Mom was in a relationship with someone new but the details about him were vague. All she told me was that his name was John, he worked as a professor at the college, and 'was an amazing guy'.

"If he's so amazing, why is she putting me off from meeting him?" I told the girls in exasperation. "It's been almost a month since they dated!"

"Maybe because you gave her ex-boyfriend a bit of a hard time," Charlotte reminded me.

I was silent for a moment as I thought back. Several months ago, mom dated a car salesman named Bryan. I was unhappy because he was the first guy she dated since I left home, thinking it was because she was lonely. I couldn't understand what she saw in the guy despite the fact that he was approximately six-feet-tall. Mom tried to make us bond over a shopping trip but instead, I interrogated him about his character and his intentions. Not long after, they broke up.

"They broke up right after she made you go shopping with him," Charlotte continued. "I don't know what you said or did, but I imagine it wasn't pleasant."

"I only asked how many times he had been married and what plans he had with my mom!" I declared.

Calley lowered her phone from her face in surprise. "What the - you didn't tell me that!"

"You and I both," Chels chimed in.

I laughed awkwardly. "I thought I did..."

"Nope."

"I was only trying to make conversation," I said in my defense.

Hazel eyes rolled as Calley went back to whatever she was watching on her phone. "Sure you were."

Chels laughed. "She's a grown woman who can make her own decisions."

"She's also my mom," I told her. "I just care about her and don't want to see her hurt..." my voice trailed off when my chest tightened with grief. It's always been just the two of us since I can remember.

The next day, I was finally going home to see my mom. The girls rode with me to the airport straight after school. It was a nice day; the sun popped out and the sky was pastel blue. I couldn't wait to get back home. After bidding my friends goodbye, I hauled my single suitcase into the busied building to board my flight.

Disembarking, I found mom standing in the moving crowd. She was staring out and about and even though she was quite a distance from me, I could see a sense of tranquility surrounding her features. I couldn't see John, which was a relief because I wanted to see my mother alone first. I always remembered how much it hurt her to watch my departure for the first time and it had almost broken her to pieces.

"Mom?"

The sound of my voice snapped the woman out of her thoughts and into the happy sight of me running at full speed towards her. Without a moment's hesitation, she scooped me up in a warm embrace, squeezing me as tightly as she could. "Oh, how I've missed you!"

Once we settled inside the car and started the journey home, Mom turned up the radio a notch, filling the car with dulcet tones. I was looking out the window, watching the structures and people pass by with my head propped by my hand.

"Mom?"

"Yeah, Soph?" Mom glanced over at me, flipping on the turn signal. I was still looking out the window, but I could see her watching from the corner of my left eye.

"Where's John?" I asked, turning to look at her with curious blue eyes, an exact match to her own.

"That's what I want to tell you about."

I smiled from the inside, trying to look and sound sympathetic. "Don't tell me you two broke up, and right when I just got back."

"No, that's not it," Mom said reassuringly as she stopped at a light.

My frown returned.

"So when am I going to meet this guy?" I said with a scoff as mom pulled the car into the familiar boundaries of our neighborhood.

"Soon enough, soon enough." Mom let the song wash over her while watching the road. "I've invited him over for dinner tomorrow night, he'll be bringing his daughter."

"Daughter!" I said in mid shock. Mom never mentioned that the man had children. "Where did you meet this guy anyway?"

Mom pulled into the driveway of our large, cozy home. "I met him on the job...little while after my first day." Then opened the driver's side door before staring my way. "Is that alright with you?"

My answer consisted of a single wordless shrug as I retrieved my luggage from the backseat of the car. I lift up the handle, following Mom inside the house.

The silence at dinner that night was deafening. In the three hours since mom told me about the guy whom I have yet to meet, and his daughter's temporarily living arrangements in order to get to know me, I did nothing but glare and scoff up until dinner was served.

From time to time my eyes floated to stabbing at my plate, then back to my mother's filled with betrayal. I could easily tell that the unmasked hostility was starting to infect her and soon she was glaring right back, shooting daggers across her plate of lasagna.

"What is it?" She finally growled but I refused to answer. "Soph."

"As if you don't know," I muttered.

"No, I don't. Tell me!" And with that sentence, mom and I began yet another installment of rare, but certainly not the first, family arguments.

I let my silverware drop to the plate and the resulting cacophony seemed to charge the air, "I didn't mind you dating again at first, but now having to live with them both under the same roof seems to be moving a bit too fast, don't you think??"

"It's only for a few days," The woman's frustration tugged on her nerves. "You'll get the chance to know-"

"That's the point! I don't want to get to know them," I shouted, practically on the edge of tears. "I came here for you, to see the rest of my family and friends..."

"Sophie..." Mom tried to reason but I wouldn't let her even get a word in. I just kept releasing an unknown piece of pent up anger and sorrow from the past years without a father.

"How could you invite him into this house? How could you?" I was screaming at the top of my lungs now, not bothering to censor anything.

The outburst was sudden and shocking but Mom had given up any hope of controlling herself. When she spoke again her voice was a cold shadow of her normal tone, "That's enough out of you. Now I know how you must feel, but-"

"No you don't," I snickered. "How could you when you never once asked me!" I pushed back my chair upon standing up and stomped up the stairs to my room, letting the door slam behind me.

With the events that took place last night, I refused to get out of bed the following morning.

Mom called me later at work. I felt like hanging up but she sounded erratic on the other side, telling me to listen to her.

"I'm sorry Soph, maybe I should have discussed with you about John's moving in," she sighed. "I didn't think it would make you that upset."

"No kidding," I said angrily, more of the fact that we were still on this subject. Though all of that went away when Emma's name suddenly appeared on my phone's screen. "Uh, can we talk about this later. Em's calling."

Mom sighed but agreed. "We'll talk when I get back home. I'll be there not later than four."

"Can't wait..."

That was my last words before I hung up and answered Emma's call. She and Alicia were stopping by after class.

"Hey, how did the meeting with your mom's boyfriend go?" Emma asked as soon as she stepped inside the house before Alicia, who nearly knocked me on the floor to hug me.

I let out a groan and put my head over Alicia's shoulder.

"Uh... not well I take it," Alicia answered for me, patting my back.

"What did you do to the man?"

"I didn't do anything," I fussed, leading them into the living room where we each took a seat on the couch. "I haven't even met him yet. Mom's inviting him over along with the rest of the family for dinner." Then I frowned, leaning back against the cushion. "I can't take it..."

"What happened?" Alicia asked in concern.

"My mom's boyfriend and his daughter," I said with emphasis on the word daughter,"will be staying here with us. Mom's idea of us becoming acquainted with each other."

Discomfort and disbelief spread across my friends' faces.

"Uh oh..."

Emma then said something but I couldn't hear her. All I could hear was wedding hymns filling my ears, though that could be from the fact that Alicia was humming the sound right beside me.

I closed my eyes in despair, dreading the thought, let alone the possibility of a wedding.

"What are you going to do?" Em asked as she smacked Alicia in the arm, ending her melodic tease.

"I don't know... I really don't know."

When mom arrived home that afternoon, instead of having that talk as promised, mom decided we go out for a late luncheon - just the two of us. I was a bit hesitant at first, considering the invitation to be another attempt to talk to me about her romance. Up until mom assured me that her only intentions were to spend time with me and that was it. And what seemed like forever, a genuine smile framed my lips as we decided on a place, together. So we spent the entire afternoon inside a sidewalk café, sharing stories and reminiscing about the old ones through both laughter and tears. Moments like this is what I've been withheld from experiencing ever since I moved on campus. It was a moment I never wanted to end.

Back home, I watched with hurt as Mom rushed from one side of the house to the other, doing her hair and making dinner at the same time. The poor woman was in a rush with only just enough time to get ready.

"Soph, please check the roast while I get dressed." Mom said in a sing-songy voice. It was weird to see her like this, singing and humming.

In the entire time I had known her; Mom never sang or hummed over some guy. Not even for Mr. Hughes and he practically threw himself onto her. An inch of a smile lifted my features as I thought of the man himself, wondering if he was still in the teaching business.

A cold chill ran up my spine and as Mom retreated upstairs, I absently wondered how much trouble I'd be in if I turned the temperature up on the roast till it became a hunk of charcoal.

I managed to keep my sanity over the next hour leading to the party without seeing the John guy once. It was a lot of fun because my family was here, especially Austin and Jami who kept me company.

Through the crowd, I saw mom gesturing for me to come over. Suddenly the sparkling punch I consumed earlier, churned in my stomach as I made my way over to her.

Before Mom opened her mouth to explain, a tall man with a dark, slicked back haircut styled into a textured pompadour, and blue-green eyes appeared then, his attention fully on me with a dashing smile.

Mom reached a hand out to me. Eyeing the man suspiciously, I took my mom's hand and drew close to her. "John, this is my daughter, Sophie. Soph, this is John."

"It's finally nice to meet you," still smiling, he held out a hand for me to take. I slowly grasped it and we shook.

Upon releasing, the man's attention was nailed onto my mother's who stared right back.

Seeing the two together brought back a memory of when I was a little girl, the last moment shared with both my parents before the crash took place. Mom and Dad resembled the same look of content as I sat happily in the background, unaware of how precious the minutes were at the time.

My eyes prickled with bitter tears.

Mom tossed my lengthy strands of hair behind my shoulder. "Soph?"

But I couldn't hear or feel a thing. By the time I returned to the present, I noticed the two figures in front of me watching with concerned looks.

Feeling vaguely uncomfortable, I walked away and lost sight of them when the crowd merged together, giving me the opportunity to escape upstairs to my room. I hid away for a long while until James came up.

"What are you doing up here all on your own?" he asked.

"I needed some peace."

He shot me a worried look before proceeding to get something from his pants' pocket.

"I got you a welcome home present. I even paid for it with my own money, too."

I retrieved the present from him. It was slightly heavy and was neatly wrapped in shiny gold paper.

"You can open it now if you want."

In silence, I tore at the paper and underneath, it revealed an olive, vintage themed notebook with a golden 'S' imprinted on the hardcover.

I let out a small laugh. "Thanks Jami."

"I was hoping for a better reaction than that."

"Sorry James, it's just...my mom's boyfriend," I said.

He nodded. "Yeah, I saw him. Cool guy, he gave me a twenty dollar bill the first time we met. I used it to buy that,"he said, referring to the notebook in my hands.

"Hey, I thought you said you used your own money."

"It was my money," he told me. "It was given to me so that makes it my possession."

I shook my head as he sat next to me. "You like him?"

"I don't even know him," I remarked.

James saw I was close to tears so he tried to comfort me by changing the subject, "Want to return to the party?"

"I'm quite happy sitting up here, thanks."

I ended up staying there for a good few hours. I would've gone insane from boredom but thankfully, James kept popping in to visit me, slipping me drinks and food. Austin visited me as well.

"Your mom is wondering where you are," Austin said to break the silence.

"Tell her I went back to West Bridge," I said. "at least I will be by tomorrow."

"You don't mean that..." said Austin.

"Yes I do."

The next morning, I sat up and ran my fingers through my hair, glancing at the clock beside my bed. It was almost six o'clock. I drew my knees up to my chest and wrapped my arms around them, thinking.

Mom was dating a man who was very handsome and seemed to treat her well. It was obvious that she really liked him, and he was just as attracted to her. Though whether that was due to her beauty or something else, I couldn't guess.

In a strange way, I felt like I was watching a betrayal and was powerless to stop it or even tell mom about it.

I dug my fingers into my blonde hair, gripping the highlighted roots tightly. I had no idea how to take the presence of the man in my mother's life.

Suddenly, there was a knock on my bedroom door. Even though I heard, I didn't bother to reply back.

The door soon opened to expose my mother who was met with the sight of me sitting on the edge of the bed, staring into the mirror hung on the wall. My eyes did not meet hers when she came to sit beside me. We remained fastened on the silvered glass.

"Soph?" she queried. "What's wrong?"

My blue eyes remained on my disheveled appearance. "Are you and John getting married?"

Mom drew back, shocked by the blunt question. Her eyes sought mine in the mirror, but I avoided her gaze.

"Of course not Sophie."

Now I did turn to look at her with a glassy quality to my eyes that made her frown. "I want you to be happy, Mom. But at the same time, I don't know how I should feel."

Mom sighed and closed her eyes. "I don't know either, Soph. I truly don't."

"Then why are you doing this to us? Going out with him."

"Soph, you remember how upset I was with you going so far away for college and what you told me, about how leaving doesn't mean I was losing you."

I choked back the tears that brimmed at the very words and nodded.

"Well, just because I'm allowing John into my life doesn't mean I'm erasing the one we built together. That love is forever, Sophie."

Mom wrapped me in her arms and pulled me closer to her where I buried my face against her chest. She began to run her fingers through my hair, trying to soothe me before she bowed her head. "You all right?"

"Yeah. I'm okay." A tired smile adorning my face then.

Mom placed a kiss onto my forehead before releasing me as I sat back into a sitting position where she gently wiped away my tears.

"Wanna help me with breakfast?"

I nodded, though I didn't look at her. "I need to get dressed. I'll be down in a few."