Covet (Splendor Book 1)

by Janet Nissenson

  It did give Tessa cause for concern, however, when Michelle threatened to move out and go live with her father – whom the girls rarely had contact with – or with Denny. Michelle was a year older than she was, and due to graduate high school next June, so if she were in fact to move out at that time Tessa wondered how willing Debbie would be to let her stay. Tessa kept her fingers crossed that nothing would go amiss for another eighteen months or so – until she, too, turned eighteen, graduated from high school, and could legally live on her own.

  She’d been obliged to give her future some serious consideration during a required meeting with her junior class guidance counselor last week. The counselor – Ms. Thornton – was young, barely out of college, and like most public school employees, underpaid and overworked. Still, the counselor had been kind to Tessa, and had nodded in understanding when she’d explained why college just wasn’t in her game plan for the foreseeable future.

  “I’d have to say, unfortunately, that I agree with you at this point,” Ms. Thornton had acknowledged. “Most of the classes you’ve taken in high school haven’t exactly been college preparatory courses, and you’d probably have a difficult time getting accepted to most schools because of that. In addition, you’ve got virtually no extracurricular activities save for your after school jobs, and colleges really look hard at that stuff, I’m afraid.”

  Tessa had given a little shrug. “That sort of thing just wasn’t possible for me. I changed high schools three times before we moved here last spring, and, well, things with my mother made everything difficult.”

  “I get it,” Ms. Thornton had assured her gently. Tessa had told her the basics about Gillian’s illness, her tragic death last month, and how Tessa was now living with the Wallace’s. “You’ve had far more important things to deal with than trying out for cheerleader or joining the French Club. It’s just a shame that you didn’t have the same opportunities as other kids your age did. You seem like a very bright girl, Tessa, very hardworking and capable. Under different circumstances you would have easily been accepted into a variety of good colleges. And,” she’d added hastily, “there’s absolutely nothing preventing that from still happening. You could attend community college for a couple of years, get your core classes out of the way, and then transfer to a four year university after that. Lots of students take that path, in fact.”

  “Maybe,” Tessa had demurred. “I never really considered that option, always figured that I’d just get a job and look after my mother. But I guess it’s something to consider, provided I could get the funding.”

  Ms. Thornton had nodded. “Given your circumstances, it would be the easiest thing in the world to get you a grant or scholarship to pay your fees. We can talk more about it next year when you’re a senior. In the meanwhile, you should look over the course catalog for the local community college, see what sort of classes you’d need to take for an associate degree. Plus, there are lots of other programs they offer if you choose not to get a four year degree – health services, hotel and restaurant management, office administration. You definitely have other options to consider if you don’t want to pursue a bachelors degree.”

  She had barely glanced at the catalog and other materials Ms. Thornton had given her, though, having been far too busy recently with school and work to read them over in more detail. It was something she would certainly have to give some serious thought to within the next year, however, along with where she would live when she turned eighteen and aged out of the foster care system.

  The bedroom door was flung open and then slammed shut as Michelle burst into the room, her face red with anger and cheeks wet with tears. Her already out of control mop of dark chestnut curls was practically crackling with electricity as she picked up a shoe she’d left lying around and threw it against the closest wall.

  “God, I hate her so much!” she hissed. “I seriously wish she would just drop dead one of these days, save me the trouble of killing her myself. Some people should have never had children, and my mother is definitely one of them! Oooh, I cannot wait until I can get the fuck out of this house!”

  Tessa suppressed a sigh, having heard this sort of tirade from her friend multiple times already since moving in. “I’m sorry that the two of you don’t seem to get along,” she offered quietly. “But you shouldn’t wish anyone dead, Michelle. And especially not your mother.”

  “Oh, God! I’m sorry, Tessa!” declared Michelle, giving her a quick hug. “I didn’t mean to be insensitive, with your own mom gone barely a month. It’s just – my mother drives me insane, you know? It’s been like this all of my life, especially since my dad left. I know she doesn’t really give a shit about me and Kimmie, can’t wait until both of us are old enough to move out and take care of ourselves so she doesn’t have to be responsible for us.”

  “How old were you when your dad left?” asked Tessa.

  Michelle shrugged. “For good when I was around ten. But he’d probably moved in and out at least five times before that. I can’t remember a time when he and my mother weren’t screaming at each other. I’m guessing he stuck it out because of me and Kimmie and Brittany.”

  Brittany was Michelle’s older sister, who lived in Phoenix with her boyfriend, two year old son, and newborn daughter. Michelle rarely discussed Brittany, and always shuddered in distaste whenever her name was mentioned.

  “When was the last time you saw your father?” inquired Tessa.

  The question evidently made Michelle uncomfortable, because she fidgeted a bit before replying. “Almost three years ago,” she admitted reluctantly. “But that’s only because he’s had to move around a lot for his job. He works on oil rigs, has to go where the work is. But I can call him whenever I want to, and we email a lot. He’s working in South Dakota right now but he wants to move back down to the southwest as soon as he’s able. And he promised me that I could move in with him when he does.”

  Tessa felt guilty to admit that this news came as something of a relief. It certainly didn’t sound to her as though Michelle’s father would be returning to Arizona anytime soon, and therefore Michelle wouldn’t be able to move in with him. Which meant that she’d likely have to remain right where she was, and that Tessa would be able to stay as well. It would buy her some much needed time to figure out what it was she wanted to do with her future, and, more importantly, to sock away as much of her hard-earned money as possible so that she could support herself when the time came.

  She would just have to learn how to block out the frequent screaming matches that the three Wallace women seemed to engage in on an almost daily basis. Tessa considered it a small price to pay for having a roof over her head, or from having to live in even less tolerable conditions. As the old saying went, better the devil you knew than the one you didn’t.

  It wouldn’t be long, however, before a far more menacing demon would arrive to throw her life into turmoil once again.

  Chapter Three

  Early January

  Tessa looked anxiously at Michelle and then at Kimmie to gauge their reactions to the news their mother had rather casually just dropped on them. Debbie glared back at both of her daughters defiantly, as though daring them to challenge her, and puffed on yet another cigarette, not seeming to care that she blew a stream of smoke directly into Tessa’s face. Tessa struggled valiantly to suppress the urge to cough or fan away the second hand smoke, and thought yet again how much she hated the very sight of a cigarette.

  Michelle was the first to respond to her mother’s announcement. “You have got to be fucking kidding me,” she replied in disbelief. “Why in the world are you letting Brittany, her scummy boyfriend, and their two brats move in here? And where the hell are all of them supposed to sleep, not to mention dump all of their stuff?”

  Debbie scowled at her daughter from across the kitchen table. “Brit’s my daughter every bit as much as you and Kimmie are, and she’s got every right to live here. Especially since she and Sean don’t have anywhere else to go.
I’m not going to let my daughter and grandchildren be homeless, for Christ’s sake. Try to have a little compassion for once, would you?”

  Debbie had just returned a couple of hours ago from a week long trip to Phoenix to visit her oldest daughter. Brittany and her family were supposed to have spent Christmas here in Tucson, but had had to cancel the trip at the last minute when both of the children developed ear infections. Now Debbie had just delivered a huge bombshell on all of them – both Brittany and her boyfriend Sean had lost their jobs, were months behind on their rent, and were about to get kicked out of their apartment. And they would be arriving here along with their toddler son and infant daughter – bag and baggage – within the next few days to move into a house that was already barely big enough for its four current occupants.

  “Well, they’re not getting my room,” declared Kimmie staunchly. “Michelle’s room is bigger so they should stay in there.”

  Michelle gave her sister the evil eye. “Oh, yeah? And where are Tessa and I supposed to sleep, dimwit? I’m the oldest, therefore I should still get to keep my room. You can sleep on the sofa, Kimmie.”

  That set Kimmie off on one of her tantrums, and between her whining, Michelle’s screaming, and Debbie’s yelling, the decibel level in the kitchen rose to never before heard levels. Tessa kept quiet, wisely not getting involved in the increasingly heated argument. The small amount of food that she’d eaten had already turned to bitter acid in her stomach, and she wished rather desperately that she could just disappear right now.

  Debbie pounded her fist on the kitchen table, causing the dishes and glasses to rattle violently. “Both of you shut the hell up!” she bellowed. “Stop all of this fucking whining right now, you hear me? I’ve already decided where everyone is going to sleep so there’s no use arguing about it. Since Michelle’s room is bigger, that’s where Brittany and Sean and the kids will have to stay. They’re bringing some of their furniture with them so we’ll move their bed into that room. Cooper is old enough now to sleep in his own bed, so we’ll leave one of the twins in there and move the other one into Kimmie’s room.”

  Michelle shook her head mutinously. “This is so unfair,” she muttered. “What about all of my other stuff – my clothes, computer, TV? How is all of that going to fit into Kimmie’s room?”

  Debbie shrugged carelessly and lit another cigarette, at least the fourth one since she’d arrived home. “You’ll have to make it work somehow. Don’t bother me with those sort of petty details, all right? I’m worn out from the drive and from helping them pack these past few days, and I’ve got to go to work in the morning. So stop bitching about it and figure out how to share what space you will have.”

  “But, Mom,” whined Kimmie. “Michelle hogs everything, you know that. She’s going to take over my room, and my closet is already full. Can’t she - “

  “I said to stop your bitching. Both of you,” Debbie warned. “And that means I don’t want to hear another word about it.”

  Michelle somewhat belatedly glanced across the table at Tessa, who was very intentionally staring down at the table. “Oh, crap!” she exclaimed in dismay. “What about Tessa? If you leave one of the beds for Brit’s little brat, what’s Tessa supposed to sleep on?”

  Debbie heaved a tired sigh. “Jesus, it’s just one issue after another with you, isn’t it, Michelle? Always ragging about one thing or another. Frankly, I sort of forgot about the fact that Tessa was staying with us, so I’m not sure what to do. I guess she’ll have to take the sofa. There sure as hell won’t be space to move a third bed into Kimmie’s room, that’s for sure.”

  Michelle opened her mouth to protest, but Tessa shook her head. “The sofa’s fine,” she replied quietly. “It wouldn’t be the first time I’ve slept on one.”

  “That’s ridiculous,” scoffed Michelle. “You won’t have any privacy, plus that sofa’s a piece of junk. One of the cushions has a big rip in it, and it’s got more cigarette burns than I can count. We’ll figure something out.”

  Kimmie crossed her arms across her chest mutinously. “Well, she isn’t getting my bed, if that’s what you’re thinking,” she said grumpily.

  Debbie looked at Tessa with a rather smug expression on her face. “We might have an old air mattress out in the garage. You and Michelle can hunt around for it if you’re interested.”

  Michelle stared at her mother, aghast. “You want her to sleep on the floor? Like she’s a damned dog or something? This is bullshit, Mom. What would social services say if they learned you were doing this?”

  Debbie pointed a warning finger at Michelle. “You keep your goddamned mouth shut about that, you hear me? I make the decisions in this house, nobody else, got it? And if none of you like it, then you can just fucking get out. Now, you’d all better figure out how the three of you are going to share that room and start moving your shit out so your sister can move in.”

  And with that parting shot, Debbie took the pack of cigarettes and lighter with her and stormed out of the kitchen, leaving the three girls to clean up the dinner dishes.

  “God, I hate her guts,” hissed Michelle. “And it is really going to be hell around here when Brittany moves back in here with her brats and her asshole boyfriend. I’m not so sure I did you any favors, Tessa, when I suggested you stay with us. My sister is not the easiest person to get along with, so you’ll have to watch yourself around her. While Sean – well…”

  “He’s a creep,” chimed in Kimmie. “He lived here with us for awhile a couple of years ago until Brittany got pregnant and my mom kicked them out.”

  Michelle rolled her eyes. “Yeah, but it sure looks like all has been forgiven now, doesn’t it? Brittany was always Mom’s favorite, she knows exactly how to kiss her ass. Guess she must have been doing an awful lot of that lately to get Mom to agree to the whole pack of them moving in. I have zero idea how this is going to work – three bedrooms, two bathrooms, eight people.”

  “It’s going to suck,” agreed Kimmie mournfully.

  “It can’t be any worse than living in a homeless shelter,” replied Tessa quietly. “Or your car. Or sleeping on the sofa in some stranger’s house that your mother just hooked up with two hours ago. Believe me, I’ve done all that stuff, so sharing a house with a few more people doesn’t seem all that bad in comparison.”

  Michelle and Kimmie stared at Tessa in horror at her softly spoken confession. She rarely discussed her past with anyone, feeling uncomfortable when people looked at her with pity or disdain for having been homeless.

  But all Michelle did was to give her a quick hug as they finished washing up the dishes. “You’re right,” she admitted. “It isn’t anything nearly as bad. I feel guilty for complaining.”

  “Me, too,” agreed Kimmie. “We’ll figure it out, I guess. I mean, how bad could it be?”

  Late February

  Kimmie’s innocently spoken words on that night almost two months earlier had come back to haunt Tessa on a daily basis, as she discovered that it could actually get really, really bad. From the moment Brittany had stepped foot back inside her mother’s house, an already uncomfortable living situation for Tessa had become more and more unbearable as each day passed. Brittany was one of the nastiest, most unlikeable people she had ever encountered, and Tessa went to great lengths to avoid her – as well as her truly creepy boyfriend and the father of her children, Sean.

  Neither of them worked, and in the nearly two months they’d lived here it didn’t seem to Tessa that they were especially eager to remedy that situation. They also did nothing to help with the housework or laundry or other chores, and the house was usually always in a huge mess as a result. Brittany seemed to spend an awful lot of time plunked on the living room sofa watching whatever happened to be on TV at the time, smoking constantly, and yelling at one or both of her children – when she wasn’t outright ignoring them. Sean fortunately wasn’t around all that much, but when he was he often invited three or four of his equally creepy friends over to hang out,
and they would stay up until the wee hours of the night playing video games, drinking beer, and smoking pot. He and Brittany fought constantly about whose turn it was to feed their two-year-old son Cooper, or change their six-month-old daughter Mia’s diaper. Neither of them paid the children much attention, leaving Cooper to run around the house with a dirty face and equally unkempt clothing, and constantly causing mischief. And the baby seemed to cry twelve hours out of each day, whether it was from hunger or teething or being neglected.

  And it seemed to Tessa that there was always a fight or argument going on now – whether it was Brittany and Sean, Michelle and Kimmie, or Debbie with anyone who came into her line of vision. Tessa felt as though she was constantly having to walk on eggshells, and tried her hardest to fade into the background and keep out of everyone’s way.

  She had never been so unhappy in her life, surrounded by equally miserable people who were easily the most dysfunctional excuse for a family that she’d ever seen. She was appalled at some of the things they said to each other, how they made no attempt to hide the hatred and contempt they felt. Tessa tried not to feel ungrateful, knew that her situation could still be much worse than it was, but most of the time all she could do was count the days until she turned eighteen and could legally live on her own. She hated it here in the Wallace household, hated all the noise and confusion and arguing, and had recently begun to wonder if she wouldn’t be better off just living in her car, as awful as that idea sounded.

  And the very worst part of all this, of course, was the fact that Sean did very little to hide the fact that he found Tessa extremely attractive. He ogled her openly, licking his lips like some slimy snake as his beady eyes fixated on her breasts, and he’d made all manner of nasty, obscene comments to her when no one else had been around. His scummy friends were every bit as bad as he was, and Tessa made sure that she didn’t leave the bedroom she shared with Michelle and Kimmie when any of them were around and stayed firmly out of sight.