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Jenna
Confrontation: a dispute, fight, or battle
between two groups of people
Jenna walked into the kitchen of The Captain’s House and found the contents of the cabinets spread across the floor. There were saucepans, skillets, platters, jugs, assorted dishes that didn’t match—it looked like a yard sale, and in the middle of it all was her sister, wearing black jeans, a black sweater and a cloak of visible stress.
“Hi.” Jenna put the bag she was holding on the table. “I got your text. Great idea to talk while Mom’s out. What are you doing?”
“Cleaning. Can you believe the amount of junk Mom has? I can’t even get half these cabinets to shut.” The frantic pitch of her voice rang alarm bells for Jenna.
Each time she saw her sister she seemed closer to snapping.
“Mom never throws anything away, you know that.” She was relieved to see Lauren manage a brief smile.
“Everything in this house has a history,” they chorused together and Jenna grinned, too.
“Hey, I have an idea.” She wondered why she hadn’t thought of it before. “Let’s leave all this and go to the beach like we used to.”
Lauren’s smile vanished. “I don’t have time to go to the beach.”
“You love the beach. You used to ditch school to go to the beach.”
“That was a long time ago. And it’s winter. It’s freezing out there.”
Jenna regrouped. Maybe that suggestion had been asking too much, too soon.
“At least come and sit down. I’ll put the junk—oops, I mean family heirlooms—back in the cabinets and then I’ll make coffee. Have you had breakfast?”
“I don’t know. N
o, I don’t think so. There’s no time to sit down. I have so many things to do I don’t know where to start.”
Jenna noticed the stack of papers on the table.
Lists again, she thought, glancing at the one on top of the pile.
And then she saw a copy of the local newspaper open at the job section. A few of them were circled in red.
Waitress needed for evenings and weekends.
Chambermaid needed for summer season.
“Is this for Mack?”
Lauren was pushing saucepans back into the cabinet. “For me. I need a job.”
“But these are summer jobs.”
“I’ll take whatever I can get.”
“Why are you doing this now? Have you had more news from London?”
“I know a few more of the details. Not that it makes much difference.” Lauren picked up a jug. “Do you think Mom would notice if we threw this out?”
“Probably. You have details of how it happened?”
Lauren put the jug down. “Ed set up the hedge fund ten years ago. You already know that.”
