“Dacey.” Even now, he still said my name like it was dirt on his tongue. Dick.
“Everyone is still asleep,” I said. “We all had a pretty exhausting day yesterday.”
“I can imagine.” He came in and set his suitcase down next to the door. He glanced over at the couch and noticed Trevor, who was now sitting up.
“Who’s this?” Mick jerked his head in Trevor’s direction.
“That’s my boyfriend, Trevor Martin. Trevor, this is Mick Holmes, Mom’s brother.”
Trevor got up and crossed the living room to shake Mitch’s hand. “Nice to meet you.”
“Um, you too,” Mick said, taking his hand, but not before sizing him up.
“Wish it was under better circumstances,” Trevor said.
Mick turned to me and did something totally un-Mick-like and hugged me. I didn’t hug people outside of Trevor, Mom, and Aria, so I was a little caught off guard and stood there with my hands to my side. What the hell?
“I’m sorry about your dad. Even though we had our differences, he treated my sister and my niece good. I can’t fault him for that.”
What was I supposed to say to that? I said nothing and stepped out of the awkward hug.
“Do we know what happened?” he asked.
“They were in a car accident,” I said.
“Well, what were they doing? Were they going to some place or coming from some place?”
I had wondered this myself. “I haven’t talked to the officer since yesterday, and he didn’t tell me much. I was going to call him today.”
“Let me handle it. She was my sister,” he said authoritatively.
Normally, I would have been pissed that he was coming in and trying to take over as usual. But in this case, I was all too eager for him to take the reins. I didn’t want to know the horrible way my parents had spent their last few moments.
“What about the arrangements?” Mick asked. He was all business now.
“I’m not sure. I...I think the mortuary is going to call today,” I stammered, not sure how to answer.
He studied me in that “Mick way” that made me feel inferior, like I was missing something.
“It’s okay. I know this is new to you, and I’ve had to deal with this before. Why don’t you let me take over for now?”
How could I say no? I had no idea what I was doing. I was so overwhelmed with just losing them. I had no idea how I was going to bury them or how I was going to say good-bye, forever.
Before I had time to reply, Aria bounded down the stairs and flew into Mick’s arms. “Uncle Mick, I’m so sorry, so sorry,” she cried.
Why was she apologizing to him?
“Hey, kiddo, hush. I’m sorry. Your mom...I’m going to...We are both going to miss her.” He hugged her.
Why hadn’t he said that to me?
“This is...I’m just sorry.” Aria continued to sob.
“Why don’t we move into the living room?” I gestured. I went and sat next to Trevor on the couch.
Mick sat across from us on the two-seater and made room for Aria, who surprised us both and came to sit by me, taking my hand in hers. Mick frowned but quickly replaced it with a somber expression.
“How are you girls holding up?” he asked.
“We’re fine,” we said in unison again.
“Ann was right—that is weird.”
At the mention of her name, my heart jerked a little. It was the first time someone had called her by name instead of saying “your mom.” It felt strange.
“How was your flight?” I asked, mostly to be polite, because I really didn’t care.
“It was okay.”
“What time is it, anyway?” I asked and looked around at the clock that hung on the wall next to the TV.
“Going on 6:30 a.m. I would have been here sooner, but there was a mix-up with the rental car place.”
He probably had to wait for his car, I thought snidely. Then I regretted it. Here we were in the house again, this time without Mom, and never would be with her again, and I still couldn’t be nice to the guy. I would try to change that, for her.
“Where are you staying?” Aria broke in through my thoughts.
“I assumed I was staying here.” He looked at me with a tilted head.
“Oh, I’m sorry. We have people who are staying in our guest room from out of town already,” I apologized. I had totally forgotten that Mick would be coming, and even then I didn’t think I could live with him under the same roof. I was supposed to change that mentality. Working on it.
“But I’m family,” he replied huffily.
“So are they,” Aria replied.
He shot her a look as if to say something but thought better of it.
“You could stay with Aunt Opal,” Aria suggested with a smirk.
I squeezed her hand and stifled a laugh. Mick and Opal? That would be a laugh. They had never met, through the grace of something higher, and Mom and I intended it that way. Opal was...well, Opal, and Mick, being the force of nature he was, it was best that the two never crossed paths. But now, that couldn’t be helped.
“Whose aunt? It’s not yours. I didn’t have another sister,” he said indignantly.
“She’s been my aunt since I can remember. She has taken care of me and loved me like her own, so she is my aunt, Uncle.”
“Now look, Aria. I never said anything, but I never pretended to like the whole ‘merging of families’ thing. They have their family, and we have ours.”
I knew this was coming. I just didn’t think it would be so soon.
Aria stood. “How can you say that? How can you sit there and say that Dacey isn’t my sister? That Daddy wasn’t my dad? You have no idea what you’re talking about.” She was getting worked up.
Mick was about to reply when the front door opened and Opal walked in along with Mr. Davis and Rufus at his heels.
“Is anybody up?” Opal called out before spotting the scene in the living room.
“Daddy and Dacey were right. You’re a dick! And if Mom had a grave, she would be rolling in it. To take Dacey away from her—from us—because you didn’t agree...is bullshit,” she spat.
“Aria, it’s okay—” I began.
“No! He’s been treating you like this for years, and I’ve never said anything. Well, no more! This is my sister! She has been there for me when even you have not. She has never let me down, when you have. And that lady”—she pointed at Opal—“that is my aunt! Sure, she’s a little batshit crazy at times, but she has bandaged my scrapes and taught me the meaning of right and wrong and been there for me, really been there for me. That’s more than I can say for you, Uncle. So, you don’t get to come here and tell me who the fuck my family is and isn’t. If that’s so, you can get the hell out of our house.”
And with that, she stormed up the stairs and all we heard was the slamming of her bedroom door. What. The. Hell?
“I’ve always said she had fire in her, but whooo-wee,” laughed Aunt Opal. She came into the living room and sat down in Aria’s spot, across from an open-mouthed and red-faced Mick.
“I take it you’re Uncle Mick? I’m Opal Jean Watson. Pleasure.” She stuck out her hand and offered it to Mick.
“I’m going to check on Aria. That wasn’t like her—”
“Oh, let her be,” Aunt Opal cut off Mick. “She just blowin’ off steam. I’ve never seen that lil’ chile be less than sweet tea to anyone. She’ll come ’round.”
“What is with all the yelling? Dios mío!” Tina came groggily around the corner from the guest room. She eyed the scene in the living room: Trevor, me, and Opal sitting on the couch across from Mick the Dick and Mr. Davis standing just off to the side with an observing eyebrow. Tina missed nothing though. “Hey, Mick. Just landed, huh?”
“Justina.” He said her name in the same manner as he said mine. She was dirt by association. “So you’re the family staying in the guest room,” Mick said. It wasn’t a question.
“My mom and I a
re in there, yes.”
He didn’t say anything, just nodded and turned back to me and Opal. He liked Tina less than he liked me. Point for me, I guess.
“Dacey, despite what just happened here with your sister, my offer still stands. Let me handle all the arrangements for you, funeral-wise.”
“Now hold on, slick. You can’t come on in here and take ova things. This here a family affair,” Opal interjected.
“And I’m family. Ann was my sister.”
“An’ those are my nieces. It was their parents that died. They got as much say in this as you,” Opal said.
“Look, lady—”
“Okay!” I interjected loudly. This was getting ugly. I can see why we’d never had them meet before.
“Mick, I appreciate the offer. I really have no clue what to do. But I want A and I to be involved as much as possible too. So can’t we compromise?”
“Sure, that’s fine. I would never want Aria to not be involved, and you as well. They were your parents. I was merely suggesting that the phone calls and finances, I’ll handle for the time being.”
Alarm bells were going off in the back of my head. Mick and finances were two things I knew didn’t go together in a sentence, but I was too focused on defusing the situation in front of me. Besides, it’s not like my parents were super-rich. They were working-class citizens in a small town, and my dad’s business was barely above water.
“Whatever, Mick. I can’t even think about those things right now,” I said.
“’Course you can’t, an’ don’t need to be,” Opal said pointedly, looking at Mick. He seemed to get the message and dropped the subject, for now.
“Mom’s in the kitchen starting breakfast,” Tina announced from her spot on the bottom of the stairs where she had sat to enjoy the Mick-Opal throw-down.
“Got any pudding?” Opal asked as she got up to head toward the kitchen.
I shook my head and smiled to myself. Opal was still Opal.
Mick started to get up. “Well, I will go and check into a hotel or something.”
“Or something,” Tina muttered.
“Mick, hi. I’m Eugene Davis.” Mr. Eugene extended his hand for Mick to shake.
“Hi. You another relative?” Mick couldn’t keep the eye roll to himself.
Mr. Eugene chuckled to himself. “No, I’m dating Opal. I couldn’t help but overhear that you need someplace to stay while in town. I am mostly at Opal’s, and my home is empty. You’re more than welcome to stay there instead of a motel that you have to pay for.”
I wanted to tell Mr. Eugene that he had just extended his home to a Leviathan. Mick couldn’t be trusted. But I couldn’t very well say that in front of Mick, could I?
“Well, thanks, Mr. Davis—was it? I’d appreciate that.” Mick shook Mr. Eugene’s hand gratefully.
“Great, that’s settled. Let’s go in and get breakfast before heading over and getting you settled in.” They both went in the kitchen. I would love to be in there when Mr. Eugene broke the news to Opal that he offered his house to Mick to stay.
I turned to Trevor, who had stayed silent the entire time. “So, ahh, that was Mick.”
“Wow.”
“I know,” I said.
“And him and Opal.”
“I know,” I said again.
“Wow.”
“See why you’re my island?”
“Wow.”
“Why do you keep saying that?”
“Because I actually agree with something Tina said.” Trevor turned to me.
“What is that?” I asked.
“Mick the Dick.” At that, I laughed, and so did Tina from her perch on the stairs. I should have marked the time. I had a feeling it would be the only time I was really going to laugh for the day. Or ever.
After Trevor left to go home and shower, change, and check in with his mom, I went upstairs to check on Aria. On the way upstairs, I filled Tina in on what happened.
“So that explains the yelling. It’s about time someone told him where to stick it,” Tina said.
“I wish it was me and not A. It’s so unlike her.”
“You worried you’re rubbing off?”
“God, don’t say that. Mom always said we were two peas in a pod.”
We had gotten to the bedroom door and were about to open it when Aria yanked it open. “Oh, I thought you might be Mick coming to yell at me.” She moved aside and let us by.
“No, I think you pretty much put him in his place downstairs,” Tina joked.
“Oh, don’t tell me you’re sticking up for him, Jussy. You hate him.”
“Oh, it needed to be said. I’m just mad I missed it. Next time wake me up so I can get a good seat.”
Aria smiled a little.
“Dad would have been proud of you,” I said.
Aria’s eyes filled with tears, but she quickly blinked them away. “Everything I said was true. You don’t have to put up with him anymore.”
“I know, but I think I should. It’s what Mom would want,” I said.
Aria looked lost in thought for a moment, then something passed over her face, but she shook it away.
“Are you okay?” I asked, concerned.
“Are you?”
“Stupid question, I know, but you know I’m here for you and you can tell me anything, right?”
She hugged me hard around the middle like she used to when she was younger. “I know, I just feel...never mind. What time is the town arriving today?”
“I don’t know, why?” I held her at arm’s length. I knew that tone all too well.
“Riley’s picking me up in twenty minutes so I can go and get my car.”
“I don’t think that’s such a good idea, A. Not today anyway.”
“Aw, come on. I just want my car. Don’t tell me your gonna go all ‘big sister said I can’t go here’ on me. ’Cause I’m eighteen, you know.” She actually looked like she was going to throw a tantrum. She had never thrown a tantrum because she pretty much always got what she wanted. She wasn’t an untrustworthy kid and never got into trouble, so she never gave our parents any reason not to trust her.
“No, I just think that with everyone coming today, they are going to want to see both of us, that’s all. You know I don’t pull the Big Sister Card. Often, anyway,” I smirked, trying to lighten the mood.
“I’ll be back before everyone gets here, I promise. Like Riley wouldn’t follow me if you told him to anyway,” she added.
“That’s not a bad idea,” I mused.
“I bet you get one of those GPS thingies installed in her car too,” Tina chimed in.
“Not funny, Jussy.” Aria cut her eyes at Tina. “But really, I’ll be back in time. I swear.”
“Are you guys going to live together now?” Tina asked, out of the blue.
“Me and Ri-Ri?” Aria asked, confused and grossed out at the same time.
“No, idiot. You and Day,” she said, rolling her eyes.
“Why do you ask?” I looked at her.
Tina winked at me before she answered, “Because that makes you her guardian, and that means she has to ask permission to go out. So she might as well start asking now.”
“Oh, come on. That’s bullshit, Jussy. What the fuck?” Aria yelled.
I was not liking the new use-every-cuss-word-I-know Aria. “Can you watch your mouth?”
“You cuss. I used to hear you on the phone all the time, and I know you cuss when I’m not around. Riley tells me. So what if I do?” Aria said.
“I actually don’t care if you do. It’s the amount of cussing that you have been doing. It’s like ever since Mom and Dad died, you feel you have a free pass or something.”
“I’m grieving?” she tried out her excuse on me.
“So am I.”
“Dacey, I don’t know. I just don’t feel the need to hold it in any longer. What’s the big deal?”
“Nothing, I guess. Say what you want. Who am I to tell you not to say what you feel?”
“You’re right. I’ll try to refrain from using so much around you, you old prune. But no promises.”
“You guys are better than a Lifetime movie right now,” Tina said from her spot on my old bed, where she had sat, smiling wide.
“Shut up,” we said united.
Tina made a face. “I’m starting not to like that. You guys didn’t used to do it so much.”
I shrugged.
“It’s not like we can help it. So I’m going to go...okay?” Aria said cautiously.
“So you’re kind of asking permission, but not really?”
“You caught that, huh?” She smiled.
“Yeah, I did. And fine, but you better be back here in an hour or I will have Riley follow you.”
“Kk. I’m gonna go change.”
I waited until she left before I turned to Tina. “Something is up with her. I can feel it.”
“Of course something is up with her. She just lost half her family last night, and so did you.” She gave me a “duh” look.
“No, I mean, yes, it’s that, but besides that.”
“People grieve in different ways, Day. You can’t think something is wrong with her because she has chosen to take on a more colorful vocabulary. I mean, that girl is cussing more than you.”
“Right? She would give a sailor a run for their money.”
“It’s a learned trait,” Tina smirked at me.
“Shut the fuck up.”
“See what I mean?”
I threw a pillow at her, not amused. “Can you text Riley and tell him if he doesn’t have my sister back here in an hour, I will—”
“Oh, I have this. I’ll think of something...hiriente,” she said, rubbing her hands together mischievously.
We went back downstairs. Tina went to get her phone to text Riley while I went into the kitchen to see if Opal and Mick had started round two yet. Surprisingly, Opal was seated at the kitchen table with Mick and Mr. Eugene, while Mrs. D served them a breakfast of sausage, pancakes, and eggs.
I eyed Mrs. D’s sausages. Even those couldn’t ease the tension knot forming in my stomach. But one bite couldn’t hurt.
“Where is lil’ chile?” Opal asked.
Mick frowned at the term but wisely said nothing.
“She is getting ready to go and pick up her car. A friend of ours is going to take her.”
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