Mardi O’Kane
Mardi was the mother of Emily O’Kane, one of Rachel Burton’s friends. When Emily saw Rachel with Jesse at the Diner, she ran over to her. Mardi tried to get her to come back to their table but ended up accepting Jesse’s invitation for the four of them to sit together. Emily asked to stay over at Rachel’s so Mardi suggested Rachel stay at theirs instead. She dropped Rachel off next morning but, while polite to Jesse, still seemed reluctant to agree to Emily staying there.
She later dropped Emily off to play with Rachel. Initially, she seemed to want to drop Emily off and go, but eventually she accepted Jesse’s offer to stay for a coffee and they bonded over being single parents, with Mardi offering to introduce Jesse to other parents at the P&C meetings. She encouraged Jesse to get involved in school activities and offered to make a costume for Rachel for the school play. Jesse was happy to accept her help but, uncomfortable with people starting to think they were more than friends, turned down her offer to come round for dinner, saying he was going out with friends. When Mardi came round to measure up Rachel and mentioned Jesse’s supposed plans, Sally unknowingly dropped him in it by wondering who would look after Rachel if they were both going out, leading to Mardi volunteering to babysit.
When Jesse’s fiance Kylie, who was in jail, failed to get a letter that Mardi had supposedly posted, Jesse accused her of being after him and trying to sabotage his relationship with Kylie. Mardi was upset that he considered her that desperate and confided in Natalie, who suggested Jesse had been listening to people gossiping. Jesse later came to apologise to Mardi; the letter had been returned to sender after water damage had left the delivery address unreadable. He invited her and Emily to join him and Rachel at the Diner, which she accepted.
Mardi babysat Rachel at Jesse’s, with Vinnie in attendance, and saved Rachel when she choked on a biscuit. She suggested Jesse take her out for dinner at the Diner when he offered to do anything to thank her, where she spoke about how her mother kept trying to set her up on dates. Next day, Jesse met with her to clarify that he was still in love with Kylie. Mardi admitted that she did love Jesse but had hoped she could ignore her feelings and be friends with him. She thanked him for his honesty and they agreed that Rachel and Emily should still be friends.