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“But there’s going to be a wedding, and your father and I would like to have the whole family together. Your brother is coming.”
“Oh, who’s getting married?”
Silence at the end of the line was as deathly as a funeral procession.
The answer hit me like a wrecking ball. “You’ve got to be fucking kidding!”
“Jane Ann!” Mother yelled down the phone line.
“Let me get this straight,” I hissed. “Alexander, my cheating, bastard ex-fiancé, and Chelsea-Lea, my bitch-face, ex-best friend, are getting married, and you want me to come and pretend all nice, just so you and Dad can look good?”
“What’s happened to you?”
Clenching my jaw, I stared at the ceiling until the thumping blood in my ears settled down. “Mom, I’m going to hang up the phone now. But! Before you ring me again, I want you to have a long, hard think about whose side you’re on.”
“I’m on?—”
“Shush.” I’d never done that to Mom before, and she gasped. “Then when we next speak, you’re going to tell me in your own words why what you’re asking me to do is wrong on so many levels.”
“Jane, I?—”
“Goodbye.” I hung up and clenched my jaw until my teeth hurt. It took all my restraint not to hurl my phone off my third-floor balcony.
I drove my fingers through my hair. “Jesus!” I screamed until my throat burned.
Once the anger clouding my vision evaporated, I grabbed my phone again and checked the time. It was nearly five-thirty. Four hours until my shift started. I sent a text to Lolita.
‘Dojo, 6 p.m., can you make it?’
‘Yep, c u soon.’
Her response was almost instantaneous. Lolly was my magic elixir. She knew when I needed her, and I swear I would’ve gone crawling back to Mildura with my already meager fortitude crushed to dust long ago if it wasn’t for her.
I grabbed my karate GI and dashed out the door. The tram station was just a quick ten-minute walk away, and the tram arrived at regular fifteen-minute intervals, almost twenty-four hours a day. It was the only way to get around the Gold Coast. I sold my car within a month of moving here because I had no need for it anymore. Especially as I barely did anything or went anywhere.
The country girl in me was still a little shy. I’d always thought I’d grow out of it, but even at twenty-eight, I still didn’t like going out on my own. This was another reason why my naughty twin, Memphis, was a fascinating surprise. What she did was so out of character for me that I had considered the notion that I might be schizophrenic. Or maybe Memphis was the person I really wanted to be, and little by little, my alter-ego was showing me the way.
I hopped onto the tram and clutched a pole for the nine stops it took to get me to Southport South Station. People came and went on the tram, and I observed them with my new inquisitive eyes. Prior to this year, I would’ve kept my gaze down and resisted the urge to look around at the people who surrounded me.
Now, though, I was curious. Everybody had a story, and it seemed that I wanted to hear them all.
I hopped off at my station and jogged the half-mile to Kamoto’s Karate dojo. As I arrived, Lolita’s Grand Cherokee Jeep pulled into a parking spot, and I met her at her car.
“Hey, babe.” She hugged me. “What’s wrong?”
Lolly scared me with her sixth sense. I’d hate to be her children; nothing, and I mean nothing, got past this woman. “Mom.” It was all I needed to say.
“Right. Let’s go karate chop some of that bullshit out of you then.”
Lolly always knew exactly what I needed. The rods of tension up my back were already unraveling. “Thanks for coming. Were you busy?”
She scrunched her nose. “Calvin and I were halfway through a quickie when I got your text.”
Covering my mouth, I gasped. “I’m so sorry; you should’ve told me.”
“It’s okay, babe. I could tell you needed me. Besides, he’ll still have a hard-on when I get home.”
We were laughing as we entered the dojo. Master Kamoto had grown accustomed to us just rocking up whenever we felt like it, but thankfully, since I’d achieved my green belt status, he’d stopped nagging me about the need for consistency with my practice. Maybe he knew he wasn’t going to change me.
