He started crying in earnest, relief in his expression. I hoped that speaking the words would spare him any further involvement. He nodded and then awkwardly pulled himself to his feet. Without saying anything further, he limped back to his car.
I didn’t ask him if he was okay to drive, or if he wanted to stay. Forgiving him didn’t mean I liked him. I watched him until he pulled back onto the road relieved Gran hadn’t heard him or come out.
Looking down at the paper, I got up and went back to my sandwich. The turkey and cheese didn’t appeal to me anymore, but I still munched on it absently while staring at the words on the paper.
When it used Mr. Jameson, it wanted to know who hurt me and when it found out, hurt them back. Was that protective or possessive? I needed to figure out what the thing was and what it wanted. Popping the last bite in my mouth, I stood and tucked the folded paper in my pocket.
Mom and Aunt Grace returned just a few minutes later with their friend arriving not long after. We loaded as much as we could on the trailer and more into our car since they would follow him to the new place.
I waved as they left. Looking at the piles that remained, I estimated needing another two trips with the truck. They would make it back just before dark. The house would be empty of everything but cleaning supplies, sleeping bags, a few blankets and Aunt Danielle’s chair. The chair always went last. That meant a night in an empty house. The prospect unsettled me knowing that thing waited out there in the dark.
Gran and I cleaned between loads. By the time we finished stacking the final load on the trailer, every muscle ached. I’d overused my legs in the last few days and they let me know, loud and clear, that they wouldn’t put up with anything tomorrow, which meant finishing the bathroom today.
I imagined kneeling on the floor to scrub around the toilet would probably send them into a state of mutiny. I could picture my legs detaching themselves in a cartoonish way and walking off without me. Smiling at the possibility, I went back to work knowing I couldn’t ask Gran to kneel on the tile.
A while later my mom spoke from behind me. “Tess, honey, you look exhausted. I think you should get ready for bed now.”
I never even heard them return. Looking up from the dustpan I held, I nodded just finished with sweeping the corner of every vacant room. Without furnishings, the house echoed loudly and chilly drafts drifted along the floor. I wouldn’t notice anything once they knocked me out, but wondered about the rest.
My idea of getting ready for bed consisted of collapsing on my blanket. Exhausted, but not tired, I listened to them move around closing up the house for the night. Every movement echoed in the empty space. The lights clicked off leaving only the light of the candle burning near Aunt Danielle. I blinked my eyes slowly, the flickering light playing tricks with me. For a second, I saw the outline of the chair handle through her hand.
Everyone started gathering around me. Aunt Danielle moved with the rest. The words filled the space. Comforting. My eyes drifted shut before the first touch.
The next day, my legs stayed attached even though they hurt. By nine, we all piled in the car. I sat in front with mom while Aunt Grace, Aunt Danielle and Gran rode in the back. Everything we’d kept with us, including Aunt Danielle’s chair, fit into the twine-tied trunk. None of us had any attachment to the house. We hadn’t been there long enough. But I still looked back as we pulled away. Something told me, this time, moving wouldn’t be enough.
The updated ranch with paved driveway and garage located in a quiet neighborhood didn’t fit the norm for us. The light grey siding and professional landscaping looked established. But the dark grey shutters on the window were new. I looked at my mom with puzzled surprise.
“My boss,” she said by way of explanation. “When I told him why I needed a few days off… what happened at school… he offered this place. I couldn’t say no. The rent is reasonable and it’s still close enough to work, but a different school.”
“The shutters?”
“A special request that he didn’t mind. I said it was a religious thing. Plus, being in town can be an advantage. You can walk places easily and not have to spend so much time on the bus.”
Made sense to me.
Aunt Grace took me on a tour of the house while the rest helped Aunt Danielle in. No old plank floors in this house. Tiles covered the kitchen floor while carpet swathed the living room. Light welcoming colors coated the walls.
Even in an obvious state of disarray, with boxes everywhere, the place felt homey. The bedrooms, three of them, lay off a main hallway to the left of the kitchen. Three bedrooms meant that mom and Grace would share, as would Gran and Danielle. They always made sure I had a room to myself. The master suite, which mom and Grace would claim, had its own bathroom. Gran, Aunt Danielle, and I would share the one in the hall. It had more bathrooms than the prior place, but fewer bedrooms.