Hazel and I got into a terrible argument when she told me what she’d done. Maybe the worst we’d ever had. I was so angry because, in a way, I felt as if I was losing Charlie again. Because at least, after she was gone, I had the photos and videos. Then suddenly I had nothing of her but what was in my mind and the memories Oscar and I shared alone in bed at night. Hazel’s argument was that Charlie was no longer ours. She belonged to her new family, whose names we would never know. She said people don’t keep photos of strangers’ children.
“Thanks, Aunt Beth.” As Hazel stands to retrieve her phone, a waitress stops at the table.
“I’ll be right back to take your order.” The girl in shorts and a T-shirt with the ice cream shop logo on it rests her hands on the back of the high chair at the head of the table. “Okay if I take this?”
“Sure, we’re not using it,” Jason says.
“No.” Hazel’s hand shoots out and she keeps the waitress from picking up the high chair. “We need that.”
“Okay. Sorry.” The waitress flashes a cautious smile and walks away. “Be right back.”
“Who’s the high chair for?” Jason asks innocently.
Beth grabs his hand as if she can somehow take back the words he’s spoken.
We all look at one another: Oscar, Mom, Sean, Beth, and Jack. Only Sean’s girlfriend and Jason don’t know.
Hazel, still standing, shifts her gaze until it meets mine. Tears fill her eyes but she has the tiniest smile on her lips. And at that moment, I know my daughter will be just fine. In fact, my dream is coming true, the dream every mother has for her daughter. That she’ll be a happier and more emotionally stable woman than I will ever be.
I hold my daughter’s gaze and I speak the words she can’t bring herself to say. “The chair is for Charlie.”
A READING GROUP GUIDE
OUR NEW NORMAL
Colleen Faulkner
ABOUT THIS GUIDE
The suggested questions are included to enhance your group’s reading of Colleen Faulkner’s Our New Normal!
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
1. What was your response when Liv saw the results of her daughter’s pregnancy test? Did you sympathize more with Liv or Hazel? Why?
2. Did you think Liv’s suggestion that the baby be put up for adoption was a good one? What did you think about Hazel’s plan?
3. Do you believe Oscar really wanted to keep the baby? Was his desire realistic? Why or why not?
4. What are your experiences with adoption? How was your response to Liv’s desire to put her grandchild up for adoption affected by your own experience?
5. Do you think, with more support from their parents, that Tyler and Hazel could have raised the baby?
6. If Liv hadn’t had the stress of dealing with her own parents, could she have been more available emotionally and physically to help Hazel?
7. Could Liv and Oscar have prevented Hazel’s pregnancy from causing a divide between them? How?
8. Was Hazel a good mother? Why or why not? Was Liv?
9. Do you think Liv was being selfish in wanting to put the baby up for adoption? Was Oscar being selfish in wanting to keep her? Did your opinion change after Charlie’s birth?
10. Had you written the book, how would you have ended it? Why?
Our New Normal Page 35
