My Last Birthday Dinner With Him

It was my tenth birthday, and my mom’s recently estranged husband, Chad, took me out to dinner. He was the only other man in my life besides my biological father that I called dad. It was just us three.

Chad had long shoulder-length blond wavy textured hair with a little goatee that hung from his sharp chin with the bluest eyes that always seemed to emit happiness. Today, they were not happy; instead, sadness leaked from them.

My mom sat next to him at the round table. My mom was beautiful. When I say beautiful, I mean she had light olive skin that always looked slightly sun-kissed. Her eyes were a starburst of yellow and brown that seemed to twinkle even out of the sun. She had a smile that blared perfectly white straight teeth and Monroe curves that kept men at her beck and call.

 However, when you looked deeper- beyond the pretty surface— that’s where things would rot. My mom dripped with insecurities and often flicked out toxicity with her forked tongue, to which she ate her men and her children alive.

I knew that this wasn’t Chad’s idea to meet for dinner. I also knew that my mom told him some sob story about how all I wanted to do was see him for my birthday. His wounds were still open, and my mom attempted to use me to force his attention back to her. I was her alibi.

I was happy to see him and missed him very much, but I knew how this story went, so I tried not to attach myself to the idea that he was a dad I got to keep.

The waiter sat us at a little round wooden table. The lighting was dark with the flickerings of candlelights. The restaurant made me feel like I was on a pirate ship the way it was decorated and had a rustic look.

“What do you want to drink, sweetheart?” Chad asked.

“Water,” I said with a shrug.

“It’s your birthday. You can have anything you want,” Chad said. I shrugged, not knowing what I wanted other than water.

“How about you try the Blue Hawaiian Virgin? I think you’ll like it, and it’s your birthday, so you should have something special,” Chad said with a wink. With a smile I agreed to give it a try.

I spent the rest of the evening ignoring their conversation the best I could and focused on the Blue Hawaiian drinks that kept coming. Most of my time at that dinner was spent staring at how the colors blurred into each other in the glass and how the red cherry was placed perfectly on top of the white cloud of whipped cream. I drank so much that I felt ill when I got my food and couldn’t eat much.

Periodically, I would glance up at them, ignoring their words and wishing they could solve their problems. Chad was the first man who bettered our lives and loved us kids with all his heart. He adored our mother.

I remember when Chad learned that our mother was having a baby with another man. I heard the sounds of his angry grunts and screams as he destroyed their master bedroom. This scared me. Chad locked himself in the room for the rest of the evening, and we were left to take care of ourselves because our mom was at her fast food job.

I had never seen this side of him. Chad was always happy, gentle, and loving to us and our mother. Seeing this loving man so enraged had put the fear back in me where it had been my entire life. The fear was temporarily misplaced when he entered our lives.

“Oh, before I forget, I got something for you” Chad pulled me out of my thoughts.

“You did? What is it?” I smiled.

Then he handed me a dainty little gold necklace with my name. It was the prettiest gift I had ever received. I was struck with awe at how perfect it was.

“Thank you, Dad. I mean, Chad,” I said, slightly confused. I could feel my cheeks redden with embarrassment, which I don’t think he could see in the darkened room. He gave me a saddened smile.

Mom interrupted and began talking again, so I knew to go back to ignoring them. I studied the necklace this time. My name was engraved in a little gold rectangle held together by a delicate chain. I knew this would be the last nice thing I would ever get from a father figure, and I knew my mom would never find a man like him again.

Thank you for taking the time to read this. You might also appreciate exploring other non-fiction short stories if you enjoyed this.