"Have you talked to your brother- Trent?"
"No mom, he isn't picking up right now."
Amanda Lane resumed what she was doing in the kitchen when she had seen Jane and her best friend walking through with Jane's things on their way to Jane's room. Once in Jane's room the two ladies sat in silence each unsure of what to say.
"Thanks for helping me with my stuff."
"Your welcome. Can I get you anything else?"
My dad back? Trent home?
"Nah, but if you happen to talk to Trent…..on second thought let him be. He's probably dealing with his own stuff. Just make sure he's okay."
"I will."
And I'll keep an eye on you too.
"Mom wants everyone downstairs for a prayer vigil Jane," Wind's voice said from the doorway where he seemed to appear from nowhere.
The girls looked at each other questioningly, but said nothing.
"I'll be there in a sec," Jane responded taken aback at this unusual request.
"Not that I'm judging but…..I didn't think your family did the religious thing so much." Her friend remarked.
"We don't….not really, at least not that I remember." Jane sat down on her bed and looked at her friend and thought for a few moments. "I never really thought about it much, but do you think that makes me, I don't know, well wrong or something?"
"Well, does it make me wrong or something? I don't go to church every week? And neither does my family."
"But you have some kind of holistic belief or something."
"….or something…."
"So you think I'm normal?"
"Don't go putting words in my mouth." she said around a playful smirk. "I just meant, that people turn to different- usually familiar things for solace in times of mourning- perhaps from their childhood."
Jane shrugged.
Well it sure as hell wasn't from mine.
"Look, you're off the hook for this. You should go home and get some rest or something. You've been with me this whole time. I'm sure that you're going nuts by now." It had been really surprisingly sweet that her best friend had stuck by her side from the moment that she'd found out about her father without so much as a word of complaint. The young woman opened her mouth to object but before she could Shalah came bursting into the room in all of her glory and threw her arms around both surprised women.
"I got here as fast as I could and almost got a speeding ticket or two, but once I explained- what?" she asked breathlessly.
It was good to see her they immediately decided together. She was like a breath of much needed fresh air.
"So, Jane what can I do for you?" Shalah looked to her friend in all seriousness.
Jane looked from one to the other and shook her head realizing just how incredibly fortunate she was and there in her childhood bedroom she felt tears stinging the corners of her eyes for the blessing of the two souls at her sides now giving her comfort for the father that was no longer of this earth.