Dante and Missy

When I got home that afternoon I sent Jada a text. It read: Hey girl. I am so excited for you to come to your first Friendsmas. I told Keegan to send you the G****e form to fill out, so whomever gets you knows your favorites. If you send me your email, I can share it as well.

This was going to be such an amazing holiday season and I couldn’t wait. My dad was bringing his girlfriend, Alison, to Thanksgiving at our house. My mom was the one that invited them. She seemed so incredibly okay about dad moving on. I felt sometimes she was doing it to make things easier for us, but I liked that my parents were cordial and that they still showed love for one another in a non-romantic way. Mom even got Alison a gift this year for Christmas. Alison had lost her mom earlier this year, so my mom printed a picture of her mom from F******k and got it engraved onto a memory stone. It was absolutely one of the most thoughtful things ever. I think my mom is the reason I am so accepting of Jada. Keegan doesn’t want me to have his heart, so I showed kindness to the one that did.

That next week at Thanksgiving, I watched my parents get along and watched Alison become a small part of our normal. She was kind to us. She teaches elementary kids so her mannerisms really showed this. Alison has a daughter that is graduating this year. Dad pushed for her to go to Florida State like he did, but my mom was team, LSU all the way. Alison said that she had applied to both of those schools, so she was waiting to see who had accepted her. Her daughter was with her dad and his family this Thanksgiving, so I would have to wait until Christmas to meet her. Baylen seemed to enjoy looking at her photo that Alison was showing. He is such a needy teenage boy. He and Audrey haven’t really been hanging out lately, so I assume that’s over. When I asked him to send her the friendsmas link he said he would, but I didn’t see her response when I printed them off.

I told dad all about Jeff and how sweet he was. He said that as long as I was happy that’s all he cared about. And you know what? I was. I was so happy with Jeff. Dad said he had a surprise for Baylen and I for Christmas this year. He seemed really excited about it.

“Dante, please don’t let it be something I have to clean up after and feed,” mom begged, jokingly.

“Awww Missy come on now. You know me better than that. It’s not a pet, but the kids will absolutely love it,” he teased.

Dad looked so handsome. He had lost about 40 pounds over the last year and he had a new haircut. He looked super distinguished with his pepper flakes of gray growing throughout his beard. He wore a brown sweater pulled over a collared dress shirt. Alison really has quite the effect on him. My dad was a 5’11, black man, which is where I get all of this curly hair from. Being bi-racial has really proven to be a challenge sometimes, but I love who I am because of my diverse upbringing.

After dinner, we watched football. We were all New Orleans Saints fans, but they never seem to have Thanksgiving games. So we watched the Cowboys and the Falcons game.

Later, we played some family board games. We were all super competitive in my family. Mom was great at all of the trivia games, so we avoided those if we could. Pictionary was the final game that we played. Mom and Alison were on a team and us kids were with dad. Mom and Alison won and rubbed it in our faces with an impromptu dance session of celebration.

When the night was over, I helped mom clean up. I told her how much I enjoyed watching her with Alison and how I loved that dad could be here with his new love interest and she not be upset by it.

“Breesy girl, I have love for your dad, but I am not in love with him. I want him to be happy even if I can’t be. It takes a lot of maturity to get to that place, but I’m here and I love it,” she declared, throwing away piles of uneaten food on plates.

“Mom, you said dad was the only person you have ever loved. So I can’t imagine how your heart healed like this,” I said, pulling out the trash bag.

Mom stopped what she was doing and came closer to me. Her eyes looked so serious and I hoped I hadn’t said anything to hurt her. She put her hands on mine and leaned towards me.

“My sweet girl. I said I have only ever loved one person. I never said it was your father,” she said, pulling my hands up by her chin.

So what the hell does that mean? She didn’t love my dad when she had us? She has never been in love with this man she said vows with? Who is this person she loved or is still in love with? I had so many questions as I watched her finish cleaning and then head upstairs. I needed to talk to Baylen and we needed to find this mystery person.