California Girls

“I know. I can’t believe it.”

Dr. McQueen knocked once, then entered the room. “All right, Zennie, you’re ready to go live your life. I’ve sent your local pharmacy a prescription for prenatal vitamins. Start taking those right away.” She put several papers on the counter. “These talk about what to eat and what not to eat. Also, there’s a basic list of restrictions. No alcohol or caffeine. Avoid hot tubs. You can do a home pregnancy test in two to three weeks. Come back and see me, regardless of the results. If you’re pregnant, we should talk and if you’re not, let’s get you going on monitoring your cycle. Fair enough?”

“We have a plan,” Zennie told her.

Dr. McQueen smiled at Bernie. “Good luck. I hope I get to see a lot of you at the visits.”

“Me, too.”

The doctor left. Bernie stepped back. “I’ll leave you to get dressed. And once we walk out of here, we’re not going to talk about it at all. Not until you take the pregnancy tests. I don’t want you worrying that I’m going to overmonitor you. I’m not even going to think about it.”

“Me, either.” Zennie sat up. “Although we’re both lying when we say that.”

Bernie laughed. “We both so are. But we’ll pretend to be normal. How’s that?”

“It’s a great plan.”

*

Saturday morning Ali wanted nothing other than to sleep in and be lazy, but that wasn’t an option. She’d promised her mother to help finish going through the bonus room. Mary Jo would be working, so it would just be the sisters. If the three of them hustled, they should be able to finish in a few hours, or so Ali hoped.

She parked next to Zennie’s car and walked up the front walk, pausing when her phone buzzed.

Zennie joined her on the porch, then let her in the house.

“Did you get a text from Finola?” her sister asked by way of greeting. “She’s canceling on us.”

“No way.” Ali pulled out her phone. Sure enough, there it was.

Sorry to bail. I just can’t face more memories today. I’ll make it up to you.

Ali wrestled with conflicting emotions. On the one hand she understood her sister was going through a lot. On the other, there was still work to be done on their mom’s house and it wasn’t as if Finola was the only one going through emotional turmoil.

“Go ahead,” Zennie said as they went upstairs. “Tell me why I shouldn’t call her a selfish bitch.” Her tone was more cheerful than chiding. “You always take her side.”

“Not always. Just sometimes. As for today, while I appreciate what she’s dealing with, the least she could do was send us a minion to do her share of the hard labor.”

Zennie laughed. “I like your style.”

They reached the loft and stood staring at the half-open boxes, the mostly empty closet and the cabinets and drawers yet to be tackled.

“Ugh,” Zennie said. “This totally sucks. Tell you what. We’ll work until noon, then call it a day and go to Bob’s Big Boy for lunch.”

Ali grinned. “That is a perfect plan. You’ll probably get a salad, but I swear, I’m getting a burger and a milkshake.”

Zennie wrinkled her nose. “A salad? You’re confusing me with Finola. I’m a burger girl all the way.”

“You say that now, but Finola eats the way she does to stay skinny. You eat healthy because you’re athletic and see your body as a temple or something. It’s seriously depressing.”

Zennie gave her a strange look but before Ali could ask about it, she turned away and pointed to the cabinet. “Do you want to tackle that first, or finish the closet?”

“Let’s finish the closet. That way we’ll have space to stack the stuff we think Mom’s keeping. We’ll keep the junk and giveaway piles out of the closet.”

They carried out bins and boxes. Several fancy dresses hung on a rack.

“We might as well leave those,” Zennie said. “I have no idea if Mom wants to keep them, but whatever decision we make will be wrong.”

Ali agreed. Once the closet was empty except for the dresses, they moved in all the “keep” boxes before sitting on the floor to go through what was left.

Ali opened a bin full of old Halloween costumes. Some were really elaborate while others were the inexpensive store-bought kind. She tossed out the premade ones and saved those her mother had created. She held up a beautiful mermaid dress.

“I never wore this one. Did you?”

Zennie shook her head. “It’s Finola’s. All the good ones are. I never wanted to be a princess or anything girly, so Dad helped me be a pirate or whatever.”

Ali remembered the family discussions around Halloween. Zennie was right—she and their dad would go off to the garage and make something. By that point Finola wasn’t interested in going trick-or-treating, so Ali went to the grocery store with her mom to pick out a costume.

Ali fingered the handmade costume with its beading and fringe-fishtail. At some point the costume would have fit her—not that it had been offered and she hadn’t known about it so hadn’t asked.

For a second she thought about all the times she’d been the odd kid out. Her mother had been all about Finola and her dad had been all about Zennie. There’s been no third parent to be on Ali’s team.

“How are you doing with canceling the wedding?” Zennie asked. “Do you need help returning gifts or anything?”

“Thanks, but everything is done.” She wrinkled her nose. “I honestly don’t know what to do about the dress. I’m not excited about selling it or even donating it. I would love to give it to someone I knew needed it, but I don’t want to just put it in a donation box somewhere, knowing it will show up in a store and be priced at five dollars.”

She looked at her sister. “I don’t mean that in a horrible way.”

“I know what you mean. It was special and you want it to stay that way.”

“I kind of do. Maybe I should look online for a group that finds wedding gowns for women in need or something.”