Oopsfamily 24 01 12 Ophelia Kaan Stepmom Can Ha... -

Blended families, he thought, were not like the movies. In the movies, the stepfather was a buffoon to be outsmarted, or a villain to be vanquished, or—in the worst cases—a saint who fixed everything with a single, tearful speech in a rain-soaked driveway. The reality was a Tuesday night in November, trying to convince your 14-year-old stepdaughter, Chloe, that Past Lives was worth her TikTok-scrolling attention.

Leo pulled into the driveway of Priya’s house—their house, technically, though he still slept at his apartment four nights a week. He turned off the engine. OopsFamily 24 01 12 Ophelia Kaan Stepmom Can Ha...

Chloe had come with him tonight only because her phone was at 4% and her mother, Priya, had made a unilateral decree: “No charger. You will sit with Leo. You will watch a movie about humans talking. You will survive.” Blended families, he thought, were not like the movies