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I slipped into my room and locked the door.
She’d already straightened my tidy room. I could tell because she’d straightened out the edges of my bed like we lived on a military base.
The few pieces of paper in the trashcan had been emptied.
I kicked off my shoes, sat down my things, and tossed myself backward onto my bed, my neck coming in contact with something cool.
Reaching back, I pulled a necklace from underneath me.
It had a silver chain with a small spindle at the end.
I cringed at the gaudiness of it.
Who in the heck would have left me this, and why did they think I would like it? Tossing it onto my bed, I imagined Jenny leaving it for me and smiled to myself. She couldn’t have children and spent a lot of time with me as I grew up.
Perhaps it was her grandmother’s.
I would wear it to see her smile.
My mother knocked lightly on my door. “Lunch is ready, Josie. Are you coming? Are you okay?”
I slipped back into my shoes and opened the door.
Mother had her famous worry lines on her forehead. “I’m fine. I think that officially ended it.”
Mother tucked a piece of my hair behind my ear. “As long as you’re happy. Come on. Miranda can’t wait for you to taste her pie.”
“I’m always down for pie.”
I followed Mother down to the first floor, seeing Miranda gushing over the food as my dad had already begun to eat. She was only a few years older than me. We’d hired her after her mother, who was our previous cook, passed away.
She turned around to look at me, a bright smile on her face. A curl of her red hair fell onto her forehead, but she blew it up. “Did your mother tell you about the pie?”
I slipped into my seat and inhaled deeply. “Yes. I can’t wait. It smells delicious.”
Miranda slipped into her seat across from me, watching as Mother called for Jenny to come downstairs. The silence that followed hurt my stomach.
“I’m fine guys,” I said after a few minutes. “You don’t have to act weird around me.”
Miranda looked at my father and sighed loudly. “Whew, I was worried you were upset. He was really mad out there.”
“Yeah, well, he’ll have to get over it,” I mumbled to myself.
Jenny came back with Mother a few seconds later. She was in her cleaning clothes, her blonde hair piled on top of her head. She was my mother’s age and was always happy regardless of the day. “Hey, baby girl. Did your room look okay?”
“It looks great. Sit down. Fighting with my ex has me hungry.”
Mother tossed me an irritated look, but Dad hid a smile.
We began to pass the food around, and I remembered. “Jenny, thank you for the necklace.”
Jenny sipped her tea. “What necklace?”
“The one on my bed.”
“That wasn’t from me, sweetie.”
I glanced around the table. One by one, they shook their head. Something settled at the base of my neck and slithered down like a snake. “Did you find it while cleaning?” I asked, grasping at straws.
