Do you think you'll ever get married, settle down and have kids? Live the family life? Become a 'soccer mom'?
It’s the first time in a long time Zoe hasn’t had an immediate response to something. It’s the first time she’s felt that twist in her gut that terrifies her and brings back all the things she’s been told her whole life; all the things she learned about FAMILY.Not just the club, or the guys, or her co-workers that she’s gotten close to over the years. Not about her Uncle either really. This is more about the family she could have had. The parents that abandoned her; the ones that sent her away and into a system that did nothing but drag her down her entire life. This is about the place that she found out she was never good enough and never wanted.
“Married?” A soft huff of breath as her lips grow into a tight line and she bites at the inside of one, trying to swallow the choking emotions rising like toxic bile in her throat. “Ain’t met a man yet that was that interestin’ enough, or one that gave a shit enough to stick around at the first sign of any kinda trouble. And why would they? I mean, really, tell me what’s good enough about Zoe Quinn to wanna stick it out through anything?”
And oh good Lord in Heaven, they had to bring up KIDS. Like she hasn’t spent her entire life around every different kind of kid there is. Kids of every color, size, and background. Kids who couldn’t sleep without someone there to hold their hand which she did and others who took months to accept something as simple as a hug which she gave willingly. And she loved every one of them, and cried tears of happiness for each one as their new parents came to pick them up and bring them to a happy and safe home that they all deserved so very much.
“Me and kids… I just - I dunno that we’d mesh well. I mean, what’ve I got to offer a kid? Can’t fit a car seat on the back of a bike. Can’t bring ‘em to work with me, cause I’d never get anything done.” She doesn’t mention that she was so close -o n c e- to finding out what kind of mother she would have been. She wondered how different her life would be if… if things had been… different. “Plus, I cuss too fuckin’ much, and drink excessively, and smoke shit I shouldn’t. Don’t no kid deserve a mom like that.” She knows she’d quit everything in a h e a r t b e a t if she ever saw two lines on a pregnancy test. There’s no doubt in her mind. She’s done it before.
“What’s it matter anyway? Kinda have to have one to get the other, at least it’s supposed to be that way ain’t it? The natural order o’things? But hey, maybe that’s where’m wrong. Maybe I’ll turn out to be another statistic. Single, workin’ moms of America kinda thing, yeah? Be lucky and find that one asshole that can’t handle the dream life he thought he wanted; two point five kids and a white picket fence. Maybe a dog.” A forced laugh breaks free from her throat, and no way in HELL those are tears forming in her eyes. “No thanks. Don’t seem too much like my cup’a tea. I’m too…” broken, pissed off, worthless… “much of’a realist t’think life’s got any o’that in the cards for me. Thanks.”