-was a.jr. serious about her mom and monroe being 'awfully strict' on her with the new baby coming, or did she just really want to live with ennis to keep an eye on him? was she going to ask him this in the first place, or was it because she saw he had a new woman in his life?
-what do you think was going on with a.jr. when she saw cassie? jealousy about someone taking her daddy away?
-what do you think she was thinking when she was sitting there talking with cassie?
I think Alma Jnr was maybe seeing just how serious the relationship with Ennis and Cassie was. By asking if she could come and live with him, she might get some idea of whether Cassie was in fact going to go and live with Ennis. Or, she may have been able to get an idea of whether Ennis was lonely and wanted some company, either her or Cassie.
I think the reaction of Alma Jnr when she saw Cassie, was typical of a child of separated parents.....she was expecting to have some time alone with her dad, and once she saw Cassie, she knew that the get together was probably more about Cassie and Ennis having a date, than about Ennis having a date with her. She was probably used to having Ennis one on one, and would have been jealous of anyone encumbering on that relationship.
I think she was just being polite to Cassie, and her answer.."you're good enough, I suppose" was her way of not making a big deal about the relationship, and not offering any encouragement towards it.
The girls had grown up knowing Munro, so they would have accepted him into their lives easier than they would accepting a stranger.
I dont agree, that Ennis did want Alma Jnr to live with him. He had not set himeslf up to cater to, or accomodate the needs of having a teenage girl living with him, daughter or not....I dont think it had entered his mind that the girls would ever live with him, permanently. Not that he didn't love them, but he probably thought, being girls, they were probably better off with their mother anyway, and he barely earned enough to look after himself, and knew that the lifestyle Munro was now giving them, was much better than he could ever offer them.
Ennis worked to survive, and pay the child support....he saw that as his duty and committment to the girls. He had his designated contact weekends with them, and just seemed to fit it all into the life he was living. I dont think he was a "hands on" type of father, but I dont doubt he loved his girls, and wanted what was best for them, and he stuck around, so he would still feature in their lives.
When Alma Jnr first told Ennis about her wedding, and asked him to attend, he may have not placed a lot of importance on it, he seemed to downplay it a bit, by talking about what he would be needed to do at work at that time, and then when he asked her if Kurt loved her, and she said "Yes, he loves me daddy", he seemed to realize just how important all this was to his daughter, and that it was something she wanted him to share with her...when he turned his head away in thought, it was like he was thinking "how lucky you are to be so confident and sure of someone's love" and maybe wished he had been as confident and been able to be so open about the love he and Jack had shared.....and I also feel that he thought "I know how it feels to have loved like that too"....That then, made this wedding very precious and important, and he knew then he wanted and needed to be there, no matter what.
I dont know if he had gone through his life "letting down" people, but more so, "disappointing" them. Alma, Cassie and Jack, all wanted a future with him, but he just couldn't seem to make any of those futures work out, the way THEY all wanted them to. It was like he went through life trying to do the best he could, but he ended up hurting them, or disappointing them with what little he was able to give to them.....