wasn't angry at her until now. But now I'm furious. Because I can't help but wonder why she couldn't look at my Dad the way she's looking at Smith.
Then it hits me and I understand.
My mother, is me. She was in a successful relationship, coasting along, when she met someone else, and found something there that was missing and realised that this new person was the missing half of her.
My father, is Isaac. The one that was there forever. The one that is eventually forgotten about. The one that is left to pick up the pieces of the failed relationship all on their own.
Smith, he's Theo. The one that came along when she least expected it. The one she falls in love with. The one she can't live without.
Realising this, I can understand how she split our family up. Because if I was in her shoes, I'd pick Theo every single time. I know how this happened now, because its the same thing I've just been through.
The apple really doesn't fall far from the tree.
So I'll be nice to Smith and my Mum, but I still don't feel comfortable working for him. That's just a step too far. At least I have the perfect opportunity to say "thanks for the work placement, but in light of recent developments, no thanks".
I have a feeling that isn't going to go down well.
I smile at the elderly man that's holding the door open for me and when he asks if he can take my jacket, I shrug it off of my shoulders and hand it to him with another small smile and a 'thank you.'
