Georgie returned home that night feeling accomplished. It had been a long day, and when she turned to look at the clock, she saw it was just past nine o'clock. She worried that Lou might be asleep; she kind of wanted to get this dress thing over and done with.
Georgie ran into Mitch in the hall. "Oh, hey. There you are," Georgie greeted him. "Is Mom awake?"
Mitch nodded. "Yeah, she just woke up a little while ago."
"Okay, I'm going to go in and give her this."
"That's fine, yeah. I'll be just a few minutes. Going to go make some coffee."
Georgie nodded wordlessly.
As she walked over to Lou's room, she was surprised, as well as relieved, that the light was on. Clutching the box tighter in one hand, Georgie knocked. "Hey, Mom."
Lou removed a hand from her eyes, and she looked over at her daughter.
As Georgie sunk into the mattress, she sighed. She'd been really tired from the trip, and only now realized it. "Um, so I just got home."
"What…? Where have you been?"
Georgie stopped. "You didn't know I was out. Um, I was—" Georgie broke off. Crap.
"Where were you? How long have you been out?"
"I left around three o'clock."
Lou was waiting for her to go on.
"Yeah, so I left during the afternoon and I just got back. I made it back in good time, traffic was pretty okay today."
"You've been gone for hours, honey. Where did you go?"
"Uh…" Georgie began, glancing down at the box in front of her. This was harder than she thought it would be. "You know that dress you were looking at…"
"The one for your sister? I never told you about that."
Georgie pursed her lips. "You did, actually. Um, I have it right here," Georgie said, tapping the box.
Lou put a hand on her forehead, shutting her eyes tight. "You…why would you do that?"
"Uh, I—I don't…" Georgie stammered, confused and beginning to get nervous. "Mom, I thought you wanted it."
"Yeah, when your sister was alive," Lou said in a sharp yet frail voice.
Georgie leaned back a little, exhaling. "Oh God, oh, no…" she pushed the box away from herself.
"Georgie, is this some type of joke? I mean…your sister's gone, how is this going to be of any use to us?"
"No!" Georgie exclaimed, getting defensive. "I'm not trying to hurt you, I swear. I really thought you wanted it."
"What gave you that idea?"
Georgie sighed. Mitch wasn't even in the room, and Georgie felt she shouldn't explain the situation in his absence. "So you don't—you don't want to look at it? At all?"
"No, I don't…honey, why would you even—" Lou broke off as she saw the time on the clock. "It's already nine. Where did you go for this? What took you so long?"
"Edmonton," she answered sheepishly. Georgie stole her gaze down to the mattress.
"That's a three hour car ride! What were you thinking!?"
"Mom, relax!"
"What were you thinking…?" Lou exhaled. Her voice was faltering, and she seemed close to breaking.
"Mom, would you just calm down!? I wasn't alone! Jade was the one driving."
Lou closed her eyes, tight. "The whole time?"
"The whole time."
"She still has that Jeep, right? It's not a tiny vehicle like the one you drove?"
Georgie inhaled sharply. "No, no. It's still the Jeep."
Lou sighed. "Okay. I just…I need some sleep. Why don't you turn off the lights?"
"Mom, I was hoping to talk to you. It's been a long day."
"I don't feel like talking. I don't feel well."
Georgie glanced over at Lou's dresser. "You took all of your meds today?"
"I did. Now I just want to sleep."
"Mitch said you just woke up. Come on, just a few more minutes."
"Georgie, I told you. I can't do this right now."
Georgie half-laughed. "So you get all worked up about me being outside, and then when I come home, you don't want to talk," she said mostly to herself. "Got it."
"What is there to talk about?"
Georgie chuckled softly. "You're right. There really is nothing to talk about," she replied, moving forward to kiss Lou's forehead. "Good night. I love you."
When Georgie stood and turned around, she heard her mother call her name. She looked over, excited and hopeful.
"Would you take the box out with you?"
Georgie's lips parted and her eyes darkened. Before she could say a word, Lou turned in bed, pulling the covers up.
Mitch was pouring coffee into a cup when he heard footsteps approaching. "Hey, how'd it go?"
Georgie huffed, dumping the box onto Lou's desk. "Not great," she said, moving to sit at the round table.
Mitch looked up, his eyes widened in surprise. "Wait, what?"
"She didn't want it. After all that panic, the long drive there and back…she didn't even want the damn thing."
"Georgie…" Mitch looked at her, still dumbfounded. "I don't get it. She mentioned it, twice yesterday."
"Now that I think about it, it makes sense. What could we possibly need it for?"
"Well…Katie is going to need it."
Georgie exhaled, closing her eyes momentarily to shield herself. "I don't think Mom wants to hear about any of that."
"She's not even allowed to go see Katie, you know, given her condition."
"Hmm."
"Coffee?" Mitch held out a mug.
"Sure," she said, accepting his offer. "So, since we're sort of on the subject, I was thinking about the funeral."
"What were you thinking?" Mitch asked gently.
"That there shouldn't be one."
Stunned, Mitch could only look at her.
"Say something," Georgie laughed, embarrassed.
"Well, I—I just think that there has to be a funeral, Georgie. There has to be!"
"I just don't think the public should be there. It's probably best for Mom that we just go and do the burial…" Georgie looked down, shaking her head. "Or whatever. I don't think anyone outside the family should be there. Maybe a couple of close friends."
"So that your parents and the rest of us can do what we need to do, without others' gazes on us."
Georgie shrugged a shoulder. "I don't even think Mom should be there. What if she can't handle it?"
"Well, she has to say goodbye. She wasn't able to that day."
"If the only thing that's going to be happening that day is the burial, then why does Mom need to be there? It just…I don't think she needs to be there. What do you think?"
"I think that you make a very compelling point, but I also think that maybe Lou's not going to see it that way."
"Yeah," Georgie quieted for a moment. "Where's my dad?"
"I think he's at the dude ranch, dealing with a lighting issue."
"Oh."
"For what it's worth, today went relatively smoothly. Your mom slept for most of it, so."
"That's good. And you?"
Mitch was taken aback. "What about me?"
"How are you doing? I mean, it can't be easy…seeing your wife in shambles."
"It's not. But being able to sit with her and hold her hand makes me feel useful. That helps me through the day."
Georgie smiled weakly. "Good."
"Speaking of, I should probably check on her. You know, just in case."
"Yeah. Okay."
Peter returned over a half hour later. "Hey! There you are!" His face lit up when he saw Georgie. "When did you get back?"
"At around nine," Georgie answered, turning in her seat.
Peter walked over and planted a kiss on her head. "I missed you today."
"Yeah?" Georgie laughed a little.
"Yeah. We barely saw each other. I did finally speak to your mom, though."
"Oh?"
"You sound surprised."
"I don't know, it just…it felt like you were avoiding her for the last little while."
"I just didn't see how I could be of use to her. She has Mitch."
Georgie nodded. "Yeah, I get that. I brought home the dress—" Georgie turned and nodded toward it. "But turns out she didn't want it, and she just sort of…I don't know, told me to leave."
Peter sighed tightly. He moved to sit in the seat beside his daughter's. "You know, I know that her reaction probably hurt, but—"
"But who knows what was going on inside her head at the time, I know. It's okay, Dad. I get it. I just wish I knew what to do, or what to say…it's a minefield in there."
"We'll figure it out, don't you worry."
Georgie looked up. "When are you headed back?"
"I haven't thought of that yet. I think I'll stick around for a little while longer."
Georgie nodded. "Okay, yeah. I'm glad."
Peter placed his hand over Georgie's and squeezed reassuringly.
"I need to say something. But you need to promise not to get mad."
"Okay."
"I think that you should put a pause on all those funeral arrangements."
The next day, the entire family had gathered in the living room, minus Lou. Ty and Lyndy, as well, were back at their house. When Mitch and Peter broke the news of the new funeral arrangements, it felt like a bomb had gone off.
Jack was silent, as per usual. So was Tim.
Amy spoke up. "Wait a second. You really think you're going to be able to convince Lou to stay in bed while we're out there—" Amy broke off, refusing to finish that sentence.
"If we all band together, then yes," Peter answered.
"You mean gang up. This is—this isn't fair. Lou doesn't even get a say! Peter, you of all people, you have to understand that she lost a child. She needs to be there. How could you even suggest this?"
"Don't blame him. It was my idea," Georgie intervened. "She doesn't need people's eyes on her, okay? She doesn't need them looking at her the way that people do, and—and for what? They're strangers to us, so why do we need to even make them a part of this?"
"Strangers?" Amy questioned her niece. "These are old friends, almost family."
Georgie inhaled sharply, trying her best to keep herself together.
Tim's gaze rested on his granddaughter. "Georgie."
Georgie looked up from her spot on the couch.
"What's going on?"
"What—what—why would you say that? I'm just trying to explain to you guys…"
"You've been into town?" Tim checked.
Georgie tensed. "Yeah, yeah…I've been into town."
"You've read the papers?"
"Yeah, I've read the papers," Georgie said, a sour tone in her voice. "I've had people walk up to me and call me a murderer to my face."
Heads turned in Georgie's direction.
"What?" Tim spewed out, a look of anger forming on his face.
When Georgie didn't say anything, Tim looked toward Jack, suddenly feeling helpless.
"Tim, I swear to you, I will explain everything to you. I will give you every little detail that you ask of me. Or if you don't want to hear me out, you can always look at the police reports, but I…"
Tim shook his head. "Don't do that. I'm not trying to put you on the stand—"
"I know, but you have the right to know. But you do need to know that it was, in fact, an accident."
Mitch looked toward Peter, who had his arms crossed over his chest, a heartbroken look on his face.
Peter watched his daughter, whose head was held down and whose voice was continually breaking.
"The one mistake I made was letting her sit in the passenger seat. I tried to get her to change her mind, but she was adamant—" Georgie broke off, closing her eyes momentarily, the regret lingering on her face. "There was no talking her out of it."
Nobody said a word.
"If you hadn't let her sit in the front…" Tim muttered to himself.
"Tim—" Jack began, warning him.
Georgie stared at her grandfather. "If I could, I would switch places with her. You don't know what I would give to bring her here to you guys—"
Georgie's words struck Tim's heart. He became rattled at the thought of Georgie being taken from them as well. "But you can't! Georgie, come on!" Tim exclaimed, looking down to the side, his face scrunched up in pain.
It was dead silent for a couple of moments until Georgie spoke again. "I'm sorry," her words came out choked. "I'm sorry, for everything," she said, gesturing in the direction of Lou's room. "I know that I really don't have a say in how this will all go, but if the situation were different—if Mom hadn't gotten sick, then I wouldn't even have dared to say anything."
Everyone was listening, waiting for her to go on.
"I just don't want anyone whispering, or saying something in front of Mom that'll hurt her. It'll just mess everything up."
After a beat, Time spoke up. "I'm with Georgie. We'll do what needs to be done, but in private. As for Lou…we might have to do a little convincing, but I'm on board."
"Dad!" Amy exclaimed. "Are you serious?"
"I am."
"You need to trust her to hold her own out there. You can't coddle her!"
"Except right now, I think we do," Jack spoke in a low voice.
Amy's stern expression melted. She hadn't expected Jack to agree to any of this.
"Okay, so it's decided then."
