“That was a miscommunication.”
“It was a miscommunication that left her in tears and affected her heart. If you hadn’t been here—if you were still living at your own place in Providence, she wouldn’t have been worried about where you were.”
Zoey hardly knew how to respond to that kind of logic, it was so twisted. “If I weren’t here, she’d have no emotional or physical support.”
“That’sexactlymy point. And that’s why I think she should move to an assisted living facility.”
“Aunt Ivy doesn’t want to live in afacility.She wants to live in a home.Herhome.”
“What she wants and what she needs are two different things.”
“You’re not the judge of that.”
“Neither are you.”
Aware the conversation was devolving into the kind of “you started it first—no, you did” argument they’d had when they were kids, Zoey said, “I don’t think we’re going to get anywhere talking about this tonight, so why don’t we shelve it until another time and say goodbye for now?”
Mark disconnected without another word, which was actually the best response Zoey could have hoped to get.
* * *
On Friday evening, Lauren called shortly before supper time to see if Zoey had been invited back for a second interview. To her disappointment, she hadn’t, but she was still hopeful. They chatted for a few minutes about the guy Lauren was going out with for the first time that weekend. Then her friend asked how Zoey was adjusting to living with a teenager.
“Is it as challenging as everyone claims it is?”
“No. I love having my niece here—not that I see her that often. After school she’s either playing her flute in the band or practicing with her friend. In the evenings, she spends most of her time upstairs doing homework. I don’t remember being that disciplined when I was her age.”
“Maybe it’s not that she’s so disciplined. Maybe she’s avoiding you.”
“Hey! I’m notthatuncool.”
“The fact that you’d sayuncoolshows just how uncool you are,” Lauren kidded her. “But I didn’t mean that. I meant maybe you never see her because she doesn’t want to be seen… Have you considered she might be hiding something?”
No, I only think that way about my cousin.“Like what?”
“I don’t know, it could be anything. When my niece started withdrawing from my brother and his wife, they thought it was typical teenage behavior, but it turned out she was pregnant. And my coworker just found out her kid’s addicted to dexies—”
“Dexies?I don’t know what they are but I can assure you my niece isn’t addicted to them,” Zoey interrupted. “And there isno wayshe’s pregnant.” She’d just begun feeling more confident that Gabi seemed to be doing well and Lauren’s remarks were discouraging. “Just because she made one mistake in California doesn’t mean she’s continuing down the wrong path.”
“That’s true,” Lauren acknowledged. “But even if she were struggling, I wouldn’t judge her—or you. I’m not judging my brother’s family, either. I’m just saying it’s different from when we were young. Kids are dealing with all kinds of stuff we never had to face. You wouldn’t be the first parent who found out her child was keeping something serious from her.”
“Yeah, well, Gabi’s not keeping anything serious from me and I’m not a parent.”
“Actually, Zo, right now you kind of are.”
“But no pressure, right?”
After their phone call ended, Zoey helped her aunt prepare supper. As usual, Gabi was eating at Amy’s house—an occurrence that now gave Zoey pause. She’d been trying not to be overly restrictive about her niece’s schedule because she knew Gabi had been burdened by Scott and Kathleen’s problems this past year. Zoey remembered what that felt like from when she was a teenager and her own parents were at each other’s throats all the time. So she’d wanted her niece to enjoy the freedom of being away from that. The freedom of being young. But after talking to Lauren, Zoey wondered if she should be limiting how much time Gabi spent at her friend’s house. She decided to have a heart-to-heart with Gabi when they had a little time alone, just to make sure everything was okay with her.
“Still no word from the library?” her aunt asked as they sat down in the formal dining room to begin their meal. Ivy preferred they eat in there these days, even when it was just the two of them.
“Not yet, but that’s okay. It’s better not to hear anything than to have them confirm they’ve rejected me as a candidate.” Zoey hoped she sounded convincing. Mark had been calling their aunt every day since Monday’s miscommunication and each time she got off the phone Ivy remarked about how worried she was about him. Zoey didn’t want her aunt fretting about her, too.
“I see,” she replied, absently poking at her potato.
Halfway through her meal, Zoey noticed her aunt had hardly touched hers. “Is the fish too dry?” she asked. The new oven was much more efficient than the old oven and Zoey had overcooked the first few meals she’d made in it.
“No, it’s fine.” Ivy set down her fork. “But there’s something I need to talk to you about. I’ve hesitated to bring it up, but it’s been eating at me for days and I can’t keep it to myself any longer. Mark tried to tell me way back when, but I didn’t want to accept it. I wanted everything to stay as it was.”
