What She Left Us (13 page)

“She’s
well, Gertie. In fact, I should go in and check on her,” Jenna said.

“Oh
yes, of course, and please send Jenna by, I’ve baked another batch of those
cookies I know she loves so much!”

“Yes,
I will, it’s so nice to see you again.”

“You
have lovely daughters Veronica, truly lovely. Take care of that baby now.”

 “Thank
you, Gertie. That’s nice of you to say.”

“Be
well, my dear. Take care of that baby.”

Courtney
was so sick of being bossed around by Jenna and her friend Lilly. She wanted to
play dress up with them but they kept making her do all the yucky stuff like be
the husband when it was her turn to be the bride. It was so unfair to be the
youngest and have to do always whatever Jenna said. She kept bossing her around
and saying if she didn’t do what she told her to do she would tell Mom and then
she couldn’t play with them anymore.  

This
time she was going to go tell her mom what Jenna was making her do and her mom
would stop her.

“You
let me be the bride or the princess this time or
I’m
telling,” Courtney
said, hands defiantly on her hips.

Lilly
looked questionably at Jenna. Courtney had threatened before but this time she
really might tell on them, and if she did, Lilly might not get to sleep over.
Still, Jenna was going to take her chances.

“You’re
not going to tell on us. Then who would you play with. Ever.” Jenna stared at
her sister, confident that her own subtle threat would be enough to stop her
sister from tattling.

“Mommmmmm!
Jenna’s NOT PLAYING FAIR!” Courtney stuck her tongue out at the two older girls
and turned on her heels and out of the room, running to find her mother.

When
she reached her mother’s room, she saw that she was on the phone speaking
quietly.

“Mom,
I’ve got to tell you something. It’s about Jenna and Lilly.”

“Not
now Court honey, I’m on the phone. Close the door and I’ll be there in a minute
to settle things,” her mother smiled at her from her bed.

Courtney
momentarily forgot about the incident with her sister and Lilly, instead
closing the door to her mother’s room but pressing her ear close to it. Now
this was something exciting, like a mystery. It was always something good when
the doors were closed, she knew. Like when she heard strange noises coming from
both her mom and dad and it sounded like lions roaring in there. She often
wondered if they were playing Zoo like she and Jenna did sometimes.

Courtney
figured out her mom was talking to her dad on the phone, who was still at work.
Maybe they were talking about plans to play Zoo soon, and discussing what
animals they would be next. Ooh, this was exciting to Courtney. Then she could
go back to Jenna and Lilly and tell them of her parents’ plan and later they
could spy and find out what animals they were going to be that night.

“No,
Frank, I don’t think it would be a good idea for Helena to come visit… You know
how the last time went. It was a mess. I don’t think it’s healthy for the
girls. No, either one of them… it’s disruptive to the family, and not good for any
of us. She doesn’t need to be here.”

Why
couldn’t they see Aunt Helena? She never came to visit, and she was their only
relative. It sure seemed like Mom didn’t like her very much from the way it
sounded.

“Make
something up. She is not spending the holidays with us. No, not this one, or
any of the ones in the future… I don’t care how
you
feel. It’s how I
feel. It doesn’t matter that she’s your sister. I don’t care if she’s changed,
or how she feels now. She did that to herself. She chose it.”

Courtney
was so confused. Aunt Helena was so sweet and nice the last time they saw her.
She took Courtney out for ice cream, and had asked her all sorts of questions.
She really wanted to know about her, and wanted to be her friend. Why would Mom
be so mean about it? If Aunt Helena came for the holidays, she would probably
bring some really neat presents too.

“Frank,
the end of the discussion. It’s over.”

There
was a silence on her mother’s end, and then Courtney heard a firm reply, “No.”

Courtney
heard her mom hang up the phone and she moved away from the door. Oh well, that
was that, she guessed. She went back to Jenna’s room to tell her the
interesting news she discovered only to find out that she and Lilly had moved
on to more eleven-year-old things – they were doing hairstyles and playing with
lipstick. They definitely didn’t want a six-year-old hanging out with them now.

Courtney
slumped her shoulders and headed to her own room, thinking that maybe she would
write Aunt Helena a letter. Just to say hi. She felt sorry for her. And mad
that her mom was being so mean to her only aunt.

Mitch
was lying on Courtney’s bed when there was a knock and a “Court! It’s me! Let
me in!” except Courtney wasn’t there – she had been called over to Todd and
JT’s room. Apparently they were lighting some things on fire and their neighbor
had rushed to Courtney’s room ten minutes earlier to see if she could do
something about it before the whole building caught up in flames.

Mitch
got up to see who was at the door. When he opened it, he was surprised to see a
tall girl wearing an ankle-length purple skirt and a tight-fitted black top.
Her hair was pulled back into a disheveled ponytail and she looked to be a few
years older than him. She carried two suitcases and she looked frustrated. She
gave him a suspicious look and pushed her way through the door, searching the
room.

“You’re
not my sister.”

“Nope.
Not your sister,” Mitch smiled at her. “You’re Jenna.”

“The
one and only.” When she realized Courtney was not in the room, she went back
into the hallway, looked back at Mitch and said, “Give me a hand with these?”
Then she grabbed one of the suitcases and scuttled her way back into the room
as if she owned it. Mitch lifted his eyebrows, but grabbed the other suitcase for
her.

“So,
you must be Mitch then? Where’s Court?”

“She
got called to put out a fire,” Mitch said.

“Oh?”

“Literally.
Some kids down the hall, playing with matches, for real. You’d think they were
twelve and not eighteen.”

“One
would think. And how old are you, Mitch?”

“Didn’t
Courtney tell you?” Mitch bantered back. Wow, she was a spirited one, Mitch
thought, giving him a run for his money.

“Just
checking,” replied Jenna.

“Are
you stopping by on your way somewhere?” Mitch eyed the luggage.

Jenna
sighed, then gave Mitch the once-over. He was good-looking enough but seemed so
gangly. Yes, that was a good description for him. Gangly. And disheveled. Like
he had just… and then Jenna looked toward the unmade bed.

Oh.

She
hadn’t talked to her sister since she got back to school. Had she…? Could she
have? She glanced at Mitch, eyeing him. It didn't take much to figure out that
her sister's relationship had made its way straight to the bed.

Maybe
Jenna had been too quick with her advice to her sister. Maybe she should have
met this goon before she told her that she was happy she was getting serious
about someone. Because this guy didn’t look like Courtney's type at all.

“So,
are you going on vacation?” Mitch asked again.

She
decided not to answer Mitch’s question and instead asked one of her own. “You
and my sister, you pretty serious?”

Mitch
grinned.  “I like her.”

“That’s
not what I asked, but that’s a start, I guess.” Jenna smiled at Mitch, as
charming a smile as she could muster. She wanted to like him, because she knew
how Courtney felt about him, and she loved her sister, but there was something
there, behind his eyes, and the way he stood, so confidently, as if he already
owned a part of her sister, that didn’t sit well with Jenna.

She
couldn’t place it, but he didn’t seem sincere, and that bothered her.

But
then again, she was exhausted; she had spent the whole night going through her
things, trying to figure out what she should bring to Courtney’s that could get
her through the first couple of weeks until they could get back home for
Thanksgiving. Then she had come across an old box of stuff she had saved from
Darren – cards and poems, concert ticket stubs, restaurant menus and she sat on
the floor in her crappy apartment and went through it all and cried. She hadn’t
gone to bed until four in the morning, and when she finally slept, it was
restless and filled with sad dreams of Darren.

“Okay,
so can you believe they were lighting candles on fire in the microwa– ”
Courtney came flying through the door and first noticed the luggage, then her
eyes traveled from Mitch to Jenna.

“Jenna!
Why are, what are…?”

“Hey.
We have to talk. In private.” Jenna eyed Mitch, who moved toward Courtney.

“No
problem,” Mitch said, wrapping his arms around Courtney, making sure Jenna knew
where he stood when it came to the three of them. He kissed her, and Courtney
kissed him back, but she was unsure of what was happening, what had happened between
Jenna and Mitch while she was out of the room. He tilted her face up to meet
his and kissed her once more, for effect, and said, “I’ll check on you later,
okay?”

“Okay.”

“Bye
Jenna,” Mitch said. “Nice to meet you.”

“Yeah,
you too,” she said.

“Have
a good time on your trip,” he said.

“Oh,
I’m not going anywhere. I’m staying here. That’s what I’ve got to talk to
Courtney about. So I’ll be seeing you around. Lots.”

Courtney
looked from Mitch to Jenna, and as Mitch left the room she wondered what the
hell was going on.

Courtney
thought it was so mean that her mom didn’t want her Aunt Helena to visit ever
again, and especially at Christmas time. After all, that’s the time of year
when you should celebrate with family, and she knew that her aunt would
probably be all alone and sad. She wondered if she had a puppy or a cat to keep
her company, and if anyone would give her a present on Christmas day, or if
Santa Claus visited lonely people. She thought she would at least write her a
note to let her know she wished she could visit even though her mom said she
couldn't.

Dear
ant helena,

Hi.
Its me courtney. i know you want to vizit and I wish you wud. Yur my favrit
ant. Im soree you cant come for Crismus. i like when you cam last time and we
got some ice creem. my sistre is beng a brat. she is stuped now all she cares
about is her frend Lilly and she likes boys. Its dum. i still like playeng dress
up and dolls. merree Crismus.

love
courtney

Courtney
thought it was a really nice thing to do – to send her aunt a Christmas note,
especially since she felt sad that her aunt couldn’t come for the holidays. Her
mom sounded so mean on the phone when she was telling her dad she didn’t want
Aunt Helena at their house. Courtney was afraid that if she asked her mom to
mail the letter for her she might not do it. So when her mom had her address
book out when she was doing her Christmas notes, Courtney snuck over to it and
looked under Haddonfield and found her aunt’s address in Chicago. She wrote it
down and snatched a stamp. It was one of those Virgin Mary ones. She held the
baby Jesus and wore a pretty blue veil. Those had always been her favorite
stamps. Those and the snowman stamps. But she didn’t see any snowman stamps or
she would have taken one of those. Courtney felt like she was doing a good
deed. She knew the letter would make her aunt happy, and that made her happy
too.

“So
you’re going to
live
here?”

“Only
until I can find an apartment or condo and get a few things shipped here. I
figured that would be okay with you? I mean, we should be together while we’re
going through this treatment, don’t you?” Jenna sat next to Courtney on her
small bed.

“Where
are you going to sleep? Oh my God, I can’t believe we have to have blood drawn
twice a week. How’m I going to do that and get through classes? Shit. I haven’t
even told Mitch yet. Oh my God.” Courtney put her head into her hands and
rocked back and forth on her bed. A bed that was definitely not big enough for
she and Jenna to share. It was perfectly cozy for her and Mitch, but not for
her and her sister.

“We’ll
figure it out. I couldn’t be at home without you, and go through all of this
alone. I have no one there. I found out Darren's seeing someone.”

“No
way!”

“I
went to his house. He was there with a woman he works with. They were cooking
dinner together.” Jenna started tearing up but then waved the tears away. “Not
going to cry! It’s over.” She continued to wave her hands in front of her face
to stop herself from crying. “Maybe I’ll bag a freshman to take my mind off
Darren.”

“Jenna!”

“Come
on! That was funny, and I’m kidding! But okay. We need a serious plan. I can
stay, right? I’ll get a blow-up bed from Target for now, and I’ll find a place
right away. I’m going to get a job, and then after winter break, I'll take some
classes toward my master's. I already looked into the program.