A Different Kind of Forever - By Dee Ernst Page 0,3
Lord, Diane, surely you could just write a check?”
Diane began to gather up her books. “I’m a single parent, remember, trying to live on a professor’s salary. I don’t have the disposable income of certain, unencumbered people. Besides, it’ll be fun, out in the sunshine, playing with hoses and soapy water.”
“Playing with hoses? God, I could never be a parent.”
Diane smiled. “Maybe not. Can you walk with me? I have an issue, I think, with my class.”
They walked across campus, Diane explaining her problem with trying to get an outline together. Marianne agreed to get a meeting together next week, they picked a movie for Saturday, and parted. Diane had two classes, both senior seminars. They were her favorite classes, and they sped by. Afterwards, she ran into the grocery store and then hurried home to her daughters.
The week went by quickly. On Friday morning, Emily mentioned that her father would be picking the girls up early. Diane looked at her suspiciously.
“What? What are you cooking up now?”
Emily rolled her eyes. “He just needs to talk to you, okay? It’s not such a big deal.”
Diane looked at Megan, who lifted her shoulders and shook her head. “Sorry Mom, not a clue.”
Emily huffed and ran back upstairs. Diane looked back at Megan, who was putting her cereal bowl in the sink.
“Megan, tell me,” Diane asked. “Please? Whenever she gets that look in her eye, I know there’s trouble.”
Megan twisted her lips together. “She was talking to Alison about the shore this summer.”
Suddenly, Diane knew. “Okay. Not a problem.”
She was on good terms with Kevin, her ex-husband. Theirs had not been a dramatic divorce. They had just grown apart. He would have probably been willing to go on indefinitely, but Diane found herself increasingly unhappy, and they finally separated. He had since re-married, to a much younger woman, who was expecting their first child in September. He had also been talking about buying a house on Long Beach Island, and spending the summer there. Diane could imagine that the idea of spending the entire summer within sight of the ocean, not to mention all those boys, would be irresistible to Emily. Diane smiled ruefully to herself. She would have loved it at that age. Hell, she’d love it now. Diane chewed her lip for a moment. It would be interesting to see how Emily would approach her.
That afternoon, when Kevin came to pick up the girls, Emily sat beside him on the couch. Diane looked at him fondly. He was a quiet, attractive man, just over fifty, who still had a great deal of affection and respect for his ex-wife. Kevin put his arm around Emily’s shoulder.
“Well, I want you to know that Victoria and I have gone ahead and bought a shore house. It’s small, just a summer bungalow, but it’s on the beach block. Victoria is going to be living there all summer.” He smiled at Megan, then at Emily. “So, Em, do you have something to ask your mother?”
Emily’s jaw dropped and she looked at her father, stricken. “Dad, I thought you were –“
Kevin shook his head. “You stay with me every weekend and for three weeks in August. If you want anything else, it’s up to your mother.”
Diane raised an eyebrow. Emily glared daggers at her father, and then turned to her mother, carefully re-arranging her face.
“Mom, I’d like to spend all summer at the shore - with Dad and Vicki. Is it okay with you?”
Megan jumped up. “Wait, what about me?”
“Honey,” Kevin said soothingly, “of course this includes you. It’s just that Emily brought it up a few weeks ago, so she and I have been discussing it.”
“Well,” Megan sputtered, “what about Mom? I mean, she’ll be here all alone. I don’t want to leave Mom alone. What would she do? She’s not even going away this summer. She’ll have nothing to do without us here.”
Diane tightened her lips to hide a smile. “Megan, thank you for thinking of me, but I’ll be working all summer. I’ve got a new class to prepare, and there’s the play.”
“Then it’s okay?” Emily asked.
Diane fixed her eye on her. “What about the job you were going to get this summer to pay for all the driving you’re supposed to be doing next year?”
Emily squirmed. “I can get a job down there. I can wait tables at the shore just as easily as I can here. And I can walk or ride a bike there, and I can’t here, not really.