Page 4 of Midlife Tiger’s Last Chance

“I am so proud of you, Mel,” I say. “You’ve grown up so much.”

She rolls her eyes. “Ugh. Can I convince you to drop the Mel nickname?”

I smile evilly and reply, “Sure thing, Lanie.”

She makes a gagging noise and I burst into laughter.

“Eww,” she says. “You know what? Mel is fine.”

When my laughter subsides, I ask, “So how’s your mother doing?”

She looks at me pensively and I say, “I want you two to have a relationship. Do you still talk to her?”

“I do,” she replies. “We still run together every now and then. I don’t hate her, I’m just not super happy with what she did to you.”

My ex, Serena, is also a tiger shifter and so Melanie is too. They used to run together every weekend but that stopped when Serena cheated and I began the process of divorcing her. I’m glad to hear they’ve repaired their relationship enough to spend time together. Serena wasn’t a good wife but she is an outstanding mother. I tell Melanie that and she shrugs.

“She is, and I’m trying to let that be enough, but it’s hard to think of her as a good person after she hurt you like that.”

I take her hands in mine and say, “I’m okay, Melanie. Yes, your mother hurt me, but I’m getting better.”

Melanie smiles and says, “So you’ll ask that new account manager out?”

I chuckle and say, “We’ll see.”

She sighs and says, “Daddy, you have to move on. I know you loved Mom and I know it hurts you when she betrayed you, but you can’t live there forever. It’s not like you’re the first tiger to go through a divorce.”

She’s right about that. In our community, relationships aren’t assumed to last forever. Most only last a few years. My marriage to Serena was one of the longest-lasting relationships in our community and if I’m being honest, it wasn’t the fact that we broke up but how we broke up that hurt. I could stand if Serena had told me that she didn’t love me anymore but finding out by walking in on her straddling her boss was not the way I wanted things to end.

I manage to get through the rest of dinner without committing to anything but she coerces me into at least thinking about asking Minnie out and when we part, she promises to bug me about it every day until I cave.

I lay awake for a long time thinking about Minnie. My house feels empty since most of my furniture is still in Germany and the rest is wherever Serena lives now. Imagining Minnie here next to me helps to stave off the loneliness.

I try to tell myself that’s all it is and drift to sleep with Minnie’s smile on my mind.

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