Hey love, Ive got to tell you about whats been happening with Emily its a right mess, but I think youll get a chuckle out of it.
It was just after dawn, the light creeping through the kitchen window, and Emily was nursing the last sips of her peachflavoured tea while hesitantly dialing a familiar number. She wasnt even sure if she wanted an answer.
Is this Amelia? Is James there?
Dont hold onto him. Let him go.
Right, James was with her that was the positive answer shed been waiting for.
Whos holding him?
You are. He cant break free. You break it. Hes happier with his mum.
Good night to you.
It was 05:30, and Emily could tell Amelia hadnt managed a wink of sleep.
Dont hold on? James is holding onto her himself. Emily was tangled in that same destructive attachment, but James clung even tighter. It felt like a whirlpool you spin round and round and cant get out.
It all started when Emily went on a date with this quiet, homebody bloke, not like Tom. With Tom theyd have a row every minute. Hed fling cushions, knock a table over, even smash a toaster. Emily matched his volume shouting, shouting, shouting. Shed smash things too. Their emotional rollercoaster left everyone in a whitehot mess Emily, Tom, the neighbours.
Emily was over it. She wanted someone you could sit down with and actually talk, instead of trashing the flat and flipping furniture.
Then James turned up.
They both reached for the same pack of biscuits in the sweetshop aisle.
Its a brand that only shows up in the little corner shop on Emilys way home from work, maybe once every six months.
Emily, without thinking, pulled the packet toward herself, then stopped, realising that if she grabbed it, James might refuse to give it up. Tom wouldve done the same a fit wouldve broken out, and shed be called a nuisance.
She apologised, Sorry, sir, Im a massive fan of these biscuits. Theyre brilliant, but theyre always gone by the time I get to the shop. Could you possibly let me have them?
Biscuit?
Just them.
She was apologising over a trivial request?
Take them then. Im not a biscuit connoisseur. Got what I could grab.
James, on the contrary to Tom, was like a storybook prince. No shouting, no throwing things about, and any disagreement was solved with a chat. It was hard to believe you could actually say, Please dont fling your trousers on the floor, and have him actually stop. With Tom, shed have told him that in a heartbeat and hed fling his stuff everywhere again. James and Emily just clicked.
Later, at the stationery shop, Emily noticed the change shed been given was wrong.
Excuse me, she said to the shop assistant, you havent given me the full change. I gave a £50 note. The pens cost £3. You owe me £47, not £44.
For starters, I dont owe you anything, the assistant snapped.
Why the rudeness? Im just asking about my change, not demanding your salary.
Open your eyes. Those pens are £6 each, not £3. Who prints those price tags from morning till night? So people like you get tangled up in threedigit numbers? Youll never check yourself, then start squealing at the till.
James whispered, Give her the £6, Ill cover the rest. No need to make a fuss over three pounds.
Emily was already pulling the price tag off the shelf.
£3! Hand over my change.
Another assistant stepped in, The tags havent been updated yet. Remember, cashiers are people too weve got overtime, deliveries, and impatient shoppers queuing up. Pay £6 or step out.
Emily, well pay £6. Its for your niece. Why skimp on a child?
Emma wont be painting in a museum with these pens, just doodling sunshine in her scrapbook. Whether its £3 or £6, Id still buy them if the service wasnt dreadful!
James stepped forward, Sorry, were sorry, Emily. Take the pens, grab your money, and well be off, he said.
Excuse me?! Emily shouted. If a restaurant purposely spilled soup on me, would you bow down too? You absolute wanker!
She blew up in the moment, and James left back to his mums for a week. Emily was a wreck, calling, crying, begging him to come back, then cursing, then calmly saying it was over. He gave her nothing.
After seven days he turned up at her flat as if nothing had happened. Emily was already frazzled, but their little argument stayed unresolved, just pushed further aside.
Now James would always run off at the first sign of a tiff.
My nerves are shot! Emily would sigh. With Tom, even though his petty fights were bitter as radish, at least you could yell, let it out, and feel a bit lighter afterwards. With you you bottle everything up, never speak up, and just bolt for your mum! When we first met, youd discuss everything. Now the fights are bigger, the issues broader, and you just hop on a bus and disappear!
Hed come back with his favourite line, Are you settled now?
They never really lived together. James was often at her place, but she never imposed herself at his, because mum was always there.
You dont need your brush and comb here, Emily told him, just leave them with me.
Will you give me a shelf in the bathroom?
Stay put yourself.
When payday rolled around, Emily asked about how theyd split the bills, and James dropped a bombshell.
I send my wages to my mum. She sorts it out.
But how did you afford taking me out on dates?
I tell her she decides whats needed.
But you realise we cant live just on my salary, right? Im part of this house now.
Of course, mum knows. Ill ask her for whatever we need shell transfer it. Just let me know which day we shop for groceries.
Emily had wanted to live with a boyfriend, then maybe a husband, not under a motherinlaws roof. How does that work your pay ending up in someone elses pocket? Asking for cinema money? Lunch at a café? Tulips for a girl?
James, do I have to draw up a grocery schedule? Who signs it you or your mum? I might as well discuss everything with her straight away; the middle man just gets in the way.
True to form, James went back to his mum, didnt return for a week. She thought about chucking the toothbrush in the bin and moving on, but something kept pulling her back that same stubborn attraction, the kind you cant just shake off.
Why do you keep running to your mum at every chance? Emily asked. Its not just about our little spats, its that you actually want to go.
I want to. Its a bit of both. When Im with mum, I miss you; when Im with you, I miss mum.
Her dad called in, Emily, what are you doing? Hes still childish, never grew into a proper relationship, probably never will. Hes better off with his mum, like a kid clinging to her skirt. You two never argued, because he never really committed. He might sort himself out later, but mums the safe spot.
Emily wasnt one to give up.
James finally brought a compromise.
My mum said she gets it, and shell put half of my wages toward our expenses. If we need more, its like a sponsorship. Ill give you her number; you can call her directly for urgent purchases.
James, give me one solid reason why your money should sit with your mum. Youre not thirteen. You didnt save a piggy bank for her to squander.
Emily, its sensible. Mums wiser, she wont waste it. Well only buy what we need, because you cant mess about with mum.
So I want to spend my own money on my own little luxuries!
Fine, thats you. Ill be financially sensible my mum.
Thats where they stopped. When Emily got her first transfer from Amelia, it felt heavy, but she thought shed get used to it. She didnt adapt to the money games. They used the shared cash for groceries, but she bought jewellery and perfume with her own money, and didnt skimp.
Then James started poking around her accounts.
Emily, youre spending a lot, not wisely.
What?
I peeked at your online bank. Mum thinks the same. Lets have you send her half too.
Some of Emilys relatives also handed everything to their parents, but that was a motherinlaw, not a wifes mum. She remembered how they once begged for money for baby nappies, only to be told they could wash the cloth ones.
No. I can manage my own money.
You cant.
Fine, thats settled.
Mum wants
Then go to her!
Of course he left again, and of course hed be back.
At 05:30, after talking to Amelia, Emily thought why keep pushing? Hes happier with his mum. Their wages are split sensibly, they understand each other perfectly. Why does he need Emily? So they can both ask her for nappies? Ha, just so she can call his mum straight away for urgent stuff. Why have that middle man at all?
A childs best place is with their mum
Anyway, love, thats the whole saga. I know it sounds like a tangle, but you get the picture. Miss you. Take care.
