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Her voiced dropped. “Her heart? You’re supposed to be her heart. She’s no longer the fifteen-year-old she was when she had you. What’s wrong with you? Why’re you so chill about this? And wait till I tell Jake about this!” Her voice shot up an octave. “Didn’t she say that you didn’t have to work during the summer?”
“Cindy did. But if she comes—”
“Hold up! Beth.” She huffed out her alarm effectually. “That’s a big if, seeing how she’s never pulled this stunt before. Look, my parents just left for their shifts. I gotta monitor Pete’s bath.”
“Give him a kiss for me.”
“Will do.” Her tone had warmed. “He’ll be ecstatic. I love you. You know that, right?”
Everything she’d said came from a sincere place. Just like Jake, Mariska always looked out for me.
“Love you too.”
“Later.”
I stormed out of my room and into Cindy’s room. In a matter of hours, Cindy had also taken her mattress—something I think she purchased on her own—with her, to wherever she and her new Prince Charming had gone to.
***
SLEEP EVADED ME. BY the time I’d finished talking to Mariska last night and had showered, Luigi’s had closed. This morning, my stomach was a little cramped up from hunger and lack of sleep.
Was Cindy all right? Had she really left abruptly because she’d wanted to? I mean, sure that note made it clear that she had, but perhaps she’d wanted to talk to me about it. She’d told me that I came first, but that she needed time to do “non-mommy things” so that our time together could be better. It made perfect sense to me. I imagine if I had a child that I’d still want a personal life, but I think I’d do some things differently. Okay, well, I think I’d do a lot of things differently. Not that Cindy wasn’t a great mom to me in her own ways. How long had she been forcing herself to parent me when she wanted to live her own life?
After I brushed my teeth and brushed my hair, I smelled food. Heading downstairs, I heard chatter and the pulse at my throat quickened. I quickly walked to my room, retrieved my bat, and tried to be light on my feet as I paced down the stairs, relieved that it wasn’t an intruder. I didn’t live in the best part of Franklin Parks. Not the worst either. Break-ins hadn’t happened in a while, but my guard was up.
“Beth!” Jake called out to me. “Pu
t that bat down! We’ve got the copies of the keys you gave us!” I placed the bat against the laundry room door. I watched as he cooked some bacon. Flashing his perfectly straight and commercial white teeth at me, Jake opened his arms, and I wrapped mine around him. Mariska sat by the table, pouring the pitcher of lemonade into three glasses. She looked like a goddess in her long, light gold dress with spaghetti straps, sun-kissed bronze skin, and loose curls flowing past her narrow shoulders.
“W-what’re you guys doing here?” I stammered.
“Well, good morning to you too, shit!” Jake shook his head, “Like you’re not lucky to see us at the crack-ass of dawn.”
“Morning, Jake.” I inclined my head to Mariska. “Hey.”
“Much better.”
He let me go. I walked over to her and kissed her on the cheek. She wreathed her arm on my waist. “This morning I told Jake what happened and he wanted to come over ASAP.” She mocked a dry cough. “He came home a little…late last night, like he does every night, so I couldn’t tell him sooner.”
He flipped the bacon over in a new frying pan. “Don’t I get a kiss too?” I walked back over to him. He leaned down and I pecked him on his jaw. As Mariska set down silverware on the table, she shook her head.
“You guys didn’t have to—”
Jake clipped my lips with his two fingers. “I would’ve had breakfast cooked faster if I knew that you didn’t have any cookware or dinnerware. We know how you’re a…morning person.” He made a face, clearly not understanding how I usually woke up at six in the morning without feeling groggy or needing coffee. “Cindy most definitely wiped this house clean.”
“Jake!” I was sure that they’d had a discussion about how to broach my mommy issues with me. Jake had deviated from her plan.
He turned off the stove. I looked at the counter, where there were three platters filled with cut slices of white cheese, boiled eggs, and bacon on top of a spinach wrap. My favorite breakfast dish.
“It’s true!” he insisted, and gestured for me to take a seat. “Luckily, it’s not too far from the dollar store.”
I swigged some lemonade, aware of the non-verbal communication between Jake and Mariska. “Taking all of the stuff from the kitchen was really shady on her part,” I murmured in agreement. “But that’s what she did.”
Mariska gave Jake a disapproving look. As she and I started to eat, Jake slumped his broad shoulders. He really could be Jared Leto’s doppelganger, minus the body build. He had the most alluring maroon eyes I had ever seen. It looked like he put eyeliner to heighten the almond shape, but it was natural. He had his mom’s eyes, a fact he took pride in.
“I’ve got the whole day free,” Jake told me as he spread his arms out. “Mariska doesn’t start work at Luigi’s till twelve. I can drive you around so you can apply for jobs after I drop her off.”
I nodded.
