Page 18 of British Daddy to Go

7

Maggie

“I’m going over to Jenna’s!” I call into the kitchen.

My mother runs to the front hallway to catch me. “Where are you going?”

“Jenna’s,” I tell her quickly. “She wants to hear about my new job.”

Mom’s face sours. “Are you sure you should be going over there?”

I swallow down a scream. Jenna has been my best friend since high school, but my parents hate her. The biggest problem is that Jenna’s parents are much more relaxed than mine. While I had a six o’clock curfew, even on weekends, all throughout high school, Jenna could stay out as late as two in the morning. She lost her virginity at sixteen, and my parents overheard her telling me all about it, so they grounded me from seeing her for a month.

No matter what my parents tried, though, they couldn’t keep Jenna and me apart. It drives them crazy that even distance didn’t stop me from being best friends with Jenna. When she went away to school, my parents were sure that would be the end of it. If anything, the distance had made our friendship stronger.

“I wasn’t asking permission, Mom,” I say calmly. “I’m twenty-five years old. If I want to go see my friend, I’m going to go.”

“I thought we’d have a nice family dinner. Don’t you want to spend time with your parents?”

I take a deep breath. Guilt is my mother’s specialty, but it won’t work. I had a long day at work, and I haven’t seen Jenna in weeks. I’m going to see her. We have a lot to talk about.

“We had dinner together last night, and we’ll have dinner together again tomorrow night.”

Mom stands taller with her hands on her hips. It’s an interesting sight since she barely stands five-three with her back fully extended. I got my five-five height from my father. “You know I don’t like you hanging around with that Jenna girl. Can’t you spend the evening with one of your other friends?”

What other friends?I want to ask. Being so sheltered hasn’t exactly opened up a ton of doors for me. No one wants to be friends with a girl who can barely leave her house. It’s a miracle I was allowed to get a job on Madison Avenue. Getting a job was supposed to be the first step toward making new friends, but I’m not sure about that anymore. The people at Havisham’s are nice, and I really like them. However, I’m not sure they’re the hanging out type. We probably won’t be getting drinks after work any time soon. The salespeople are closer to my age, but they are less likely to hang out with a girl who looks like me.

“I’m going to Jenna’s. I’ll see you when I get home.”

She sighs. “Be home by ten. You have work in the morning.”

At least my curfew is later now that I’m an adult. I doubt any other twenty-five-year-old woman has to be home by a certain time. That can’t be normal.

“Bye, Mom. Love you.”

I leave before she has a chance to argue again and before Dad gets involved. Mom is more of a pushover than Dad, and he hates Jenna even more than my mother does. Daddy doesn’t like his little girl to be under the influence of someone as full of vices as Jenna is. Plus, he prefers that I only spend time with people I meet at church. Jenna has never set foot in a religious temple in her life. Her parents didn’t even have her baptized.

Jenna’s apartment is in Brooklyn, so I hop on the subway to go across town. My parents think Jenna lives uptown. If they found out about Brooklyn, I would have to jump out of my window to ever see my best friend.

It takes me thirty minutes to get to the apartment, leaving me only a couple of hours before I’ll have to hop the train home. Jenna and I have more than two hours’ worth of catching up to do.

The tiny brunette squeals when she opens the door to find me.

“You’re here!” she cries, dragging me into a tight hug. “I can’t believe the wardens let you out of jail!”

I laugh into her shoulder. “It was a hard fight, but I held my ground. Mom tried to block the door.”

“Wait… seriously?”

“No, of course not. She asked me not to leave, but I left anyway.”

“What time do you have to be home?”

I shrug, but she doesn’t let me off the hook. “Ten.”

Jenna’s laughter rings through her Brooklyn neighborhood. I’m worried her neighbors are going to complain. “Typical. Well, let’s get inside, then. I have so much to tell you!”

The apartment is as beautiful as I expected from Jenna. We became friends because of our love for art and design. She channels her creativity into designing the perfect rooms for upscale apartments while I make amateur dresses in my bedroom.