Life Was Good Again.

As the weeks quickly turned into months Janine and I were still having a blast together. I loved being with her and I could see myself quite easily spending the rest of my life with her. Although I had been married for eighteen years and I thought I was truly happy, I was now even happier with Janine. Maybe it was all just the newness of being with someone new and it was still early days.

My relationship with my daughter was also very good at this time. Stephanie was coping pretty well with both her parents now having new partners and she was getting along great with Janine. They both seemed to genuinely like each other.

My job was still the same old same old and I knew the writing was on the wall. Within a couple years I would be parking my truck for good because my now ten year old truck would need to be replaced. I was already fed up with the ice cream business after basically doing the same job for the past two decades. The fact I was still cashing cheques weekly for three grand was the only reason that I still had my truck on the road.

I was in my early forties and my life was now humming along quite nicely.

Little did I know that within two years Janine and I would be living together. Her constant talk about me moving into her house began in earnest within six months of us dating. I still was not ready nor did I want to shack up with anyone at that time. Although I loved Janine and wanted to be with her, I really was not too keen on living under the same roof with her two boys. The youngest son I was fine with, but I knew I would be constantly butting heads with her oldest son. He slept in the unfinished basement while coming and going as he pleased. He was untidy and he was just using his mother’s house as a pit stop to eat and sleep. It wasn’t that I disliked him because I didn’t. However, I knew if I lived in the same house with him, there was no doubt I would quickly begin to dislike him.

I knew the two of us could never coexist under the same roof.

Besides, it was always a good excuse for me not having to move out of my condo. Janine knew how I felt, she knew I would not live in the same house with her oldest son. I just assumed and really wanted our relationship to carry on status quo which was perfectly fine with me. I figured maybe someday down the road when we were both ready, I would sell my condo and Janine would sell her house. It would only be then when I could see us getting our own place and living together.

I loved my life and my relationship with Janine just the way it was. Life was good again and I never could have imagined that Janine would tell her firstborn he had to move out. Once Janine put her son on notice that he had to move out and get his own place, I was backed into a corner. My only excuse for not moving in would no longer be an excuse because her oldest son would be moving out. I knew then that my independence and bachelorhood would soon be ending. In March 2003 when I sold my Esprit condo and I moved in with Janine.

Johnny Bower was now officially my neighbor.

I agreed to move in with Janine only on the condition I would also be a 50/50 owner of her house. I never wanted to put myself in a situation where if our relationship hit a rocky patch she could turf me out like a lodger. I wanted her house to now be legally our house and after meeting with a lawyer we had the deed changed to reflect that I was also an equal owner. After determining the equity Janine had in her house, I then happily wrote her a cheque for half of the amount. I always wanted to be fair with Janine and prove to her I was willing to make a long term commitment. As well I never wanted to be the freeloader type of a boyfriend, always drinking the milk but never buying the cow. I wanted to show Janine that I was in for the long haul.

Shortly after I moved in with Janine, Bonnie set her wedding date for later that summer. Stephanie had told me that her mother was talking about getting married, but neither I nor Steph expected it would be so soon. Bonnie would be getting married in August and both she and Stephanie would then be moving to the State of Maryland. This sudden news was totally unacceptable to me and I was very angry with Bonnie. Stephanie did not at all like her soon to be stepfather and she was also upset she would be leaving Canada to go live in the States. Janine and I both figured out a way that Stephanie could come live with us in our home. Although she would be moving out of her neighborhood and school, Steph would still be close to her friends while still living in Mississauga.

Stephanie absolutely loved the idea of living with me and Janine and not having to live with Bonnie's soon to be husband who she couldn’t stand. Steph always told me she would never consider him her stepfather. Bonnie left the final decision up to Steph as to where she wanted to live since she was now a teenager.

After Steph had made her decision, Bonnie’s crocodile tears were nothing but a façade. Both Janine and I knew deep down Bonnie was quite happy about not having Steph living with her in the States. Bonnie wanted her freedom along with her new career. With her new husband’s two kids living with their mother, the newlyweds would have no kids around to tie them down. Bonnie also wanted me to take Stephanie’s dog Benny, but with two dogs and a cat already living in our house, I refused.

Once Bonnie gave up fulltime custody of our daughter, she was now free to pursue her new life with her new husband and his family in her new country. She was doing exactly to Stephanie what her own mother had done to her when she was a little girl. Like her own mother Lorna, Bonnie couldn't give a shit about anyone but herself.

In early August 2003 Stephanie was now living with Janine and me. I would no longer be paying monthly child support; instead Bonnie was now paying me child support. I had Stephanie enrolled in a brand new school for grade eight. The newly built school was a 4km walk from our house and she would now have to take the school bus, she had never taken the school bus before.

Shortly after Steph moved in Janine and I decided to renovate our basement. Her youngest son would have the new bedroom and bathroom which would be part of the renovations. It would allow him much more privacy since he was in his last year of high school and he also had a girlfriend. Stephanie moved into one of the two bedrooms upstairs where she would also have her own bathroom. We allowed her to pick her own colours since we were having them both repainted for her. We painted her bedroom in a hot pink and her bathroom in a very bright yellow.

To this day I still don’t know why we let her choose such outrageous colours.

I also had a sincere talk with Janine; I explained how I did not want her to play the role of Stephanie’s mother now that she was living with us. She already had a mother, just like there was absolutely no way I would or wanted to be a father figure in her son’s lives. They already had a father and I was simply happy to be their friend. I wanted Janine to be more like a friend to Stephanie which I felt my daughter could use more than anything else in her life at that time. Although Janine was indeed somewhat of a mother figure in Stephanie’s life she also was a friend and confidant and Steph always considered Janine to be her stepmom.

Anything concerning discipline, school or other matters I would be making the final decision with Janine’s input. Regarding any more serious matters, I would need to be consulting with Bonnie as well. Stephanie was a good kid and I did not foresee any problems or potential issues arising with her now living with me and Janine.

Bonnie was very regular with having Steph fly down for weekend visits. It seemed like every other month Steph would be visiting her mother. Bonnie would always book and pay the extra fare for the unaccompanied minor ticket. All I needed to do was get Steph to the airport and pick her up when she returned. I knew Stephanie was missing her mother and she really looked forward to her visits. However, I had no doubt she was much happier living where she was with her dad. Perhaps had Bonnie married a white man and who Stephanie respected, it would most likely have been me booking all those flights. I would never suggest that a child should be able to dictate their parent’s choice of spouse. But, it sure as hell makes things a lot easier when there is a mutual respect between everyone involved.

Once I moved from my condo, Janine and I agreed to be honest and upfront with each other regarding our finances. She was very independent and had a well-paying job. Her company had been recently bought out and she was ready for a change. By the end of 2003 she accepted a new position with a new company at a much higher salary. So just imagine my surprise when one day I found one of her bank statements she had unwittingly left on the kitchen counter. It would be my first red flag in our three year relationship. The red flag and unbeknownst to me was an extremely high line of credit balance she had accumulated. I was both shocked and upset and I confronted her about the statement.

I asked Janine why she had never told me about her line of credit right from the start. Afterall, we had agreed to divulge all our financial obligations to each other up front before I committed to sell my condo. Janine thought that had I known about her debt I most likely would never have agreed to move in with her. She knew what I had already gone through with Bonnie and her constant never ending debt. I had even told Janine back on our first date that I would never be with a woman again who could not control her spending habits.

Together we had a mortgage and that debt was my only debt. I told Janine we had no future together if she was going to run up her line of credit, it wasn’t like she needed money for food or necessities. I was very disappointed and Janine knew I wasn’t happy. She promised me that she would pay off her line of credit balance as quickly as possible.

I believed her and I trusted her.

In February 2004 and after eight years I decided I no longer wanted to be an owner-operator. My truck insurance had skyrocketed more than double and my job had drastically changed. I was now spending most of my day sitting in my truck waiting to be off loaded at some of the larger chain stores.

I fuck’n hated my job now.

Computer inventory control systems were now being implemented in most of the bigger chain stores. Groceries were now being scanned at the cash register on the way out of the store. As well those same groceries now needed to be scanned at the back door receiving also. The whole system was designed to be an accurate automatic inventory control system and stores were quickly installing the new technology.

For drivers like me delivering to those stores, it meant a much longer wait to be received. A line up of trucks at the back of every store waiting to be received was now the norm. Every item on every order would need to be scanned into inventory and all the paperwork needed to be signed and stamped. Once I finally did get backed into the receiving dock, my one time ten minute delivery now took upwards of an hour or more. I had many large chain stores on my downtown route and most of my day was now being spent waiting to be received while just sitting in my truck. I had enough and I parked my truck for what I thought was the last time once my insurance expired.

What I now wanted to do was to try and sell my truck with the route. Even though I technically did not own the route, the company would need an owner-operator with an ice cream truck like mine for the upcoming busy season about two months away. If someone agreed to buy my truck, my boss told me they could take over the route also. By offering the route with the truck it enabled me to ask much more than what the actual truck was worth on its own.

I assumed my truck and route would sell quickly at my $25,000 asking price.

It was two months later and I had not gotten one offer. I was out riding my bike on a warm spring day when my former boss called. He was desperate for me to return and do my downtown route with the busy summer season fast approaching. By the end of April, I had renewed my insurance for six months only and I agreed to do my route for one more summer.

After my truck sitting idle for a couple months, I just hoped and prayed that it would start.

It did on the first try.

Once I got going that day I now hoped and prayed it would get me through just one more summer without any expensive repairs.

Time would tell.

Although I didn’t know it on that April day, the upcoming summer would be one that I would never forget. There would be so many changes on the horizon, not just for me, but for Janine and Stephanie also.

I was about to find out that some dreams really do come true.