“No. She was just playing it safe,” Ned said with sad eyes.
“Sweetie, why would you think that your mom would do that to herself?” Aunt Rose asked me, while patting my hand, trying to comfort me. I’d watched her interview a couple of movie stars through their tragic times. Her big break as she called it. Her turn to shine as the top reporter that she’s always wanted to be. I'm sure that she did the same thing as she was doing to me now, comforting them by patting their hands as they poured their heart out to her, and I wondered for a split second.
Did she really love me?
Or did she come here just to find out if Mom had money and what she could get from her.
I was thinking too many bad thoughts, they were all making me paranoid as I was suffocating under my own existence.
“No idea, but Mom’s gone. She wrote a will and left fucking instructions!” I stood up. And as I headed out of the door. “The same reason she fucking ruined my life by clearing out my college fund and staying with a man that treated her like dirt. The same man that killed her.”
I was angry. Mom was dead, and everything was a shit storm. It was as if none of us had really known her. The knowledge that she knew that Stuart was cleaning her out changed everything. I wasn’t upset about not knowing that she knew about Stuart and the money, I was upset that she had known, and hadn’t kicked him out. And right now, that made me think I didn’t like her. Even if she was dead.
Chapter Six
“You wanna watch something?” Teresa asked after I ended up at her door like a lost dog. That’s exactly what I felt like as I ignored Aunt Rose’s phone calls, which I thought would stop the moment I sent her a text saying that I was okay and just wanted some time alone. That seemed to give her the idea that she needed to call me so much that I got pissed and turned my phone off.
I’d gone from a mom that ignored me when she hooked up with her boyfriend that soon turned into her husband which then turned into her being my best friend when we went away as her mom died, to her becoming dead when we came back.
“Wanna go out?” Teresa prompted, totally uncertain of what to do for me, but feeling obligated that she had to do something to help me.
She was my friend, of course she would want to make me feel better. That just made me feel even worse because all I wanted to do was sit here and stew in anger.
“No.” I finally answered her. That was one thing that I knew that I didn’t want to do. I definitely did not want to go out again, I’d been walking for over an hour when I ended up here. The only thing that I wanted to do was rest and stew.
“Eat?” She offered and then shrugged as if she was running out of ideas. As the word left her mouth, I realized that it’d been a while since I ate and I wanted something to eat.
Anything.
“Sure.”
She jumped up with joy as if I’d given her some hope of doing something rather than us both just sitting in her room and facing each other.
“What do you want?”
I smiled, “Your famous ham sandwich.”
She made a mean sandwich with pickles, ham and just enough mayonnaise and mustard to always make me want more.
I followed her like a stray to the kitchen and with both of her parents at work, we could do as we pleased. Her parents were both nurses who did crazy shifts or so it felt like it most of the time. They were hardly home, and she would either be home alone or with her brother who seemed to be part of every social activity under the sun. They were only a year apart, but her brother was the smart one in the family and he loved everyone knowing that, including Teresa.
“Coming right up!”
I sat as I watched her hover between the refrigerator and the table. She put so much effort and care into it, that I knew that it was going to taste good. I wanted to say something, anything just so that the atmosphere wasn’t so damn thick when the one person that annoyed me more than anyone in the world walked in.
“Hey Vicki.”
I turned to look at him. Normally, he would say something that was funny in his eyes and mean in ours. This time, nothing, no hi Vicki what you girls up to? Nothing.
It would be something stupid, but right now my mind turned a complete blank as I tried to think of something he would say.
“Hey.” I said, because it seemed like I should say something. Even if he was an asshole.
“So, how you holding up?” He asked as he adjusted his glasses and drew closer to me. I noticed that his hair was clean shaven unlike the usual square Afro that he usually had his hair. We used to laugh and tell him that the 90s were over. His dad made a mistake and showed him the movie, House Party. Henry thought that he could be Kid’s younger brother. They do look alike. Henry’s a lot lighter in complexion than Teresa, but the 90s are well and truly over. His dad regretted the day that he let him watch the movie.
Maybe he got over his phase.
“So, what happened to your hair?”
He laughed, “It’s gone, just like the 90s.”
“Ha! Dad told you that the moment you said that you would grow it like that, but you made it even worse when you did.”
We all laughed, “Remember when it got to the full length and then you went to school.”
“Oh, the good old days,” Henry said and between eating my sandwich and talking about Henry’s hair, I soon forgot, for just a moment, about the last couple of days. I was happy that I came over and even more so about eating Teresa’s sandwich. For some reason it tasted better than I’d ever remembered as if she’d made it that extra special, just for me and I felt at home. Even if I didn’t really have one.
Chapter Seven
It didn’t take long until I called Aunt Rose and told her that I was at Teresa’s house. She came to pick me up the next day and I knew that we’d have to have the talk. The one about the next steps, but Ava came over and we had a sleep over, and I didn’t want the night to end. We talked and even Abe came up in the conversation. I’d sent him a couple of texts and he seemed to be eager to be there for me. It was kind of sweet the way that he was concerned about me.
But our conversation didn’t get far. I didn’t know what was next. Aunt Rose spent most of her time traveling, which meant she didn’t have a permanent home. I just knew that we couldn’t stay in the hotel she rented much longer. Not only had Mom lost most of her money, but Aunt Rose had too.
I frowned as she started the car and pulled away from Teresa’s house. What we going to do?
“Graham had good news,” she said as she leaned into a curve and as much as I loved the idea of staying in a hotel before, knowing that I had nowhere to go made it even worse.
She didn’t want for me to respond, “He’s got a contract and maybe a record deal so he’s leaving in the morning. Good news, right?”
Really?
Was this good news? I didn't know whether to laugh or cry? Uncle G was talking about feeling guilty about not being there for Mom. We still hadn’t set a date for the funeral and he’s running off for his record label. I didn’t know what to think of anything at the moment. I was angry at the dead, but now I was just as furious with the living.
Did no one care?
My last two living relatives didn’t seem to give a damn.