Chapter 7
After the seventh doorbell, Jane finally dragged herself off the couch and opened the door.
"Why do you take so long to open your door?" Angela demanded. "And why are you sleeping on the couch in your own apartment!"
"Ma…usually when no one answers the doorbell, it means no one's home. It means, go away!"
After some thought, she added: "I am working on my couch. I have casefiles here. Don't touch them!"
"I know you are sad because Maura is leaving." Angela sat herself down on Jane's couch with a sense of entitlement. "You are not even helping her pack."
"Yes Ma," Jane responded with exasperation, "Maura's leaving. She has better things to do in the world than slum with us forever. It had to happen one day or another…. And she has…chosen to leave, clearly it was easy for her." Jane began to wrap up her files from the couch, a little wary that Angela would find them intriguing for her cafeteria blog.
"Jane Clementine Rizzoli, don't you go blaming Maura for this." Angela rebuked. "I have had your father leave me and Tommy leave me…" she added with a heightening tone, "and no one left as graciously as Maura. She is going away for a while, she was clear about it. She left me her guest house and she even brought me cannolis. She has promised to keep in contact and she will be back!" Angela edged closer to Jane and held her shoulder: "And Jane, I don't know why… but she looked really sad today. Jane, Maura doesn't have anyone in Seattle either."
A wave of regret and realization swept through Jane. Maura didn't want to leave! Why hadn't she realized that before! Jane could hear the steady din of Boston rain outside, not too strong but relentless; in this warm, red bricked New England city, grey days could stretch on without ever an apparent storm. Jane had felt betrayed by Maura, but if Maura did not want to leave, why was she leaving…why was she leaving her, by herself? And by her performance earlier this afternoon, Jane knew she hadn't given Maura a reason to return.
"I also think someone has not been very nice to Maura. She had red marks on her wrist that she kept trying to hide from me," Jane flinched a little at her mother's words. "What monsters men are!" Angela hypothesized. "Jane, I think…"
"Ma, why did you come here? As in…really?"
"I wanted to see how you were doing. You are sad, Jane…And I wanted to get you a cup of hot chocolate," Angela whipped out a flask from her bag.
"And…"
"And I wanted to ask you if a grey, black, or dark green side bow would look nice on this fooochsia sweater that I've knitted for Maura."
"It's fuchsia, Ma." Jane smiled, knowing her mother had lived with Maura too long now that 'pink' was slipping out of her vocabulary. "Okay Ma, show me what you've got." Jane gave in, finally, "If you'll leave soon!"
After Angela left, Jane stood at her window, taking a moment to reflect on the last few days. Her apartment's intersection, Kenmore, was usually busier at night, but this night, she could see a very quiet, bland street. Her father or Tommy leaving didn't affect her this deeply. Not even skyping with Casey felt this wrong. Why did Maura's decision have this effect?
Her doorbell rang again.
"Ma, really, go away." Jane snapped at her door.
"It's me Jane." A familiar composed and elegant voice responded from behind the door.
Again, thank you for your reviews. They are always helpful! Also, I wanted to add that I keep chapters short in order to have sustained updates...I usually don't have a long stretch of time for composing something longer.. Read two chapters for one if you like :)