That night, when Biff and Gary came home, the family decided to have dinner on the back porch. The table was now clear of any makeup, which was not true at all of Jennifer's face. Biff noticed and gave Jennifer a compliment, but Gary barely looked in the girl's direction.
When the food was set out on the table, plated just the way the lady on TV had showed Lorraine, Gary was impressed, and made it known. But Biff was just hungry.
Mother and daughter shared a glance. This was precisely what they had just been talking about earlier in the day.
So at night, when dinner was eaten and homework was completed, when everyone was in their bedrooms, Lorraine turned to her husband. "You know, sometimes Jennifer feels like you don't really care for her."
"What?" Gary was genuinely blind to his own favoritism.
"Well, you spend all this time with Biff, and you hardly spend any with her. I know it can be hard to be a father to a little girl, but maybe you can put in a little more effort with her?"
Gary's face brightened for a moment, like he'd had an epiphany. "Oh! You're right, babe. I'll talk to her tomorrow."
"Thank you." Lorraine kissed him on the cheek. Then the two went to sleep.
But some time in the early hours of the morning, Lorraine found herself waking up again. She wasn't sure how, but something inside of her knew that Biff wasn't asleep.
She got up from bed, careful not to wake Gary, and padded down the hall, her night shirt catching moonlight through the window. Sure enough, Biff was sitting up in bed, starting out into space.
"Biff, sweetie, are you alright?" Lorraine whispered.
"I'm hungry." Biff had a confused look on his face, like he wasn't sure what hunger felt like.
"Let me make you a sandwich," Lorraine told him as she retreated down the stairs and into the kitchen to pull out some bread and cheese. It was strange to her that Biff hadn't just gotten up himself, but at the same time, this felt right.
When Lorraine returned with the cheese sandwich, she entered Biff's room and sat down on the bed next to him, one hand rubbing his back in a soothing motion as he quietly ate his sandwich. He wrapped an arm around her and pulled in tightly.
Lorraine felt a familiar glow inside of her. There was an odd sense of familiarity to her actions. Biff was nearly as tall as Gary, and a cheese sandwich wasn't anything special, but the way she held the teenager and the way he was eating, it almost put her to mind of those early nights when Jennifer was a baby and she needed a bottle in the middle of the night. That was the glow that she was feeling.
She rocked Biff slowly back and forth on the bed as she continued rubbing his back, until the sandwich was all gone. Then Biff yawned, and lay back down, and was asleep before Lorraine could close the door behind her.
