by E K Ballard
“Oh, wow, so she’s your mom?”
“No,” Jamie said. “She was killed in a car accident. My mom married my dad, and they had me.”
“Oh my God, no, that’s awful. Oh, shit,” Rob said, stunned.
“That’s heavy. You knew my brothers’ mom?”
“Yes. She used to watch me and my brother, Mike. She taught us how to play Hearts. We’d play for hours.”
“Sorry.”
“Yeah. Wow. That’s really sad news.”
“Yeah.”
They pulled into the driveway where Kristin was standing by the car.
“Hey, thanks for giving him a ride,” Kristin greeted Jamie.
“No problem.”
Rob opened the hatch and rooted around for the jack and lug wrench. He frowned at the little jack that came with the car. He assembled the jack and knelt on the ground.
“Goddammit!” Rob yelled as the handle of the jack snapped off. “Piece of shit.”
“You want help?” Jamie asked. “I have a jack.”
Rob stood up and brushed the dirt off his hands.
“That would be great.”
Jamie took a jack and a universal lug wrench out of her Jeep and placed them next to the tire.
“Emergency brake on?”
“Probably not.” Rob sat in the driver seat and pushed the brake on. “Okay.”
Jamie strode around the car confidently, placing blocks under the tires to prevent the car from rolling. She took the hubcap off and started loosening the lug nuts. Her black hair had grown longer, and her bangs hung in her eyes.She unconsciously brushed them away every now and then, revealing the concentration in her blue eyes. She then lay on her back, slid her head underneath the car, and placed the jack under a place on the frame she found suitable. She jacked the car up with a series of quick pumps on the jack handle, took the lug nuts off, and removed the tire.
Rebecca came out of the house looking angry.
“Rob, when is this going to be done? I’m going to be late!”
“Soon.” He took the spare tire out and rolled it over to Jamie.
Rebecca saw Jamie kneeling on the ground by the car.
“Who is this?”
“Jamie, Kristin’s friend.”
Rebecca watched Jamie change the tire.
“What is she doing changing the tire?”
“I think you just answered your own question.”
“Why is she changing the tire?”
“Because our jack broke.”
Rebecca regarded Jamie changing the tire disdainfully.
“Hi, Jamie!” Lucas came out to watch.
“Hey, Lucas,” Jamie said.
Jamie put the spare on, tightened the lug nuts by hand, released the jack, and tightened the lug nuts with the lug wrench.
“I’m Jamie.” Jamie stood up and reached her right hand out to Rebecca to shake hands.
Rebecca was looking at the back of Jamie’s Jeep.
“Obama ’08,” she read from the bumper sticker. “Are you old enough to vote?”
“I will be by November.” Jamie put her hand down.
“And you’re voting for him?” The displeasure in Rebecca’s voice was clear.
“I guess. My mom is volunteering for his campaign, so she put the sticker on.”
“Well, it makes you look ignorant and uninformed.”
“Mom, why are you being like this? Jamie’s really nice.” Lucas came down from the porch. “You know those kids who threw my math book on the roof? Jamie told them to leave me alone, and they did.”
“Is that so?” asked Rob.
Jamie shrugged. “I told them to knock it off. How’d you know I said something?”
“I heard them talking,” Lucas said.
“So they’re leaving you alone?”
“Actually, they’re pretty nice to me now.”
Rebecca seemed unfazed by the conversation. “We need to go. I’m late.”
“Thank you for everything,” Rob said to Jamie.
“Dad, can we please get going?” asked Kristin impatiently. “We’ve already lost an hour.”
“You can go with Jamie,” he said. He turned to Jamie. “I don’t let her get rides from just anyone, got it?”
“Got it,” said Jamie.
“Last time I let you do this, you brought your cousin home drunk. Don’t make me regret this.”
“I won’t,” said Kristin.
“Rob, I really must insist that Kristin go with us,” said Rebecca. “I’ll take her to Jamie’s house. You know our rule!”
“That rule made sense when we had two cars and didn’t live eight miles out of town,” he said. “I drove with my friends when I was her age.”
“But—,”
“If you want to get to the bazaar before it’s over, you’ll get in and drop me off so you can go.”
Rebecca got in the car.
Chapter Eighteen
Kristin grabbed her bag and hopped up into the Jeep and fastened her seatbelt. She had never been in a Jeep before. Jamie twisted her body towards Kristin and put her right arm behind the passenger seat so she could see behind the Jeep as she backed up. Kristin felt an unfamiliar charge go through her as Jamie’s front got close to Kristin. Kristin blushed. What was this?
“I’m sorry about my mom,” she said, trying to regain her composure.
“She seemed kind of stressed out.”
“She’s not right,” said Kristin. “Let’s leave it at that.”
Kristin was suddenly aware of how big of a presence Jamie was in the vehicle. Everything Jamie did was graceful and easy.
“See over there? In the winter, that’s a sledding hill. We sled down and take snowmobiles back up to the top.”
“Sounds fun.”
“Yeah, we can go when it snows.”
Did Jamie just ask her out? It felt just like when Billy would ask her to go and do something in Sarasota. I guess it’s the same, thought Kristin.
When they got to Jamie’s house, a big pickup truck was in the driveway.
“Why is my dad home?” Jamie wondered out loud.
Angela and John were standing by the island in the kitchen. They were both smiling. Angela gave Kristin a big hug.
“Thank you so much! That was the nicest thing anyone has ever done for us!” she said.
“What?” asked Kristin, confused. Then she saw the newspaper on the counter.
“Did you see this, Jamie?” John asked.
“See what?”
“The article Kristin wrote on your game! There is a picture of you just as you are scoring your first goal!”
Jamie picked up the paper.
“It’s just an article from that away game a few weeks ago. My journalism teacher asked if the local paper could print it,” she said.
Jamie finished reading the article.
“That was really nice,” she said, her blue eyes smiling at Kristin.
Kristin’s heart skipped a beat seeing Jamie’s dimples, which only showed when she smiled a particular way.
* * *
Kristin took off her shoes and sat down on the end of Jamie’s bed and crossed her legs. Jamie handed her two pillows and Kristin put them behind her back and got comfortable.
“Seriously, thanks for that article.”
“You’re welcome. You can repay me by taking a part. I can’t read the entire play myself. You have to take a part, even if it’s a small one,” Kristin said.
This was what Jamie really didn’t want to do: read out loud in front of Kristin. She didn’t want her to hear her stumbling along with easy words and sounding like a dope. She lay down on her bed with her back to the wall and stretched out, being careful to keep her feet away from Kristin, who was sitting at the other end of the bed.
“Kristin,” she begged. “Please. I hate reading out loud.”
Kristin remained firm. “The last time we did this I had a sore throat for two days from talking so much. You have to take a part. Why don�
�t you be Abigail?”
“Because I don’t want to,” Jamie pleaded. “Please don’t make me do this.”
“You’re doing it. Anyone who can change a tire can read one part of a long play.” Kristin wouldn’t budge.
Jamie picked up her copy of the play, opened it to the first page and found her first reading part. She tensed up and started breathing faster. Kristin started to read and then it was Jamie’s turn. She opened her mouth, but nothing would come out.
“Relax,” said Kristin gently. Jamie put her book down.
“I am not letting you off the hook. Read,” Kristin said.
Jamie took a deep breath and picked the book back up. She started slowly, reading in her faltering monotone. She looked up at Kristin to see if she was laughing at Jamie, but she was looking down at her book. Jamie finished her first set of lines and Kristin said her lines. They went back and forth like this for three pages until Jamie hit a word she couldn’t say. She knew it, but for some reason her mouth and brain weren’t working together. She sat there for ten seconds, trying to enunciate the word and sputtering. She grew frustrated.
“Goddammit!” she yelled and threw the book across the room. “I told you I was stupid! I fucking hate reading!”
Kristin calmly went and picked up the book Jamie threw and brought it back to her. She sat back down on the bed and leaned up against the pillows. “You’re doing fine. Take your time.” Jamie wouldn’t pick the book back up. “Jamie, I am serious. You are going to read Abigail’s part. I don’t care how loudly you swear or how many temper tantrums you throw.”
Jamie opened the book and turned to the page they were on last. She resumed reading Abigail’s part.
Kristin didn’t realize how laborious having Jamie read was going to be. They plodded along through the first act and took a break. Jamie looked like she was pained. Kristin asked her some questions about the play and Jamie answered them, but not as well as she did when Kristin read Death of a Salesman to her.
As the day went on, the room got cooler and Kristin got chilly. She slid her legs under the blanket on Jamie’s bed and got warm. After reading like this for four hours they stopped to eat.
“I have spent the better part of the day packing up all the old clothes you kids have outgrown,” said Angela, motioning towards the stacks of boxes in the hall. “Kristin, I pulled out some sweaters I thought you might like to have.”
“Oh, thanks,” said Kristin noncommittally. She hated being so poor that people wanted to give her their old clothes.
“Kristin, I doubt Jamie has told you this, but I am a shopaholic. I have two closets full of clothes, some that are mine, some that I got for Jamie that she has never worn before that I’d love for you to have. Would you like to try some on?”
“I don’t know,” said Kristin. Now she was getting uncomfortable.
“For years I bought Jamie nice clothes. I wanted to have a little princess who wore dresses, and skirts, and pretty matching outfits with me.”
“Mom!” said Jamie in a warning tone.
“Instead, all she wears are jeans and sweatshirts! Will you try them on?”
“Yeah, try them on,” said Jamie.
Kristin shot her a dirty look.
“What?” Jamie said. “You made me read out loud. So now you can do something you don’t want to do.”
Kristin looked at the pile of clothes Angela had brought out. They were expensive designer clothes.
“Okay.”
“Here, take these back to the office and try them on.”
Kristin came out a minute later wearing slacks and a sweater.
“Oh, that looks nice.” Angela came over and took note of the sizing. “That fits pretty well.”
Kristin spent an hour trying on clothes. When she was done, Angela put the clothes she was taking in shopping bags.
“Mom, do you have any of Jason’s old stuff?” asked Jamie.
“Boxes and boxes,” said Angela.
“Did you see any of his PE uniforms from middle school?”
“Only about ten sets in different sizes.”
Kristin didn’t understand why Jamie wanted old PE uniforms. “I won’t wear those,” she said.
“No, but Lucas will,” Jamie said. She helped Angela find Jason’s old uniforms. “Look, they are the old style too. No one has these anymore. They stopped ordering them because they were more expensive.” Jamie folded the stack of clothes up and put them in a bag.
“Does Lucas need any jeans or shirts?” asked Angela.
“Maybe. I don’t know.” Kristin wasn’t sure if she should take any of their clothes.
“Well, bring him over sometime. I want to get rid of all this stuff.”
At nine, Jamie drove Kristin home. They had gotten a lot read, but they still had another couple of hours to finish the play. Kristin was tired and Jamie was fried. They decided to try and finish on Monday, Columbus Day. When they got to Kristin’s house, she handed the bag of PE uniforms to Kristin and said, “Make sure Lucas gets these.”
Kristin took the bags full of clothes, thanked Jamie, and said she would see her Monday.
* * *
When Rebecca saw the clothes that Kristin brought in, she wanted Kristin to take them back.
“Rebecca,” said Rob, openly displeased, “I don’t understand your animosity towards Jamie. You didn’t even thank her after she helped us with the tire. Those clothes are perfectly fine. What is the problem?”
“She doesn’t look or behave the way a young lady should,” said Rebecca as Kristin carried her new clothes up to her room to put away.
“Oh, bullshit,” said Rob. “She comes from a nice family. I found out that Jamie’s brothers’ mother used to babysit me and Mike when we were kids—”
“So she comes from a broken family?” interrupted Rebecca.
“If you’d let me finish, I’ll tell you the whole story. Jamie’s father was married to Irene Mills, our former sitter who we adored, but was killed in a car accident. Jamie’s father remarried and had Jamie.”
“That doesn’t change the fact that it’s a broken family. And what does her father do, fix cars? Since when did we run in the same social circles as auto mechanics?”
“Probably the same time I became a stock clerk at a grocery store!” Rob said sharply.
Lucas took one look at the PE uniforms that Jamie had put in a bag for him and was thrilled. “Look, Dad, they have Jason Chase’s name on them!” he said excitedly. “Do you know he was the best quarterback to ever play for Stowe?”
“I don’t want you wearing someone else’s PE uniforms,” said Rebecca. “It’s unsanitary.”
“They’re clean,” said Lucas. He quickly swept the uniforms up and took them to his room to be put away.
Chapter Nineteen
The store was open on Columbus Day, but Rob arranged for someone else to open for him. He took Kristin and Lucas into town and dropped Lucas off at a friend’s house. Kristin called Jamie and told her she would be at her house at ten.
It was a beautiful day outside. It was sunny, in the 60’s, and the leaves were turning bright yellow, orange, and red in the trees. The air was clean and crisp, and Kristin looked towards the mountains and saw the entire mountainside lit up with the magnificent fall colors.
In Florida the seasons consisted of hot, really hot, hurricanes, and winter.
“It’s such a shame to stay inside studying on such a nice day,” said Angela when she saw Kristin. “Why don’t you guys take a drive somewhere, or go for a hike. Get some fresh air and study outside.”
“Maybe when we get our work done,” said Kristin. She wanted to be able to look things up on the internet if necessary.
Angela gave a smile as she left the girls alone.
Kristin had taken extra care when she had gotten dressed earlier. She had blown her hair dry to take some of the curls out, and put on a little bit of makeup. She sprayed a little perfume on her neck. When she went up to Jamie’s room with her, s
he sat down on the bed again. Jamie handed her the same two pillows and lay down next to the wall.
They started reading their parts. Jamie seemed much more at ease with reading and her mistakes became less frequent. She began to put emphasis on what the characters were saying and the play moved at a faster clip than it did the day before. They finished the play by noon, and they lay in bed, glad to be through it.
“It’s still early; do you want to go somewhere? We could drive up to the Sandwich Fair,” said Jamie.
“I don’t think I should. We still have that Robert Frost assignment due in a few weeks.” Kristin didn’t want to tell Jamie that she didn’t have any money to go to the fair.
“The one where we are supposed to go out in nature and get inspiration to write a poem?”
“That’s the one.”
“But it isn’t due for, like, two weeks!”
“So? What’s wrong with getting ahead for once in your life?”
Jamie rolled her eyes. “Okay. Let’s take a hike up Red Hill. We can climb up the fire tower at the top. You can see for miles in every direction.”
Kristin thought about it. She hadn’t done any exploring since she had gotten to New Hampshire and it wouldn’t cost anything. Why not?
“Let me text my dad.” She waited for a response. “He says he’ll pick me up at your house at five after her gets Lucas.”
“Tell him about those clothes my mom wants Lucas to have,” Jamie said.
Kristin sent another text.
“He says ‘okay’.”
They put the top down on the Jeep and headed east towards Moultonborough. The wind blew through the Jeep, making it hard to hear while moving. They drove in a comfortable silence to the parking area at the foot of the trail.
Jamie put her hiking pack with the water on her back. As they walked towards the trailhead, they stopped to read the signage.
“So it’s 1.7 miles up to the top? I should be able to do that,” Kristin said. Her shoes were cheap sneakers, and she worried that her physical conditioning would hold her back.
“Don’t worry, it’s easy,” said Jamie. They started up the trail.
They walked up the gravel trail, over a wooden bridge by a stream, where the trail became steeper. Kristin struggled to keep up with Jamie’s long strides and was quickly out of breath. Jamie turned to see how Kristin was doing, and slowed.
