Clark Girls

It was January 2000, My Daughter, who was eight years old at the time, and I were living with My Mother, her Grandmother. I was working for a company that recycled heavy equipment parts. I was in the accounts payable department, I was the accounts payable department. It was a new job and I was not very good at it, at all. The people who owned the company fought all the time, like, yelling and screaming, fought. It was not fun. I was trying to learn, I was trying to like it, but I didn't like it, not one bit. Part of the job required me to call up people and tell them to pay their bill. If you know me than you know that's the very last thing I should be doing. I am not a persuader.
My Mom, we call her BeBe, was in Florida for the winter months, so Stephanie, my daughter, and I had the whole house to ourselves. Which was nice because I wasn't caught between being a daughter and a Mother all the time, I could just be the Mom. I was afraid Stephanie would think I was her sister instead of her Mom if we stayed there too long. It was a sad time for me, I was in limbo and limbo was getting old. I was glad to have a nice, safe place to stay, but I was ready to find a place of my own. My Mother's generosity was without compare, she was always there with a shoulder to cry on or a bed to sleep on or whatever it was you needed, BeBe was there with unconditional love and understanding. Stephanie's school was very close and she was doing well. Stephanie is my rock. I'm not sure it's right for your daughter to be your rock, but she was. And, she was good at it. Stephanie is calm by nature and being around her always makes me feel better.
I had been on again, off again with Steph's Dad since the beginning. This time he told me to go and it seemed like it might be the end for us. There was something different about it, I can't explain it. Looking back I recall a different look in his eye, or tone in his voice. Our relationship was hard, very hard. It was hard on him, hard on me and unfortunately hard on our darling daughter. I had myself convinced that I would figure this whole thing out with him by the time she was five, because I knew that she deserved to have some stability and I wanted her school years to be happy,but, now, she was seven and I wasn't quite where I wanted to be yet. I was unhappy though, and I recognized it as that. Before, when everything was going wrong with Nic, Steph's Dad I didn't even know how miserable I was. I was so deep in the craziness of our uncomfortable relationship I had lost all bearings. Anyway this is about the year my life changed, not about the years of suckiness that came before. Well, let me clarify, they didn't suck, it's just more like I was stuck, so very stuck, but, that is another story.
Let's see, the year my life changed, right, okay. So, here I am, it's January and I hate my job and I'm living with my Mom. Ugh. Enter, one, Linda Johnson, My Mom's neighbor and My good friend. She's so funny and she is a great cook and she loves Stephanie and I. One day when I was at Linda's house she told me about a friend of hers, his name was Mike, and she thought that I should meet him because he's a real nice guy, plays guitar and has a little girl and he has a good job. I said, no way. Thanks though. Well, she played his CD that he had made, Mike is a musician, and we listened to it while we hung curtains in her house. Linda's house is really fancy and she is always busy doing something, or many things. Anyway, back to this fella, Mike. Linda couldn't get the cd player to work so she had to call Him, conveniently, it turns out she had the cd in upside down. Anyway, I spoke with him briefly on the phone. I remember saying that I thought he souned a little like Neil Young or Crosby, Stills and Nash and that he must listen to their music. He said no, not really and that was that. I didn't think much of it. Linda did say that Mike was occasionally in need of a babysitter and maybe I could help him out with that sometime. She's a crafty one, that Linda. About a week or so later I was going to the mailbox and I noticed a silver Bronco sitting in Linda's driveway and I know that it must be that one guys, the musicians car. I go back in the house and I realize that I haven't given Linda Stephanie's school picture yet and I should probably run it over, like, right now. So, I cut out one of her pictures, I walk over to Linda's with the picture in my hand, the reason for the visit, and I knock on the door and open it and stick my head in and say, "Hi Linda, it's me Kelly!" She holler's back, Hey, Kelly, we're in the kitchen, come on in."
TO BE CONTINUED.....