Daughter Dearest

Joanna's POV

"Val?", I gaped at the person who was supposed to be my mother, but she lost that title 12 years ago years ago when she left me and Daddy.

She smiled weakly at me, "Joanna, sweetheart, it's me, your mom".

"I refuse to call you something that you're clearly not", I glared at the blonde woman.

"Look, I know I haven't been the best mother-" she started but I cut her off.

"You aren't a mother at all. A mother doesn't leave her child. A mother doesn't not call her child on the holidays or birthdays. A mother doesn't forget she has a child. How could a mother forget the one thing that made her a mother in the first place? Why are you here anyway?", I barked.

She looked hurt, but I didn't care. Her pain was of no comparison to mine. She wasn't the one who had to deal with the feeling of being unwanted. She didn't have to think about all the reasons of why she wasn't good enough. All she did was probably brush me off her shoulder and find another family.

"Jo, calm down. Val came here to tell you something important. Just please hear what she has to say", Daddy reasoned.

"Fine", I said as I folded my arms over my chest.

We sat down at the island in the middle of the kitchen.

Val cleared her throat, "Well, as you probably know I moved to Texas after I left. I thought I wasn't ready to be a mom, but after all this time, maybe I was wrong. So, I moved back to Huntington to start over with you. I wanna be your mom, a real mom".

"Okay and?", I glared.

"So, I was thinking, hoping that maybe you could spend every other weekend with me just to start back our relationship", she smiled hopefully.

"No, absolutely not. Why would I do that?", I argued.

"Please, I promise we'll do it for a month and if you absolutely can't stand to be around me then I'll learn to live with that and I'll stay out of your life forever", she begged with pleading eyes.

"You certainly had no problem with that before", I sneered.

"Joanna please do this, this could be good for you", Daddy reasoned.

I glared at him for what I think was the first time in my life, "Why? Are you finally tired of taking care of me? You're just itching to hand me off to some stranger aren't you?".

He shook his head frantically, "No, of course not Jojo. I just think that you need a mother figure in your life".

I chuckled dryly,"Oh, are you tired of trying to force your sleazy girlfriends on me? You just want me gone so you can screw Emily all you want without the interruptions of some spoiled brat, isn't that right?". I was starting to become angry and was yelling at my Daddy.

"No Joanna, why would you say that?", he asked.

"Because we both know it's true Daddy. You don't love me anymore because of Emily, so you want me gone so you can be with her and only her", I accused.

"That's not true and we both know it. I love you more than anything in this world!", he exclaimed with tears in his eyes.

"Whatever, I'm going to my room", I said before turning around and going upstairs. I wanted to be alone before I did or said something I'd really regret. I wouldn't want to get bad again like before. I could hear them yelling for me to come back but I decided to ignore it. I went up to my room and slammed the door shut. If my dad and my "mother" knew me so well, they knew not to come up here. I sat down on my bed, closed my eyes, took deep breaths, and counted to 10, which is exactly what my therapist always told me to do whenever I get angry.

Minutes later I decided to take myself to bed and whatever I had to face, I would deal with it in the morning.

Matt's POV

I heard the door slam and me and Val both flinched. I knew this was going to end badly, but I wanted to give this a chance. I wanted Joanna to finally have the mother figure she missed out on, but deserved so much.

Val sighed and rubbed her temples with her fingers,"I knew this was a shitty idea. What the hell was I thinking coming back here, I'm so stupid".

"Val, you just wanted to get your time back with your daughter. Granted, it's a little too late, but you're still trying. You've made mistakes in the past, but you're trying to make it right and that's all I ask for", I tried to console her.

"Yeah, but look how it turned out, she fucking hates me", she pointed out.

"She'll warm up to you, trust me. She just needs some time", I tried to convince her.. and me."Look, she's probably sleep by now. I say we hit the hay and work things out in the morning. You can sleep in the guest room. It's the las-", I started until she interrupted me.

"I know where the guest room is, Matt. I used to live here remember?", she smirked.

"Oh yeah, but it's been so long since you've been here, I thought you might've forgotten", I smirked right back.

"Ohh, burn. I deserved that", she smiled and looked down.

"Yeah, you did. Night Val", I made my way to my bedroom.

"G'night Matt", she replied and made her way to the guest room.

I was walking away when I heard,"Hey Matt".

I turned around and saw Val,"Yeah?".

She smiled and said,"You look good".

"You do too Val, you do too", I shook my head and turned back around.

I'm gonna need rest for when morning comes.