The truth among friends

Three of my friends are teachers and on Thursdays they have late meetings at school and, since my house is walking distance from the school, their kids are friends with my kids, and they trust me to watch them my house is stuffed with kids on Thursdays.

Never a problem. Actually, I kind of like it.

Until last Thursday –the day that William returned home.
The kids were great. Two out of three parents picked up their kids before 8pm.

Our kids were getting ready for bed. I’m looking at William, wanting to strip him and throw him down on the table.

Parents of kids number three do not arrive.

They don’t arrive at 8:30. My kids are in bed.

Their mom finally arrives at 8:45. We invite her in. We talk. I politely point out that her youngest is crashed on the sofa. I hint that she might want to get her three kids in bed.

Finally, I say “William’s been away for four days, he just got home a couple of hours ago. I’m sure you want to get home to Your Man.”

She said, “Oh, no. He’s on his way here.”

? !

William smiled.

I smiled (or was it a snarl?)

I wanted to yell:
I’ve watched your kids since 4:15. I fed them an after school snack, I made sure they did their homework, I fed them a VERY healthy dinner (grilled fish, rice, snow peas, salad, fresh fruit for dessert) taking into account their allergies and the dietary restrictions of your religion, my kids are in bed, I need my man, I want you to leave.

Her Man walked in. The guys start talking. And sometimes we do stay up late with friends talking – really late. That is fun once in awhile. But tonight, I just wasn’t in the mood (for friends, that is!)

I sat there listening to teacher soap opera politics and trying to listen in on what the guys were talking about and then also talking to myself “Lynn are you just being a selfish b*tch who doesn’t even make time for your friends?”

I gave them an hour. We ate, we drank, we talked, their kids crashed on our sofa. But when the clock struck 10, I got her out of the room and told her the truth. I know I’m all open on my blog and everything, but I haven’t really spilled my guts to this friend before.

“Listen, William has been gone for 4 days and 13 hours. I want to – well, you know. Some other time would be great, but right now we need our privacy.”

She gave me a blank look. I couldn’t tell if she got it or was upset. But they went peacefully into the night within 15 minutes!

Yay!!!