Second to No One
Page 25
“No, I guess you wouldn’t have. He broke up with me.”
Mom turned slightly toward Bridget. “What? When?”
“I called him last Sunday night to tell him what happened with Dad. But he wanted to talk first. He said we were moving too fast. He said we should see other people.” Bridget let her head rest against the wall behind us. “I never even told him about Dad. How could I after that?”
“That jerk,” I said mostly to myself. “I’m glad he doesn’t know.”
“I guess I’m just going to have to get out there in the dating scene and start all over again.”
“That makes two of us,” Mom said as she draped her arm over us both. “Your dad told me a few days ago that he wants me to get remarried.” She laughed a low, bitter laugh. “Can you even imagine?”
“That makes three of us actually,” I said, looking at both of them in the darkness. My eyes were slowly adjusting to the dark, and I could make out an outline of both of their faces. “Jess doesn’t want to do the long-distant relationship thing. He wants us both to date other people.”
“What’s wrong with these guys?” Bridget said. “Can’t they see how amazing we are?”
“Look at us,” Mom said as she tightened her grip. “All of our men are abandoning us. This is a house full of broken hearts.”
We sat there for a while with our arms linked and our heads pressed together, all of us staring at the looming darkness. But as we sat on my closet floor in silent thought, I was surprised by the comfort I felt at knowing I had them, at knowing that whatever life threw at me they were going to be there—my mom and my sister, by my side, forever and no matter what.
By nine o’clock most of the funeral guests had gone, and Jess and I sat on my front porch staring across the street at the weathered For Sale sign that was stabbed into his lawn. “I don’t know what’s more depressing,” I said with my chin propped between both of my hands, “the fact that you’re leaving or the fact that no one sees how amazing your house is.”
“It’s the market right now.” Jess rubbed his hand over my back. “Everyone is trying to sell but nobody’s in the position to buy.”
I took in a heavy breath and leaned into his chest. “I’m so glad this is over.”
“The funeral?”
“Yeah, it kept feeling like we were on display, you know, like those depressed little dogs behind the glass at the pet store. I’m ready for everyone else to move on so that I can make an attempt for some normalcy in my life.”
“I haven’t wanted to talk about it.” Jess squeezed me softly. “But we’re leaving tomorrow night.”
“I know,” I said matter-of-factly. I was numb to the pain. Someone could have stabbed me with a million tiny thorns and I wouldn’t have known the difference.
“But I’m all packed and ready to go, so tomorrow is our day. We can do whatever you want.”
I nodded once at what Jess was saying, but my attention was caught somewhere in the trees across the street. “Do you see something over there?” I asked as I pitched my head forward in an attempt to decipher what I thought I’d just seen.
“At my house? I don’t know. It’s probably just my mom walking around making sure we haven’t left anything behind. So,” he nudged me gently, “What do you want to do tomorrow?”
“Um, I don’t know. Anything.” But it was impossible to concentrate because there was definitely something in the trees and why would Jess’s mom be walking through the trees at nine o’clock at night?
Then suddenly his mom was behind us on the porch. “Jess, hon, help me with this casserole dish. I don’t want to leave it here because I know I’ll never get it back.”
Jess stood up and emptied his mom’s arms. “I didn’t know you were still here,” he said, then squinted across the street, suddenly aware of the same strange presence that I was. “Where are Vivian and Mags?”
“Oh I don’t know.” She was hardly paying attention as she rubbed at a stain on her black skirt. “They ran off a few hours ago.”
An aching pit formed in my stomach as Drew and Bryce came out the front door holding a couple of cookie trays and an empty vase. “Hey Gem,” Drew said. “I think we’re going to take off.”
“Okay,” I said, tearing my attention away from the dark trees behind Jess’s house. “Thank you so much for coming and helping with everything.”
“Of course.” Drew looked tired. “I’ll call you tomorrow and we can…” Drew’s eyes were suddenly wide and terrified, and before I could register that something was wrong she was yelling, “Fire! Your house, Jess! Your house is on fire!” She bolted past me and I whipped my head around and saw bright yellow and orange flames dancing inside the windows of Jess’s house. Caris screamed and glass shattered against my porch steps as Jess shot across my front lawn.
“Vivian! Maggie!” He yelled their names over and over again as he got closer to the flames.
I ran in my own house and yelled for someone, anyone, to call 911. When I saw three different people pull out their phones, I ran back outside and across the street towards Jess’s home. Smoke was escaping from the windows now in big, black puffy clouds. Caris had collapsed on her front lawn, screaming her daughters’ names. With her head buried in her hands, she rocked back and forth between her knees and her heels, sobbing like a little baby.
Jess had grabbed the hose on the side of the house and was frantically spraying the fire. He jumped around the smoke and ashes and tried to get what he could of it. But the spray from the hose was a pathetic drizzle compared to the massive flames that were overtaking the house. Drew was screaming into her phone and Bryce pulled over a hose from my house in attempt to help Jess. My mom and Bridget hysterically ran toward Caris and cradled her in their arms, and I ran to Jess’s side desperately trying to unkink the hose as he hysterically sprayed the growing fire. Some of the leftover funeral guests hurried over with buckets of water but they were no use. None of it was working. The fire was in charge.
The sirens got closer, and soon a million red and blue lights flashed across the dark shadows of our neighborhood as firemen and policeman took over the premises and demanded that we all move back across the street. I took Jess’s shaking, ash-covered hands and pulled him toward my house as he yelled for the firemen to please find his sisters. It was impossible for any of us to take our eyes off of the blazing image in front of us, but then I did, for the smallest second, because despite the fire and the smoke and floating ashes, I knew that an undeniable presence was still lingering beyond Jess’s house, in those dark looming trees… something was out there. And this time I saw what it was, because this time she was standing right in front of me. Her long, dark red hair falling heavily over her face and the reflection of orange and red flames dancing wildly in her eyes. She was back. Lauren was back. I didn’t know how and I didn’t know why, but I knew in that moment that some people will do whatever it takes to be second to no one.