Read Online Life Interrupted by Kristen Kehoe - Free Book Online Page B

the kitchen. 
    When it comes to breaking pregnancy news at sixteen, I was pretty lucky to have my moth er.  Most girls would think having a mom in her sixties when you’re in high school is difficult, that the age divide is too great for her to understand what you’re really going through. That’s not the case when Dr. Leigh Conti-Reynolds is your mother.  Maybe it’s because she teaches college kids, or because she embraces sexuality and its expression as a part of life (something I try not to dwell on as it puts a nasty image in my head), but my mom has always related to me.  I don’t remember my dad ever being an important part of my life.  I never felt neglected by him, more just immune.  His decisions didn’t impact what I did, therefore, I didn’t really think overmuch about them.  He was in and out, the guy who gave me the fun day at the zoo or a pretty purse for my birthday which eventually just turned into the occasional check each year to cover previous and upcoming events.  And it never bothered me. 
    Katie and I are both victims of what some would call a broken family, except, where Katie’s family is well and truly shattered with a mom who runs off monthly with new boyfriends on trips, extended vacations, etc. and a father w ho’s been in jail since she can remember, Katie has lived a long time on her own.  I haven’t.  I’ve always had my mother, and even Stacy, though sometimes I thought of how lucky Katie was to just have a crazy mom and an absent dad when I was dealing with Stacy and one of her overly analytical and emotional moments.  Seriously, it’s a B+ on a test in grad school, get over yourself.
    Back to my point.  T he day I came home to tell my mom that I was pregnant was the same day that I had decided to keep the baby.  Her response? After a few silent moments where she digested my words and stared at me, she nodded and reached out to wrap an arm around my shoulders.  “Well, looks like I should buy some ice cream and cancel my Weight Watchers membership.”
    When I looked at her through traumatized eyes, she smiled.  “What? I’m not paying to have someone tell me I’m gaining weight and you’re going to need someone to hang out with when you get fat.”
    “You’re not mad? Or even disappointed in me? I’m sixteen and pregnant, and thanks to MTV, that carries an even heavier connotation these days.”
    “ Flow, will being mad at you change anything? Will telling you how scared I am for you make this any easier?” I shook my head.  “Then I’m not going to say those things.  I’m going to save myself fifty bucks a month and enjoy some Fudge Mint Swirl.  And then we’re going to get your sister drunk so you can tell her and we can pray she doesn’t fly off the handle.”
    I laughed and let her hug me, let the tears that were hell bent on building up fall over.  And because she hadn’t judged me, hadn’t told me I was stupid, I asked her what she didn’t ask me.
    “Don’t you want to know who?”
    “Tripp?”
    If a heart could break a second time, I think mine had at that moment.  Hearing his name, hearing that she thought it was his baby had only reminded me that this was one more step away from him, one more reason we may never be together again.  I shook my head. 
    “Marcus Kash.  I barely know him.  He’s not a good person.”
    She nodded and squeezed me tighter, a nd then she made me laugh.  “Well, I slept with your father for over a decade so who am I to judge? If anything, you and Stacy are proof that not both sets of genes are represented in a child.”
                  She made me laugh through my entire pregnancy, and when you’re sixteen, there’s not a lot that’s funny about gaining weight and watching your friends go to prom while you worry about whether you should breast feed or use formula.  It wasn’t that she wasn’t scared for me, it was that she instinctively knew that I’d already beat myself up as