Jim could not believe what he just heard. How could he not know Melinda had a sister? They told each other everything, at least that's what he thought. Why would Melinda keep something like that from him? He didn't understand. Jim then noticed Melinda's mom was still crying hysterically. He got up from the couch he was sitting at, and sat next to her, putting an arm on her shoulder.
"Hey. Sshh. It's okay. I'm sorry, I had no idea." Jim apologized.
"I know. I had a feeling Melinda didn't tell you" Mrs. Gordon was finally calming down a bit.
Jim got up and sat down on the other couch, facing her, "If it's not too much to ask, will you please tell me what happened to Jamie?"
Mrs. Gordon took in a deep breath, deciding if she should tell Jim. After a minute or so, she decided he needed to know.
"Exactly 10 years ago yesterday, Melinda was in a fatal car accident involving her younger sister Jamie. Jamie, Jamie passed away instantly."
"What happened?"
I'm not sure. Melinda's car was the only one involved. She doesn't like to talk about it, so I've never gotten the whole story. The only thing I know is that her car crashed into a tree, and my baby girl died."
Jim noted the slight anger in her voice.
"Oh my god. That explains last night and why she is so upset now."
"Yes, it was hard on all of us, especially Melinda. Those two were the closest sisters I have ever seen. They told each other everything. They went everywhere with each other, mainly the movies. That's where they were before it happened, coming back from a movie. I've never seen two sisters who were 4 years apart so close in my life. I imagine they were so close because of their father."
"Their father?"
"Their father left when Melinda was 8 or 9, and Jamie was only 4 or 5. It broke their hearts. Whenever they had a problem they never came to me, they went to each other for comfort. When Jamie had a bad dream, it was Melinda she turned to. It seemed like I wasn't the mother, Melinda was. And whenever Melinda had boy problems when she was older, she would come home and talk to Jamie about it.
After Jamie died Melinda just stopped doing a lot of the things she liked to do before. She stopped babysitting a lot of kids she always babysat, she's never watched the movie they saw before Jamie died since, stopped talking to me. Stopped doing a lot."
"But why wouldn't Melinda tell me about Jamie?"
"Would you tell Melinda you killed your brother?"
"Wait, she can't possibly blame herself. It was an accident!" Jim was starting to understand a little bit why Melinda didn't tell him anything. But only a little bit.
Mrs. Gordon gave Jim a look before continuing, "How do you know it was an accident? She didn't tell you anything, and no one else saw!"
"What are you saying? Do you honestly think that Melinda killed her sister on purpose?" Jim couldn't believe what he was hearing.
Mrs. Gordon looked around before saying, "Shouldn't you be heading off to work?"
"Yes I should," They both stood up, "Thank you for the talk."
"You're welcome"
With that, Jim walked out the door, got in his car, and drove off, knowing he was going to have a very long talk when he got home.
I know this chapter is long. But they were having a very long talk.