ended up going to a place called Children’s Square. It’s a home for kids who don’t have parents. They either get adopted or go to foster homes.”
The sisters made a pact. They would never let anyone separate them. A kind woman was impressed with Amy and invited the quiet, studious teen to live with her. But there was a problem. “She wasn’t going to take my sister. I said, ‘You can either have us both, or not at all.’” But the lady was unable to accommodate both sisters. “We couldn’t let anyone split us up. All we had was each other.” The girls had some rough years, but Amy was strong and determined. By the time she was seventeen, she was living on her own and working two jobs to support herself. She never forgot how shattered she’d felt when her family fell apart, and she vowed that when she had kids, they would never go through that. She hoped for a solid marriage and a traditional family where the kids felt loved.
When she and Dave worked together at the truck stop, she admits she didn’t exactly imagine him as the father of her future children. At first glance, “I thought he was dorky.” But he seemed very nice, so she agreed to go out with him, and they had a lot of fun. Before long, Amy was lost in his intense blue eyes and was surprised to discover she was very attracted to him. Dave’s commitment issues soon became apparent, but he didn’t bail when she got pregnant. They lived together and were, for all practical purposes, married. It bothered her that it wasn’t official, but she was ecstatic when their daughter was born. Moments after Calista entered the world, Amy was so overcome with emotion, she looked Dave in the eye and said, “I love you.” Now, when she remembers his response, she laughs, but it stung at the time. “He said, ‘Thank you.’” She tried to be understanding. She knew he’d been hurt badly when, “his high school girlfriend cheated on him.” By the time their second child was born, Amy thought Dave should be ready to put a ring on her finger. But it was not to be.
The break-up was hard at first, but Amy set a wonderful example for her kids when she welcomed their father back into her life as her friend. Unfortunately, the fact that they got along so well irked Liz. She sent Amy emails and texts, insinuating that Amy was still sleeping with Dave. Amy politely explained to her that they were simply co-parenting their children and that she had no interest in getting back with Dave. The jealous messages from Liz confirmed Amy’s initial impression of her. “I always had a weird feeling about Liz from day one. From the first time I met her.”
When Dave met Liz, Amy, too, was seeing someone new. Dave and Amy agreed to get to know the people spending time with their kids. One Sunday night, Amy’s boyfriend took her to pick up the kids from Dave’s place. Amy phoned from the car to say she was on the way, and when Dave mentioned that Liz was there, “I said, ‘Perfect! We can all meet each other!’ Dave and my boyfriend hit it off real well.” As Dave and Amy’s boyfriend made small talk, she reached out to shake Liz’s hand, smiling as she said, “Hi, I’m Amy. Nice to meet you.”
“Liz wouldn’t even shake my hand. She just sat there. She just glared. I asked my boyfriend later, ‘Is it just me, or did you get a bad vibe from her?’ He said she was not nice at all. She didn’t really say anything to him, and he introduced himself to her, too. She was rude to him. Later I told Dave, ‘She’s not very friendly.’ He said, ‘Oh, well, it was probably an odd situation for her.’”
Amy didn’t think that was a good enough reason to be rude. “I didn’t want to say much about her, and how negative she was, because that upset Dave. There was something off about her, but I tried to keep those comments to myself.”
The kids didn’t like Liz, and they reported that fact to their mother. “She’s your dad’s girlfriend,” Amy told them. “I want you to treat her with respect.”
Amy continued to be polite whenever their paths crossed, and Liz continued to be cold and unfriendly. Amy dreaded seeing her, and she did her best