Men!

Jordan went after his dad despite his mother’s request for him to just leave it alone. “I can’t mom,” he told her. “I know you don’t understand but I need this to be over with. I need dad to care about me.”

“Oh Jordan,” his mother rolled her eyes. “Your father has cared about you from the moment I told him I was pregnant.”

“Then he has a funny way of showing it,” Jordan replied as he headed for the door.

Once the front door closed behind him, his mom turned to me. “Why didn’t you stop him?” She demanded. “You are always jumping, why didn’t you do it this time?”

I was floored. “You indicated for me to stay out of it Harriet. And besides, I think it’s time they had it out over this; it’s been eating away at Jordan for years.”

“You just don’t like to see them getting along!”

“Are you kidding me?” I snorted. “I’ve wanted them to get along for years. I want Jordan to be happy but he can’t be if he feels like he has to prove something to John all the time. He doesn’t need to prove anything; he’s a good man and a good father.”

“Do you think we don’t know that Anna?” Crossing her arms over her chest, she asked me if I thought they were stupid. “He’s my son, I know what’s going on with him and I know what kind of man he is.”

I sighed; I really didn’t want to argue with Harriet. “Let’s just let Jordan and John work this out between them,” I offered and motioned towards the living room. “Why don’t we go see what Jenna is doing?”

With the mention of her granddaughter, Harriet’s frown disappeared and she smiled. “Isn’t Jenna just the most adorable little girl you’ve ever seen?” She inquired. “I had to get some pictures of her, the girls at the bingo hall want to see how big she’s getting.”

Jenna had us sitting at her little pink princess table holding tiny plastic princess cups when Jordan and John came back into the house. “Oh my God!” I dropped the cup when I saw Jordan. “What the heck happened to you?” I was on my feet and over to him before he could even reply.

“Nothing,” he pulled away from the hand that I had brought up to his face.

“What do you mean ‘nothing’? You’re bleeding!” I went to touch him again but he pulled back.

“It’s nothing,” he insisted.

“Nothing,” I repeated as I glanced over my shoulder to Harriet. “He says it was ‘nothing’.”

Harriet turned to John; he was sporting a bloody nose to go along with Jordan’s split lip. “Don’t look at me like that woman,” John spoke before she could. “The boy said it was nothing and that’s what it is.”

She seemed as shocked as I was. “You hit him?”

John went to reply but Jordan stopped him. “No mom, we talked.”

With a chuckle, John reached out and slapped Jordan on the back. “That’s right. We talked.”