Not One Bone

After the tow truck had removed the wreckage of her mother's car from the street, Nancy and her boyfriend ordered an Uber and decided to call it a night. Nancy's mother would want an explanation as to why her car was destroyed, something she dreaded. Tim did his best to make her feel better during the ride home, his lipstick smeared around her face by the time the driver announced their arrival. She had never kissed a man wearing lipstick before, but after kissing Tim, Nancy was sure she would never be able to kiss unpainted lips again.

"Let me come with you," Tim said as Nancy started stepping out of the car, "I'll help you explain."

Of course Nancy did. How could she say no to a man like Tim? That was one of the things she loved about him. He was so commanding, so authoritative, when Tim said he wanted something, people lined up to give it to him. Oh, and Nancy wanted to give it to him.

She couldn't help but smile at her own dirty thoughts as she walked ahead of him into the house. It helped having him around, he was a comforting presence, despite the incredibly uncomfortable conversation she was about to have.

Nancy's mother was sitting at the dinner table eating alone and reading a book. Having gotten pregnant with Nancy as a girl in high school, she had always been a single mother. Nancy still remembered her early years living at her grandparent's house as her mother finished school, then university. Then, graduated with a degree in economics, Nancy and her mother finally moved out and started their lives on their own.

Nancy had watched her go from job to job at the beginning, a beautiful young woman not taken seriously, more than once sexually harassed. Still, she persevered, battling low expectations of a single mother in the workforce, slowly building her career. Eventually she had developed enough credibility to branch out and start her own firm, Beardy Consulting. It was a small company, Nancy's mother, a data specialist named Erica, and a communications person named John. They'd done well for themselves, enough to call themselves wealthy, which had been a surprise to so many, but not to Nancy. Nancy knew that her mother would work hard for her, she always had, and create something special. The team was small, but for the three of them they'd been able to escape the toxic work cultures they'd all been stuck in during their early careers. It was a big win for someone as young as Nancy's mother, a victory that had turned more than a few heads.

"Mom," Nancy said, stepping up to the table, clutching Tim's hand tightly, "I have something I have to tell you."

Her mother's fork hit her plate with a loud clang. She had her eyes fixed on Nancy, but said nothing.

"The car. It was in an accident," Nancy said, already dreading what was to come. Her mother worked so hard for her money, and this would be a big set back.

"Oh, thank God!" her mother said loudly, slapped the table, then stood up and rushed over to Nancy. He mother took her into her arms and squeezed, "I thought you were going to say you were pregnant!"

Nancy paused for a second, then they both burst into laughter. The two women held each other, laughing deeply, both feeling awash with relief. It had been a long time since her mother and her had laughed like that. Maybe it needed something like this to relieve some tension.

"So then, tell me," her mother said, stepping back and wiping a tear from her eye, "What happened to my car?"

"Total write-off," Nancy said, "I'm so sorry. We ran out of gas, and then got out, but then a semi came along and..."

"It'll be okay," her mother said, "Insurance will pay for it. You'll have to help me with the deductible, but maybe we can get a better car out of it. I'm just glad you're not hurt."

Then Nancy's mother's eyes moved aside to assess Tim, still standing silently next to Nancy, waiting for an introduction.

"I'm so sorry!" Nancy blurted, "This is Tim! My boyfriend!"

"Boyfriend, huh?" her mother said, assessing him, eyes drinking him in, "That was fast. Weren't you just with that wormy guy? Glen?"

"Gary," Nancy said, disgust in her voice, "I don't know what I was thinking with that. I cut him loose," she rubbed Tim's chest through his dress, "and got a better model."

"I can see that," her mother pursed her lips and raised one eyebrow the way she did when she was admiring a man.

And that's when it hit her. When was the last time she had seen her mother with a man? Like, really with a man? There had been dates over the years, but nothing that stuck. She'd sacrificed so much for Nancy over the years, given up so much of what Nancy took for granted, but still found herself eating dinners alone, her only companion a paperback from the local library.

Nancy looked over at her new boyfriend. Would he be game? Nancy's mother was, after all, only fifteen years older than they were, and she looked at least five years younger than that. She was in shape, had a great body, was smart, fun, beautiful. She didn't see why he wouldn't! It wasn't as if Nancy would be jealous.

Jealousy. The concept was still so alien to her. How many times had her girlfriends told her that a boy she was dating was flirting with another girl, only to have Nancy shrug it off. How many times had she looked at a boy she had crushed on, only to have his heart stolen by another, yet couldn't get herself worked up. She knew that there was such a thing as jealousy, she'd read about it, seen it acted out in television and movies, but there she'd never been able to emotionally connect with it. She just didn't have a jealous bone in her body!

Besides, in all the representations of jealousy that she'd seen, it came off as a greedy, ugly emotion. Nancy was glad that she had never understood the concept. She would much rather make the world a better, warmer, more loving place. Jealousy made things colder, more closed off. Looking at her lonely, yet attractive mother, still in her prime, then considering her amazingly hot new boyfriend, Nancy figured that she had found a perfect way to make the world a bit better.

"Tim," she said, turning toward him, "could you excuse my mother an me for a minute? I need to ask her something privately."

"Sure thing," he said, looking so cute in his dress and wedge heels that she felt like throwing him on the table and riding him right then and there.

Nancy then kissed him on the cheek, grabbed her mother's hand, and dragged the confused older woman into the kitchen, shutting the door behind her. It wasn't the first time Nancy had brought a boy home, but it was the first time Nancy had brought a boy home that was this hot. Hopefully her mother wouldn't take much convincing. After all, it felt so good to share!