50
IN AND OUT

AS TIME WENT ON, Amber got frustrated with Nona. Some of it was Amber defending her turf to a degree, and subconsciously she tried to take over some of the role of Gina. It wasn’t just with Nona though. She fought off any woman that came around. Nona’s stint in the house didn’t last long, maybe two or three months, and then it was easier for everyone for her to have her own place. She understood why Amber was acting the way she was, and she didn’t want to abandon us, but she needed her own space too. She ended up getting a little place in the city and commuted back and forth via train. She was at the house when the girls got home from school, she prepared supper, and then she’d wrap things up and leave around 8pm.

Truth be told, it was weird for me when she was living there too. It felt like I was disrespecting Gina by having a woman living in the house and doing a lot of the things for both me and the girls that she used to do. But that was like the devil on my left shoulder talking. The big picture was that having Nona there really allowed me to refocus and get my head back in order and our life back on track. Having her there meant I could do what I needed to and not have to rush home from work every day or waste our weekends together grocery shopping instead of bonding over something fun. I also didn’t need to spend my time worrying about dinner and rides home from school. Nona could handle those duties, and I could be Dad.

We ended up keeping Nona for three years. In reality, we could have gotten away with only two.