Jacqueline and I are walking her dog, Finnegan, a sweet little pitbull, in the park, discussing life. The temperature outside is hot enough to make your eyes sweat, but we're used to it. This is Texas, after all.
"Your mom wants you to marry Liam?" Jacqueline asks incredulously. "Is she stupid?"
"I think so," I nod, "I- God damn it," I grouse as Finnegan decides to jump on me.
"Finnegan!" Jacqueline scolds. "Síos leat!" she commands in Irish Gaelic. Get down. Finnegan gets off of me, and walks slower than before, sulking. "Such an asshole," she scoffs.
"You love that dog, don't you?" I joke.
"I truly do, thank you very much," Jacqueline defends. "He's just kind of a headache sometimes. It was part of the condition that if I stayed in America, I had to take care of Finnegan."
"Really sweetened the deal, huh?" I tease. She rolls her eyes.
"Back to the marriage thing - you're not going to marry him, are you?"
"Hell, no. I'm not. He would make a terrible husband and I'm not into him anymore. You think I want to subject my child to a loveless marriage? Kids learn by example," I say, "and I think that co-parenting is the way to go, even if it's not what my mother thinks God wants."
Jacqueline nods. "I don't think Liam would want to get married, either. Especially not if someone else told him to do it."
"He said something about trying to win me back," I shrug.
Jacqueline scoffs and shakes her head. "Yeah, but re-entering a relationship with you versus marrying you? That's two different things."
"I don't know whether or not I ever want to get married," I say with a grimace.
"Tell you what," Jacqueline says in a playful tone, "if we're 30 and unmarried, and it's legal then, you can marry me. I got triple citizenship."
I chuckle. "That does sound tempting."
She chuckles as well, and I can swear I see a pink tint behind her freckles before she turns to look somewhere else. "Wait a minute, is that Liam over there with some girl?" She gestures across the street, beside a coffee shop. Liam is leaning against the wall, talking to a girl with dark hair.
"That'd be him," I nod. "You think she'd be cool with me marrying him?" I jest, earning a chuckle and eye roll from my best friend.
She looks closer, as she's got better eyesight than I do. "Wait, is that Jana Boggs?"
"Georgie's old girlfriend?" My eyes widen. "What's she doin' with Liam?"
"Flirtin', I'd assume," Jacqueline says. "I've got half a mind to sic Finn on her."
"No need. It's just…didn't she break up with Georgie because he didn't want to commit? Now she's trying to get with Liam?" I scoff.
"Jealous?"
"No, concerned about her mind. She alright?" I shake my head. I gesture for us to keep walking. "Let's not pay them any mind."
"I always hated her," Jacqueline says.
"You hate literally everyone," I point out, which makes her huff.
"There's a difference between hating people and being mildly annoyed by everyone I come across," she argues.
"Sounds like the same thing to me," I shrug, teasing her.
She rolls her eyes again.
Jacqueline has a bad attitude, it's true, but that's a small price to pay for her companionship. She's actually kind of sweet once you get to be around her, and that's if she allows you to. Luckily she let me into her life. She's really made a lot of things easier on me. I appreciate her. She responds with violence to a lot of people, and it's gotten her in trouble a few times, but she's never laid a hand on me. She might call me stupid sometimes, but that's warranted when I'm being stupid. She's a great friend and a great person otherwise.
I hope I never lose her.
…
"That doesn't go there," Sheldon says to Missy, who is arranging the products in the pantry. I'm sat at the table, reading over the latest issue of Guitar World.
"Doesn't matter," Missy says, as she continues to place the items in the pantry the way she was doing before Sheldon said anything.
"Canned beans next to jarred preserves?" Sheldon criticises, looking puzzled.
"Doesn't matter," I echo Missy's sentiment. Sheldon glares at me, and looks back at Missy.
"See, Sheldon? No one cares," Missy says.
"I care," he responds.
"Well, no one cares that you care," Missy retorts.
"I'm someone. And I care that I care. And I care that I care that I care," Sheldon says, thinking he's being clever.
"And still, you're the only one who cares. Can I read, kids?" I sigh, becoming frustrated.
"Okay. That's enough," Mom chastises.
"Are we done?" Missy complains.
"What's your hurry?" Mom asks, putting a hand on her hip.
"It's paternity test day on Ricki Lake and I'm missing it," Missy whines.
"If people paid more attention of what belongs where, there'd be no need for paternity tests," Sheldon says, earning a frustrated sigh from both me and Mom.
"Just go," Mom says to Missy. To Sheldon, she says, "I'll give you a hand." She steps towards the pantry, but Sheldon stops her.
"Actually, I'm not crazy about how you organise things, either," Sheldon quips, rejecting our mother's offer outright.
She places the grocery bag on the table.
"See, Mom, not everybody needs your input or help with things," I say pointedly.
Mom bristles at my comment. "You wanna do this now?" Mom asks, as Sheldon continues to organise the food.
"I do not," I say, "I'm just sayin' maybe it's a lesson worth learnin'."
Before Mom has time to respond, MeeMaw enters through the kitchen door, papers in her hand.
"I need you to do me a favour," she says immediately upon seeing Mom.
"Hello to you, too," Mom says sarcastically.
"Yeah, MeeMaw, where are your manners?" I tease.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah," she says, clearly disinterested in any niceties. "Look. I need you to sign some forms for me, no questions asked."
"What am I signing?" Mom asks.
"We agreed, no questions asked!"
"I didn't hear an agreement," I point out.
"Given her criminal past, I'd advise caution," Sheldon says from the pantry. I chuckle.
"Kids, I love you, but shut it," MeeMaw glares at us, earning another laugh from me. "Look, I got to knock out my community service, and they say I can do it at the church." She sounds excited, and that makes me wonder what she's up to.
"That's great. We'd love to have you," Mom smiles.
"Or you could just fill out my timesheets and we would be done with the whole thing. Easy peasy," MeeMaw attempts to convince her. She should know better by now. Anyone that Mom can string into religion, she will. That's what happened with Georgie's old crush, Veronica. I think she's doing pretty okay now, though, so maybe it wasn't so bad for her. It wasn't great for Georgie, though. He got punched at his own baptism.
"I'm not lying for you," Mom says sternly. "That's a sin."
"Oh, come on. 180 hours at my age? Who knows if I've even got that much time left," MeeMaw says, clearly trying a pathos approach now. Not gonna work.
"Well, then it's a good thing that we're gonna get to spend so much of it together." Mom counters. Clever.
…
I'm in the kitchen with Dad, who is going through the mail. I'm making a snack. A peanut butter sandwich with potato chips.
"Hey, Dad?" I ask. "Can I ask you something?"
Dad looks up from the mail. "What is it, pumpkin?"
"You think I should marry Liam?"
Dad sighs, putting the mail down. "What did your mother do?"
"She told me God thinks I should marry Liam," I say, bitterness creeping into my voice.
Dad shakes his head. "Goddamn it, Mary," he mutters to himself. "Well, what do you think, Callie? Do you think you should marry Liam?"
"Hell, no," I answer immediately.
"Well, then, there you go," Dad says.
I'm about to say something, until I hear the front door open and MeeMaw saying, "Six hours! All day long for six lousy hours!"
"I gave you six, you worked four!" Mom says.
"Felt longer," MeeMaw complains.
I chuckle. "Typical MeeMaw," I say to Dad, who laughs.
"Most people work eight!"
"Most people get paid!"
"Most people don't commit crimes," Mom says as they enter the kitchen.
"Sure they do," MeeMaw argues, "they just don't get caught."
Dad chuckles and asks MeeMaw, "So, how'd the first day of giving back to the community go?"
MeeMaw takes a deep breath and says, "I sorted a pair of work pants that had a prosthetic leg still in it."
Dad just barely holds back a laugh. I giggle.
"Oh, shut up," MeeMaw says, which makes me laugh again.
"Oh, don't be so dramatic," Mom chides.
"180 hours, Mary," MeeMaw complains
"And only 174 to go!" Mom says, exiting the room.
"You're enjoyin' this, aren't you?" MeeMaw asks.
"Darn tootin'" Mom calls over her shoulder.
"You did this to yourself, MeeMaw," I say. Dad chuckles.
"My daughter may have brought you into this world, but I can take you out, Charlotte Cooper," MeeMaw shoots back.
I hold my hands up. "Hey, you'll have to see if that's alright with the kid," I say, gesturing to my abdomen, fighting back a smile. "I don't think double homicide is your thing, MeeMaw."
"Watch me," MeeMaw retorts.
"Communicating threats, doesn't that violate your parole?" I tease.
MeeMaw sighs. "I got her on my ass, I got Officer Thomason on my ass."
My eyebrows shoot up. I definitely recognise that name.
"Who's that?" Dad asks.
"My probation officer,"
"Mm." Dad pauses. "Wait. Rhonda Thomason?"
"You know her?" MeeMaw asks him.
"Yeah. Her kid's on varsity. Nice lady. Brings grapes to halftime," Dad says.
"She also arrests innocent teenagers even when you swear you weren't doing anything wrong," I mutter to myself. Then, I remember I was in the middle of making a snack and continue to make it. My brain has been real weird lately.
"She could get the judge to reduce my hours, but she won't do it," MeeMaw complains.
"Yeah, like I said, nice lady," Dad quips.
"By chance, would you talk to her for me?"
I sigh to myself, feeling mildly frustrated with her asking my parents to get her out of trouble. I feel like some inconvenience could do her some good, but MeeMaw's too stubborn. She won't have that.
"I'm sorry. Are you asking me for a favour?"
"Yes."
"Mm. I didn't hear the magic word," Dad says, trying to make this as difficult as he can for her.
"How about this?" MeeMaw proposes. "Why don't you pay me back the money I gave you for the down payment on this house?"
"Thank you. Was that so hard?" Dad says, seemingly humbled. I internally groan. MeeMaw's never gonna learn.
…
I'm with Gina, Denise, Renee, and Jacqueline at the mall. The mall is bustling with shoppers, and we're all at a table in the food court, enjoying our little meals. Our bags of merchandise are placed beside our chairs, on the floor.
"Look, girls, this pair, 50% off," Gina brags, holding up a pair of combat boots. "Feels like I stole it."
"You should have just stolen it," Renee says, "doesn't look like it's worth even half."
Gina frowns. "It's a cute pair," Jacqueline assures her, making her smile again. Jacqueline isn't smiling, though, and her eyes are nervously flickering around the food court, as if she's on edge.
"You good, Jackie?" I ask, concerned.
"Yeah, you seem…distracted," Denise comments.
"I'm fine," Jacqueline says quickly. "Just thinkin' about something. Don't worry about me."
As we continue to chat, a girl around our age approaches the table. She seems very stylish and confident. She smiles. "Jacqueline, is that you?"
Jacqueline goes pale, and with her complexion, I didn't even know that was possible. She says, nervously - an emotion uncommonly seen in Jacqueline - "Uh, yeah. It's me. Hey."
I raise an eyebrow. "You two know each other?" I give the girl a curious look.
The girl grins. "Oh, we go way back from you know…that party."
Jacqueline's eyes widen slightly, and she shakes her head, seemingly silently begging the girl to stop talking. She forces a laugh. "Right, yeah, that party."
"What party?" Gina asks, around the same time Denise says, "You went to a party without us?"
"What…is she talking about, Jackie?" I ask Jacqueline, who looks even more embarrassed.
"Nothing," she says quickly. She gives the girl a pointed look. "She ain't talkin' about nothin'."
The girl looks at all of us, and then back at Jacqueline, giving a slight nod. "Alright. She's right. It was obviously nothing. Good seeing you, Jac." She walks away, giving us glances over her shoulder as she does.
"You went to a party without us?" Denise asks again.
Jacqueline takes a long swig of her cream soda. When she finally swallows and puts it down, she says, "What party? Nobody said anything about a party."
The rest of us exchange concerned glances. "Nah, girl," Gina says. "This party. What was it?"
"Don't worry about it," Jacqueline says. "And stop pressin' about it, or I'll knock your teeth in."
Gina grimaces. "Fine. Fine."
I look at Jacqueline, a question in my eyes. She catches my eye and keeps the contact for a second, before sighing and turning back to her food. There's a tense silence over the table.
I don't know what that interaction was about, but I do know that Jacqueline doesn't usually keep anything from me. I know things about her that I didn't necessarily want to know, so what secret could she be keeping that she wouldn't even want to tell me?
I don't know, but I'm going to find out whether she likes it or not.
…
A couple of days later, I come out of my room, feeling like absolute hell. Georgie and Mandy are here, and Mom's holding CeCe.
"Oh, you got so big!" Mom says to the baby in a high-pitched "I'm talking to a baby" voice.
"I said that to her when she was pregnant," Georgie says, referring to Mandy, who gives him a look. "No bueno."
"Say that to me when I start showin' and I'll knock you out," I threaten, sitting down on the couch. Mom gives me a stern look.
Georgie shrugs. "She will."
"I know," Mom says. "That's what scares me."
"You don't look so good, you alright?" Georgie asks, seeing me holding my head.
I shake my head.
"Morning sickness?" Mandy asks.
"They should call it all-day sickness," I say into my hands. "I hate you, Liam Jameson."
"So, uh, what movie y'all going to see?" Dad asks.
"Ace Ventura: Pet Detective," Georgie answers.
"Mandy, you want to see that?" Dad asks with a confused look on his face.
"I don't care, I'm gonna be asleep before the lights go down," Mandy says.
I groan again, thinking of all the sleep I'm going to lose.
There's a silence. I'm assuming they're all looking at me. I can't see them because my face is still in my hands. Dad says, "Ah, she's just doing her thing."
"Well, we are so happy to babysit," Mom says to Georgie and Mandy. "In fact, if you want to go to dinner after the movie, that's fine with us."
"Aw, thanks, but we're trying to save money," Mandy says.
"George, give them some money so they can go to dinner."
"We're already babysitting for free." Dad sounds hesitant.
"But we never get to see this little one, because her mean Mommy and Daddy moved her away." Mom says, still talking in that baby voice.
"I wish someone would move you away," I mutter. I don't know if she heard it.
"Well, Mommy and Daddy have their own bathroom now, so…"
"Oh, that's the dream right there," Dad says in support.
Georgie and Mandy say their goodbyes to CeCe. Mandy tells CeCe to be good.
Mom responds with, "Oh, she'll be an angel for Nana and Grampy."
"Grampy? I didn't sign off on that," Dad says, sounding put off by the name.
"It's okay, Dad, I'll have mine call Mom Glammy." I say.
"I kinda like it, makes me sound Glamorous," Mom tries.
"No, it doesn't," I shake my head.
"Okay, let's go, I want to get this nap started," Mandy says.
"See you, Grampy, bye Glammy," Georgie says as they exit.
Mom glares at me. "See, it's already catching on," I smirk. As bad as I feel, it makes me feel so much better to annoy her.
The phone rings. Dad answers it. "Hello? Yes, she's here." He hangs it up and gestures to the kitchen phone. "Callie, that Denise girl's on the phone for you."
I frown in confusion but go retrieve the kitchen phone. "Hey?"
"You always answer the phone like that," Denise chuckles. "Anyway, meet me at my house. Don't tell Jacqueline or any of the other girls."
I'm even more confused. "Denise, what's going on?"
"Just come, okay? I'll explain when you get here." The line goes dead.
"God, she's so weird sometimes," I mutter to myself.
I go to my room and begrudgingly get ready, trying to look half-way decent. When I arrive at Denise's house, I can't even knock on the door before she opens it. "Come in!" she says. She starts heading to her room.
I shrug and follow her. She closes the door behind us. "Make this fast," I say, "I have to go pick Missy up in a little while."
"Okay, fine. So, I've been thinking about who that girl was that was talking to Jacqueline the other day," Denise starts.
"Denise, I thought it was pretty clear that this wasn't something Jacqueline wanted to get into," I say cautiously, not wanting to intrude on Jacqueline's privacy, or even speculate about her when she's not in the room to defend herself. "I mean, she threatened Gina."
"I can take her, Gina can't."
"You think you can take her," I correct her.
"That's beside the point," Denise huffs.
"I don't really think it is," I say, shaking my head.
"It is. Look, do you want to hear my theories or not, Charlotte?"
"God, my government name, what ever will I do," I say sarcastically. "Fine, tell me your theories. But they're just that, theories."
"You ain't even given them a chance yet," Denise shoots back, frustrated at my lack of enthusiasm.
"Heh. Fine, go on," I say dismissively.
"So, Jacqueline has a criminal history, right?" Denise says.
"We all do…your point?"
"I'm getting there," she rolls her eyes, "what if she murdered someone and that was her accomplice?"
I guffaw. "Denise!"
"I'm just saying. She's pretty violent. We can't exactly rule it out."
"I think that we can," I say defensively.
"Whatever you say," Denise shrugs. "My other theory is that she's interested in some sort of activity or club or something that she knows we'll make fun of her for so she's hiding it and she knows that girl through there."
"Impossible. Even if she were doing something embarrassing, she'd let me know about it," I dismiss her thought readily.
I begin to think about it. The way she had reacted to that girl was how I used to react to every fling I had at a party showing up somewhere unexpectedly. But those were boys. Still, it was unmistakable. Her demeanour, the way she was looking around everywhere.
"Denise…" I say.
"Yeah?"
"I…I think Jacqueline's gay."