Tuesday. School was over. Cindy was hungry and eager to practice skateboarding. Cassie could already airwalk; Blakley has already mastered the backside crooked, and Fiona was already up to gazelle flips. Cindy’s eyes met her mom’s. 

“Can we go already?”

There was an excited look in her mom’s small, brown, eyes.

“Yes, put on your shoes. We’re going to be late”

Cindy stared at her mom in disbelief. Her mom usually stayed inside the house, making phone calls but here she was hurrying Cindy into the car and, when she examined her mom more closely she noticed that her mom wore a fitted shirt, and jeans, plus a blazer to top everything off. Her mom was never this showy.  

“What happened did you get promoted?” she asked, as she put on her shoes.  “Are we going to celebrate afterwards?”  

“There’s someone I want you to meet,” she said.

Cindy’s mouth fell open. She gave her mom a hard look.  

“You hate going out. I don’t want to go anymore,” she said.  

The park was loud, music blasting, graffiti everywhere, and plenty of yelling. Cindy enjoyed yelling. She found a flat spot with a smooth surface and stepped onto board, embarrassed to find how wobbly she was. Cindy raised both her arms in hope of it helping her balance. Thoughts of her mother’s weird behavior kept disturbed her focus, but when she saw a coin in the middle of the road. She attempted at an ollie. Maybe too early. Her hands flew around and she would have fallen if an arm had not suddenly become available for her to grab onto. Cindy quickly pulled her hand away and  stepped off her board.

“Thank you,” she mumbled, turning to look for her mom. She had one hand grabbed onto the back of the back of her neck, but managed to smile.

“Daniel,” her mom called, looking at the man who had helped Cindy.  Cindy felt confused. Who was this man that her mom was smiling at? “Daniel” was wearing a plaid buttoned up shirt and some loafers. A bit uptight, Cindy thought, noticing how his tan pants were folded at a length to make them lay just above his ankle.

“I’m glad you two have met,” her mom said, walking up to the two of them. “You can get to know each other better tonight during dinner.”

At home that evening, Cindy lit a candle while sinking into the lukewarm bathtub. She stared at the flickering candle as she replayed what happened at the park. How often is this guy going to be coming over? she wondered. Is he going to be moving in? Mom already doesn’t have time for me, how will she have time for him?   

Sounds of giggling from downstairs pierced through her thoughts. Watching the candle’s flicker, Cindy sunk into the bathwater, trying not to make noise herself. She needed to hear what Daniel and her mom were saying, but couldn’t make out any words with the noise of the food processor mixing in with their laughter. 

“Cindy you have half-an hour until dinner’s ready,” her mom called up the stairs at some point.  Cindy looked at the candle again.  What if she won’t spend time with me anymore? What if she forgets me and makes a new family?  The candle had two wicks and she’d lit all of both, but one of the wick’s flames was bigger than the other two. A gust of wind from the window across was making it flame large. She watches the dimmer one sputter while the larger flame swayed side to side, getting brighter. Cindy watched in horror as it caught onto the towel next to the window. The flame grew dangerously large, releasing a terrible smoke, but she couldn’t bring herself to do anything about it until it was fully on fire. 

 “Cindy,” Cindy heard her mom wriggling the handle.”Is that smoke? What’s going on?”

Cindy looked over at the door. Luckily it was locked. She stood up and folded the non-burned end enough that she could put it out and submerged the towel into the tub, then ran over to the door and pushed the handle down aggressively, unlocking it. 

Cindy stood back near the bathtub, trying to block the mess. Her mom had her hair up, and was wearing loose jeans and a pretty top, clearly dressed for pleasant evening, but there was no hiding the dark color spread outwards from the towel. The entire bathtub was mixed with ashes. Cindy watched in horror as the sides of Mom’s mouth went down and her eyebrows slanted inward, but she stepped into the bathroom and hugged her daughter.   

“Dinner is all set up,” she said. “Just give him a chance.”

  Cindy hung her head. 

“It’s nothing mom,” she said. “I’ll be down in five minutes”

A bouquet of beautifully arranged flowers laying on the countertop in the kitchen, when Cindy came downstairs in a sweatshirt and some sweats. She felt afraid again, looking at Daniel sitting with his beer, while her mother finished up in the kitchen. She waited for her mom by the doorway to the dining room, jealous of the extra care her mom was taking with the garlic string beans.  

“Wow this food looks so good,” Daniel said, digging in to his green beans. “So, Cindy, how long have you been skateboarding?” 

“Umm…” Cindy said, looking down.  

Her mom reached to Cindy’s favorite, macaroni and cheese, and put some on her plate. 

“I just read this great quote about skateboarding,” Daniel said, mouth still partly full. Cindy was disgusted until she heard the quote. The possibilities that the ollie brought were so exciting that it was hard to sleep sometimes. Cindy thought about that, letting her mind wandered back to skateboarding and school and friends.

“Uh-huh,” she said, chewing on the mac and cheese which was cooked just right. The thoughts of skateboarding reminded her of the tickets she wanted to buy for the K-pop concert that week. They get sold out fast, she thought, she’d need to finish dinner quickly if she wanted to get them. I hope they won't care what I do after I’m done eating, she thought, swallowing the rest of the mac and cheese as her mother and Daniel chatted. I want to go up and buy those tickets.