What Was Up With Margy?

Laura: I know you’re pretty.

Is this person? Or is that just a line?

Lacey: I can’t tell.

But the tone feels off.

Laura: Lacey…I think the question that some of your mean girl friends in person have wondered is: Why did Margy date an old man?

They think it’s weird.

Lacey: From what I understand, she was just…smitten.

Laura: How do?

Lacey: Well…he had a wife. But he also had a permanent mistress. Thelma was his long-term mistress. They don’t say that online about him, but Thelma was his long-term mistress.

He was…capable of love. Thelma and him had a real, functional relationship. She took care of him as he aged. She was his live-in girlfriend, after his wife died.

But…I think Margy met him and was…swept off her feet. She was very beautiful. Kind of like a 1980’s Nordic model. And I think…he just found her genuinely attractive. It wasn’t pedophilic. She was just a hot woman.

Laura: *Laughs*

Okay. A young hot Norwegian American stewardess in the 1980’s? Your rather father seems like a pretty normal guy.

I mean he didn’t even have any children. Because I have a feeling if he did, it would have seemed weirder to him, and he’d have hesitated. But anyway…-

Why does Margy think it makes sense to date an old man? Like…old?

I think most people think it’s about the money. EVEN IF…he seemed knowing and sophisticated and wise.

Lacey: Well…maybe she dated a lot of men? And…he just did seem wise? And…unusual?

Laura: Well…what’s your impression? You’ve only ever met her once, since birth.

Lacey: *Exhales*

I think she just…wanted…his…elegance?

No! I’m serious.

Laura: Yeah.

Lacey: *Thinking*

He really was an elegant man.

Laura: Women do go for that!

Lacey: I mean…he did pay for stuff? I know he paid for her college education.

Laura: Yeah. Awkward?

Lacey: *Thinks*

I worry she used him.

I worry he was too stupid to realize he was being used.

He was an absolute…problem, for Thelma. I think. Kind of like “Mr. Big” from Sex and The City.

But…maybe as he aged he became more…ashamed of himself. Maybe he felt guilty. So he tried be happy and yet, “more vulnerable”.

Laura: Like, more honest? *She laughs*

Lacey: Yes!

More…vulnerable.

And he just got…used.

I’m not like that. My kids aren’t like that-

Actually, I’m not even sure what she was really all about?

A part of me worries she was just jaded.

I’m obviously very angry with her for dropping me off, so to speak. But…I don’t know…what she was really thinking.

Laura: Or do you?

Lacey: Maybe. Maybe she was just trying to find some happiness. Maybe she was a “Mr. Big” herself.

Laura: YES!

Kind of a daredevil.

Lacey: Yes!

Laura: So she was after his money, but not…really. That just made him seem promising as a man.

Lacey: Yes.

Laura: But you remember him giving you bottles?

Lacey: Yes! I remember him. Somehow.

He was harsh, but very genuinely loving.

Laura: Yes.

He’d give you bottles, and then you’d nap on his shoulder.

Lacey: Yes! He was great daddy.

Laura: I think it broke him when he decided to give you to Jim and Becca, the parents who raised you.

Lacey: Poor man.

It’s sad he didn’t realize how much he actually wanted to be a dad.

Laura: It was probably a huge blind-spot for him.

Lacey: I almost think I’ve talked to his ghost.

Laura: I’m sure you have.

He sounds proud of you, but also sad, and worried.