Ever since Nathan’s mother passed away, he was always afraid of the idea of someone else replacing her in his dad’s life. How was he to know that within 3 months of Nancy and his dad meeting each other, they would’ve become so close? Initially Nathan liked the attention that Nancy gave him, filling the void that was created by his mother passing away. The atmosphere in the house became lighter ever since Nancy came into their life and the ever hanging sadness seemed to disappear. Nathan always hated the gloominess of his house since his mother passed, and he should’ve welcomed this change but he felt as if they were betraying her. When Nathan was growing up, he would come home from school and talk to his mother about every little thing that happened during the day, while sipping on the latest smoothie combination that his mother made. Even after her passing, he continued with this ritual while sitting in front of the large portrait of his mother in their living room. Since Nancy came into their lives, he was not able to look straight into the eyes of his mother’s picture. He felt he was distancing himself from the memories. He detested the weekends that Nancy would spend at their house, and how his dad seemed to forget that his mother ever existed. He hated his dad for letting Nancy use his mother’s convertible that he had bought for her on their fifth anniversary. The hate grew so strong that even the mention of Nancy would make him cringe and his dad’s happiness didn’t seem to matter anymore. He just wanted Nancy out of their lives.


Saturday morning started off like any other. Nathan woke up to the smell of pancakes coming from the kitchen of his house. He jumped out of bed, and brushed his teeth as fast as he could. He sprinted down the stairs, but stopped abruptly when he got the bottom. Nothing was in its place. The couch was against the wall, the TV was across from the fireplace, and when he looked over to his dad, he saw Nancy wearing his mom’s apron. In a split second, Nathan was across the floor and was pulling at the apron, while Nancy stood in front of the stove carrying pancakes.
“Nathan, what are you doing?!” Nancy said.
Michael stood up and yelled, “Nathan! Let go of the apron!”
Nathan turned around and looked at his dad.
“Why are you yelling at me? She’s wearing mom’s apron. She’s not allowed to wear it!”
“Nathan, it was just sitting there and she needed one. You don’t get to decide what she is and isn’t allowed to do.”
Nathan was shocked that his dad was taking Nancy’s side.
“YOU WILL NEVER BE MY MOTHER!” Nathan yelled at Nancy.
Nathan stormed to his room and slammed the door shut. When Michael looked over to Nancy, she had tears in her eyes. Nancy turned the stove off, took off the apron and went into the washroom. When she came out, she said that she would call Michael a little later and left the house taking her purse with her.


After the incident on the weekend, Michael and Nathan didn’t talk much for the next couple days. On Tuesday night, Michael called up to Nathan to come downstairs for a minute. Nathan walked down the stairs and gave his dad a look, saying he just wanted this conversation to be over.
“Nathan, tomorrow I have to go out of town for a business meeting, but I’ll be back by tomorrow night.”
“Do you expect me to walk for 45 minutes alone afterschool?”
“No, and that’s what I wanted to tell you. I told Nancy to pick you up after school tomorrow.”
“What? No. I can ask one of my friends to drop me home,” he said crossing his arms and turning away from his Dad.
“Nathan, it’s only a 10 minute drive. Plus, your friends don’t live in this area, so it would be inconvenient for them.”
“Fine, but I’m only agreeing to this because I don’t want to walk home,” Nathan said.
Nathan walked over to the kitchen, grabbed a slice of pizza from the fridge and headed to his room. Michael put his head in his hands and just prayed that tomorrow would go well.


For the first time in his life, Nathan didn’t want to go home afterschool. As soon as he stepped out the door, he saw Nancy sitting in his mom’s convertible, waving Nathan over. Nathan slowly walked over to the car and didn’t even say hello as he sat down in the passenger’s seat. He hadn’t been in this car ever since Nancy started using it and he felt odd looking over to the driver and not seeing his Mom smiling at him. He looked down and saw a Starbucks coffee cup in the cup holder. His mom hated coffee.
“So how was school today Nathan?” Nancy asked.
“Fine,” he responded.
“Did you learn anything new?” Nancy continued.
“Nope,” he said.
For the rest of the ride, they sat in complete silence. As soon as the car turned into the driveway, Nathan hopped out of the car, and went straight into the house, not saying a word to Nancy. Nancy sighed and turned the car off. She took a deep breath in, and stepped out of the car. When she made it to the front door, Nathan opened the door from the inside.
“I forgot something in the car,” Nathan said.
“Oh okay, go grab it and I’ll make you a snack.” Nancy said.
Nathan shook his head, indicating he didn’t want anything and went past Nancy to the car. Nancy looked back at Nathan, and then walked into the house, leaving the door open so he could come back in.
Michael came home around 8:30 that night and Nancy was in the kitchen about to make some dinner when he walked through the door.
“Hey, how’d the drive home today go?” he asked.
“It went well, we talked a little.” Nancy said hesitantly.
“Well, that’s good,” Michael said enthusiastically.
Nathan came down the stairs after hearing the front door open.
“Dad, can we go grab something to eat?”
“Yeah, Nancy, you didn’t make anything yet right?” Michael asked.
Nancy was already taking off the new apron she bought 2 days ago.
“Huh? Oh no, let’s go out to eat,” she said with a smile.
Nathan was already standing at the door with his shoes tied and his coat on. Michael put his arm around Nancy’s shoulders and they walked out the front door together.
“Dad, can I sit in the front? Please?” Nathan pleaded.
Since that was Nancy’s seat, Michael turned to look at Nancy. She nodded with a smile and proceeded to the back seat of the convertible. Nathan opened the passenger door and as soon as he sat down, he stood straight back up.
“Ew! What’s on the seat?” Nathan said.
Michael walked around the car to the passenger’s seat and looked in. It was dark, but the smell of coffee was strong in the air.
“Nancy, did you drink coffee today?” Michael asked.
“Yes, I did. Oh no, I think I forgot to take the cup in! But how could it spill if it was in the cup holder?” Nancy replied.
“It wasn’t in the cup holder on our way back from school. That’s probably why you didn’t let me sit in the front on the way home! You just left this huge stain on the seat? How could you do that? You know this is my mom’s car and you don’t even deserve to have this.”
Nathan stormed back inside the house and Michael just looked down at the seat.
“Michael, I promise you I didn’t do it on purpose. And Nathan sat with me in the front on the way home!” Nancy said, trying to make Michael understand.
“So now you’re calling my son a liar?” Michael said.
“What? No, that’s not what I meant,” she said hopelessly.
“Nancy, maybe you should head home. Take my car, and I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”
Nancy didn’t know what to say. She turned around and just walked home.
Nathan was sitting up in his room, listening to the argument going on outside. He felt so proud of himself because his plan worked so perfectly and he knew that his dad would take his word over Nancy’s, but at the same time he had a weird feeling in the pit of his stomach that started making him regret what he did. Nathan pushed the thought aside, and went downstairs to go grab a small snack before heading to bed.
The next day, the morning went on as if nothing had happened. Michael drove Nathan to school and then went to work. He picked him up at the end of the school day but when their car turned into the driveway, they saw Nancy walking up the street, heading their way. By the time they walked up the front steps, Nancy was at the foot of their driveway. Nathan and Michael walked in, inviting Nancy into the house.
“Hi,” Nancy said.
“Nancy, we need to talk.” Michael responded.
Nathan was already halfway up the stairs, but he wanted to hear what was going on.
“Michael, I’m really sorry for the coffee stain, and I guarantee I will clean that up, but I don’t think right now is the right time for us to be together.”
Michael agreed and let Nancy walk past him so she could grab all of her belongings from around the house. Nathan watched his dad following all of Nancy’s movements with his eyes until she picked up the box, and walked out of the house, shutting the door behind her. Nathan walked down the stairs, and without looking at his dad’s face, went into the kitchen. He picked up the picture of his mom off the credenza and ran back up the stairs, into his room. He put the picture on his desk and sat down.
“Mom, I know that even though you’re gone, you’re still here. I’ve been trying to hold on to you for so long, and I realized, Dad and I need to move on with our lives. We have to stop remembering how we lost you and need to remember when we had you in our lives. The memories we have with you will never disappear, but we need change. I love you mom. We’ll never forget you.”
Nathan had a tear streaming down his face while pushing the picture of his mom to the back corner of his desk. He got up and went downstairs, because he knew he had something to do.
Michael was lying down on the couch, and his eyes were closed as if he was taking a nap, but Nathan knew he wasn’t asleep. Nathan walked over and took a seat on the floor beside the couch.
“Dad?” Nathan asked.
“Yeah?” Michael opened his eyes and noticed the tears in Nathan’s eyes.
“Nathan, what happened? Are you okay?”
“Dad, I have something to tell you.”
Michael perched onto his elbow and looked down at his son.
“Dad, I’m so sorry. I’m the one who spilled the coffee in the convertible, on purpose. I lied about Nancy not letting me sit in the front seat. I made a huge scene about the apron even though mom rarely wore it. I didn’t even try to get to know Nancy because I couldn’t bear the thought of you replacing mom, but I realized that you weren’t replacing her. You were just moving on. I’m sorry that because of me, you and Nancy had a fight and..”
“Nathan, Nathan. It’s okay,” Michael said to stop his son from crying.
“Nathan, I understand what you’re going through. Don’t you think I went through all of this myself?” Michael smiled slightly at his son with caring eyes.
Nathan hugged his dad after the longest time, and stood up sniffling, wiping the tears from his face. He walked over to the coffee table and picked up his dad’s keys and dangled them in front of Michael’s face with a huge smile.
“Let’s pick up some flowers on the way.” Nathan said.
Michael grinned at his son, grabbed the keys and they headed out the door.