I didn't understand why life had to be so confusing. My mom and dad were so happy together when I was younger. I knew that there were some times when they had arguments, but what parents didn't argue? I grew up in a medium, comfortable sized house, with a comfortable life style and I was used to getting my own way because I was an only child. I thought that I had the perfect life. My mom and dad loved each other and were serious PDA-ers. Holding hands everywhere they went, stealing kisses when they thought no one was looking, everything like that. I lived in this perfect little world until I was 14. Two years ago is when I was sucked into the harsh realities and I didn't like it at all.
The town of Tulsa, Oklahoma was where I had grew up and I couldn't even imagine growing up anywhere else. The neighborhood that I lived in was quaint and everyone knew everyone else on a first name basis. I remember talking on the phone, in my room, on my own private line. Only my friends and relatives had my personal number and I was surprised when I clicked over on call waiting to hear a very unfamiliar male voice asking for my mom. I figured that it was my grandpa, got my mom and didn't really think about it too much after that.
Until, that is, this guy started dropping by the house. Mom said that he was a friend from work, but I was old enough to know better. I could tell from the way that he looked at her, surprised her with flowers and kissed her cheek before he left, that he was a little more than just a friend. I admit, he was cute for an older guy. He was taller than Daddy, a lot more muscular looking, he had dark hair and these blue eyes that would make just about any female melt, even my mom. I guess that I wasn't really too bothered by him stopping over so much because I sorta had a little crush on Bill. That was his name, William Baldwin. Mom called him Billy.
The first time that Bill spent the night was when Daddy was away on a business trip in New York City. Mom told me that his car wouldn't start and because it was so late, he was just going to sleep on the couch in the living room. But he didn't sleep on the couch. I had my suspicions and at about 2:00 in the morning, I sneaked down the steps. The couch was empty, and my mother's bedroom door was shut. She never shut her bedroom door, not even when Daddy was home. That's when I knew that my mother no longer loved Daddy anymore. I went right up to my room and called Daddy.
I told him everything. I didn't think the he deserved to be treated like that and lied to. He told me that he respected what I did and that it took a lot of courage for me to do what I did. It made me feel special. A few days later, some papers came in the mail. My mom was seated at the kitchen dinette set reading them and she was crying. I asked her what was wrong and she told me that they were divorce papers from my father.
Then I told her everything. I told her that I knew about her and Bill. I told her that I was the one that called Daddy and that's how he found out. She wasn't upset that I told her that or that I told Daddy, either. In a way, I think that she was kinda happy that she was going to get divorced from him. I was pretty sure that she was only still with Daddy because he makes a lot of money. But now she was going to be able to be away from him, and if that is what made her happy, then I was happy, too.
And this is where the big problems came into play. Who was I going to live with? I loved Tulsa, all of my friends and family are there. Sure, I have been to the beaches of Florida, Disney World and even to Mexico for family vacations, but other than that, Tulsa was all that I knew of the world. I didn't want to leave! Too bad Daddy already leased an apartment in New York City, or I was pretty sure that I would have been able to convince him to find a job in Tulsa. But he said that his job was keeping him at NYC and that he was going there, no matter who I decided to live with.
It was my decision. It was a hard one to make! To decide if I wanted to live with my mother or my dad? It was like choosing life or death! I loved my mom more than anything in the world because she was my mother! And Daddy, I loved him even more than my mom. I didn't know why, but I had always had a more special relationship with my dad than I had with my mom. But, with all the things I would be leaving behind in Tulsa, and having to make a brand new start in New York, my final decision was to stay in Tulsa with my mother, and her fiancé, William Baldwin.
It blew me away at how soon they became engaged after the divorce! Actually, the divorce wasn't even finalized before she was sporting a shiny, glistening rock on her left ring finger. I wasn't surprised about the engagement itself, just at how fast they were rushing into everything. My little 'crush' on Bill soon faded after the divorce. And now when he stopped by, it seemed like a chore to be nice to him. I didn't like him now because he was the reason that my mom and dad separated.
After the first 4 months of the divorce, I finally went to New York to see my dad. I loved his apartment so much. It was just about the size of our house in Tulsa. It even had steps that led to an upstairs of the apartment! It was furnished with only the best designers and as a surprise, my dad had a room made up for me and it looked almost identical to my room at home. He said that he wanted me to visit more often and we made plans for me to come during the summer. And if I liked it, then I would stay there for a school year. Depending on how much I liked it and my grades, I would then decided if I wanted to move.
My first summer there was a total blast. It went by so fast! And with Daddy being so popular at work, I went to dinner parties with him, in place of a wife or a girlfriend. I met so many upstanding citizens and famous people while I was with him. I got to meet the mayor of NYC, some Broadway musicians, and even Garth Brooks! I was in awe in how many connections Daddy had. I wasn't going to complain or anything, but it was just so extravagant, everything that he had in New York. No wonder he decided to stay here, rather than in Tulsa!
During my first summer, I also met and became fast friends with Michelle Ringer, Jenni Visser and Toby Wilkins. Dad worked with their parents and we met at some company picnic or whatever it was. Michelle and Jenni were already good friends and they were really friendly when they met me. I remember the day almost perfectly. I was sitting alone at a picnic table and they came over and we just started talking. It was so incredible at how easily we all clicked so greatly together.
They told me about all the cute guys at the school because I was considering staying and trying out a year in New York. They went on and on about all the preppy girls, the snobs, all the cute boys, and most of all, they talked non stop about Hanson. I wasn't really too keen on Hanson, but from what I saw, they were okay. I didn't really like MMMBop too much because it was played so much on the radio, but they talked so much about them. They made me think about home and how my best friend, Trista, and I would talk endlessly about how cute Gavin Rossdale is. I never told them that I didn't like Hanson because I thought that they wouldn't want to be friends with me if I said anything like that.
Then this guy walked by us, looked back at us, smiled, then kept walking. Michelle blushed. I knew that it had to be one of the guys that she had told me about.
"That's Toby." She squealed after he was out of hearing distance. I looked up and sorta checked him out. She was right, he was cute. "Bronwyn! Stop staring! He'll know!"
"Geeze, I was only looking. He is kinda cute." I admitted.
"Kinda? Only kinda cute? Hel-lo?! Are you blind or something? The boy is gorgeous." Jenni chimed in. I took another look.
"Yeah, I'll be right back." I said, getting up. Both Michelle and Jenni had eyes about the size of silver dollars.
"Bronwyn! What are you doing?!" Michelle asked.
"I'm gonna talk to him. You saw him look back here at us! Trust me, I can get him to come over here and talk to us. I am the master flirt. Be prepared, ladies, to be amazed."
Michelle started to protest, but I walked over to Toby, so I didn't get a chance to hear her complain. I walked up behind him and poked his back with my finger in a way that it would tickle him. He jumped, sorta surprised. He turned to me and smiled. I returned his smile.
"Hi." I said.
"Hey. What's up?" he asked. His voice went so well with his looks. I did a quick evaluation of him. He was sort of tall, but not too tall. My guess would be about 5'8". He has brown hair, but it looked reddish in the sunlight. It was a little bit curly, in a really cute way and it was just about to the middle of his ears in length. I couldn't see his eyes because he was wearing sunglasses, and if sunglasses could be cool, they would have been very cool sunglasses.
"Oh, nothing much. Did you hear what games they are going to be playing later?"
"Um, I think the usual picnic games, like water balloon toss, egg toss, three legged races, wheel barrel races, stuff like that. My dad's in charge of the games. I could go ask him." He said.
"Oh, that's okay, you don't have too. But I was wondering, do you have a partner for anything?" I asked. Our eyes were both doing the same thing, just messing around, meeting at certain times and smiling a lot.
"Nah, none yet for me. Why?"
"Would you wanna pair up with me?" I asked him. He smiled.
"Sure, that would be great. I'm Toby."
"Bronwyn." I said. He held out his hand to shake mine. As our hands connected, he pulled me closer to him, and then kissed my hand.
"Very pleased to make your acquaintance." He said, then smiled. I noted that he had really cute dimples when he smiled. We walked back to the picnic table and introductions went around. I guessed that even though they went to the same school, they didn't really know each other. Toby was a grade ahead of Michelle and Jenni, and I guess that meant that he was a grade older than me, too.
I smiled to myself as I thought back to that day that we all met. After that, the four of us were like best friends. So many happy moments happened that day. And some funny ones, too. Like when Toby and I were in the three-legged race. We fell down about half way to the finish line. We didn't even bother getting up to try to win. We had just sat there and laughed at our uncoordination.
The wind picked up and I realized that I had spent the whole morning thinking about Toby, Michelle and Jenni. That was last summer when we met. It seemed to go so fast. The same as this summer. But this year, Toby and I spent a lot more time together than we did last summer. It was great. We went to see the opening of one of my dad's Broadway musicals. Well, my dad wasn't in it, he writes scripts and helps with the choreographing in it. It wasn't a date, but we had to get all dressed up and everything. Michelle and Jenni insisted that it was a date, but it wasn't. I asked them if they wanted to go too, but Michelle had to babysit and Jenni had to work at Sak's. So, only Toby could go with me. Whatever. It wasn't a date. But it was a great night. It was so much fun.
My dad reserved a limousine to pick us up and we went out to eat before the show. It wasn't anything fancy, we stopped at Spardo's Pizza and got the order to go. The people that were working there saw us all dressed up, and then eating there. They probably thought we were crazy or something. Owell. It was still a lot of fun anyway. And when the limo arrived at the theater, I felt like a movie star. There was the red carpet, the velvet railing, the whole works. Photographers took mine and Toby's pictures, even though we weren't famous. As we stepped out of the limousine, I heard someone murmur "that's the writer's daughter..." so that is probably why we were photographed. I was even interviewed by Entertainment Tonight! They asked me how I thought the show was going to turn out. My response? "If my Daddy wrote it, then it's going to blow the roof off of this place!" And when I was on TV, Daddy hugged me. I got telephone calls from my friends in Tulsa exclaiming that they saw me on TV. I felt so special.