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“Oh, shut up.” I turn back to Jimi and I think this is the first time she’s flashed me a genuine smile since I arrived eight days ago. “Want to help me do something?”
She nods. “You name it.”
I let out another sigh and glance over my shoulder at Caleb before I continue. “I need to figure out how I’m going to break it to my parents that I’m not majoring in business this fall. I’m changing my major to music.”
“No sweat, but first we have to figure out how we’re going to break it to our parents that you and Caleb will be sharing a room for the rest of the summer.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
THERE IS NO BIRTHDAY gift I could give Claire that would ever compare to having all our children under the same roof, and getting along, for the first time in eighteen years. And we may have missed all of Abby’s birthdays, but I know that we will do anything not to miss another for the rest of our lives.
She’s back. Abby came back to us, just the way we always hoped she would.
In the first years of our marriage, Claire and I were very open with each other about how it felt to lose Abby. But as the years went by, and the topic was broached less often, it became more unsettling. For the last few years, as we anticipated her eighteenth birthday, it was almost taboo to bring up the subject of Abby.
I anticipated the sadness I’d feel over losing her again, if she decided not to meet us. And the anger I might feel toward Claire when all those feelings of loss were dredged up again. But I never expected to get Abby back only to have to push her away.
So, as I watch Claire as she watches Abby taking a nap with Ryder, I truly know how Claire feels. I don’t want my baby girl to ever go away. But, as painful as it is to admit, I have to accept that she was Brian and Lynette’s baby girl first.
“Why can’t she stay? Look at them.” She watches them with a mixture of longing and anger. “It’s not fair. It wasn’t fair then and it’s not fair now.”
“Babe, do I need to give you the same life-isn’t-fair speech I give the kids?”
“Please spare me.” She turns to me and wraps her arms around my waist as she buries her face in my neck. “Please don’t make her go.”
I hold her tightly and kiss the top of her head. “I can’t speak for you, but this has been the best seven weeks of my life. But I’ve been living in a fool’s paradise. This was always going to end. You know that as well as I do.”
“But I don’t feel right keeping this from Abby. She should know her parents are coming tomorrow.”
I thought my reaction to Abby and Caleb sharing a room was extreme. When I came home from Carolina Beach six weeks ago to find Jimi and Abby sitting next to each other on the sofa in the living room, watching videos on Abby’s phone, I almost cried tears of joy. It was the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen in my life. But they shrugged off my excitement, as if it was no big deal, like it was inevitable that they would become the best of friends. But when they explained the new sleeping arrangements to me, I could feel my eye twitching.
Luckily, Claire pulled me aside before I had the chance to accuse Caleb of orchestrating this new friendship between Jimi and Abby so he could sleep with my daughter. Claire talked some sense into me and promised she would have a discussion with them about… protection. Just the thought of it makes me want to bash Caleb in the head with my ’68 Stratocaster. See how cool he thinks it is then.
But after six weeks with the new sleeping arrangements and six weeks of family dinners without any sniping between Jimi and Abby, I’ll admit Caleb has worked his way back into my good graces. In fact, Claire and Abby may never hear me say this aloud, but I’m actually very grateful for him. He takes care of my girl better than I ever could.
So I’m very disappointed with Lynette and Brian’s reaction. I wasn’t aware that Abby had been lying to her parents about the sleeping arrangements. Then they called Claire last night to accuse us of giving Abby the “bright idea” of changing her major from business to music. Claire was obviously confused and upset that they were accusing us of doing something so underhanded.
I grabbed the phone out of Claire’s hand. “What’s going on here?”
There was a shuffling on the other end, then Brian came on. “Did you tell my daughter it would be a good idea for her to major in music? Do you get your kicks off of ruining our lives? Now you have to try to ruin Abby’s?”
“First of all, I had no idea Abby was changing her major. This is the first I’ve heard of this. And second of all, I’m not the one ruining Abby’s life. If she wants to change her major to music, it’s obviously because that’s what she wants to do with her life. You should support her decision instead of calling me and my wife to accuse us of meddling in her academic career.”
“All you’ve done this summer is meddle in our lives! If I had any legal recourse, I’d have had Abby forcefully removed from your home weeks ago. She’s probably playing music, smoking dope, and having unprotected sex, like her wonderful parents.”
“Are you fucking serious? From what I can tell, Abby is happier here with her siblings and her freedom than she has ever been. And if she’s thinking of changing her major, it’s only because she’s trying to stay true to herself. And if you had any sense at all, you’d see how fucking talented she is and how changing her major is a good thing. And, as for unprotected sex, she can do that anywhere. She doesn’t need to share a room or an apartment with her boyfriend to do that.”
“Is she sharing a room with Caleb?”
I could have lied, but I was so pissed off at Brian’s delusional ranting, I didn’t think he could take it one step further and threaten to come get her himself. I want to tell Abby that her parents are coming for her tomorrow, but that would probably send her and Caleb off somewhere, to a motel or somewhere worse, just so she could avoid dealing with them. But if I don’t tell her, and she finds out I knew, it will be as if I condone Lynette and Brian’s attempt to corner her.
I keep hoping that once they see Abby and hear her side, they’ll understand how much she loves music. I’ll offer to get her a vocal coach and start laying down some tracks in the studio. With my help, Abby can be extremely successful. Since starting my own label thirteen years ago, I’ve helped launch the careers of more than thirty bands and eight solo artists. Nothing would make me happier than to help my daughter achieve her dreams.
I take Claire’s face in my hands and kiss her forehead. “It’s going to work out. I promise. But you have to promise me that you’re not going to encourage Abby to distance herself even further from Lynette and Brian. You have to remind her how important it is that she has them in her life, even if they don’t approve of her career choices or her choice of roommate. Promise me you’ll do that? For Abby?”
She lets out a heavy sigh and nods. “Fine. But if they try to push her to do something she doesn’t want to do, they’re the only ones who can be blamed for alienating her. If I want to offer her comfort or a place to stay when they push her away, you can’t fault me for that.”
I kiss the corner of her mouth then turn her around so we can both watch Abby and Ryder as they nap on Jimi’s bed. At first it worried me when I found Abby taking a nap. But Caleb assured me that it’s common for her. It’s only natural that Ryder, my little night owl and Abby’s biggest admirer, would eventually work his way into the bed with Abby for the most adorable nap time ever.
“Can you imagine what it would be like to see Abby performing for a crowd of ten thousand screaming fans?”
Claire chuckles. “Don’t get ahead of yourself. You still have to see if that’s what she’s interested in.”
“I’ve only known her for eight weeks, but I can honestly say it’s what she was born to do. We just have to convince the Jensens that Abby knows herself better than they do.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
CALEB WAS NOT too thrilled about the prospect of going shopping with Jimi and me. But when I told him it was August 9th, Claire’s birthday, he dec
ided he would brave the experience so he could get her a gift.
Caleb was lucky that his boss at the tire shop needed to give his teenage son a job for the summer. It worked out great for both him and Caleb, so he agreed to let Caleb take the summer off to come with me to the beach house. Of course, without the extra income, we needed to work something out with Caleb’s roommate, Greg. And Caleb was very grateful that Chris and Claire offered to pay his half of the rent while he’s been staying with us at the beach house.
So Caleb was actually happy for the opportunity to go shopping with Jimi and me today. He’s been wanting to get something for Claire that would show his appreciation before we leave on Tuesday.
“Do you think she’ll like these?” Caleb asks, holding up a pair of four-inch-long turquoise earrings over his earlobes.
“I don’t know if she’ll like them, but I sure do.” I growl at him and he shakes his head to make the earrings wiggle.
He sets the earrings back into a basket of accessories on the counter in The Blue Fedora and we continue toward the gray velvet sofa where Jimi is talking to Chris on my phone.
“Why do we have to be back so soon? Dinner isn’t until seven.”
She rolls her eyes as Chris speaks. Though we can’t hear what he’s saying, I’m sure he’s given her a perfectly acceptable reason. Finally, she ends the call and hands me the phone.
“He said we have to be back in forty-five minutes.”
“But we just got here,” I reply, tucking the phone in my purse.
“Yeah, but he said he has his reasons and not to question him. Ugh. He’s probably planning some kind of surprise for my mom or something.”
I sit down on the sofa next to her. “Well, you know your mom better than any of us. What do you think she’d want?”
“Our mom.”
“Right. Still getting used to it.”
“Honestly, she hates this store. But there’s a used bookstore just a few miles north of here that she goes to sometimes. That’s where she got a lot of the books in the library. Maybe we can find something there.”
