Authors: Jennifer Browning
“Alright Vanessa, it’s your money. Now, let’s go get some manicures and we can talk about our grandchildren.”
After Dorothy flew back to Los Angeles, Vanessa spent a couple of extra days in Phoenix visiting the Mayo clinic. Why not kill two birds with one stone? She didn’t go visit Andy
at school
; this was her time and she didn’t need her grandmother coming in to step all over it
. But Nessa did put together an Arizona themed care package for Ed to deliver the following week.
Within a few weeks, t
he scholarship was formally established to benefit Holly. She was informed that if she resumed custody of her daughter, additional funds
would be provided for childcare and as a condition of the
scholarship,
“the foundation”
would be kept informed of her grades and progress at school.
12
It was inevitable that Vanessa would have to speak with David. She had already meddled and set in motion events that would change his life and he didn’t even know it. She knew that she didn’t want to talk to him when Jessica was around or at Rosalie’s house. That left speaking with him at work, but she didn’t know where that was, exactly. She called the one person who did know.
“Hi Andy!
How have you been?”
“Great Nan, how about you?”
“Oh, you know me, just getting myself into trouble.”
“I expected that much. Thanks for the packages. Ed seems like a really nice man. Some day you’ll have to tell me how you know his family.”
“Ah yes, well you didn’t know I lived in Los Angeles did you?”
“No. Did you go to school out here?”
“Not exactly, sweet pea, although it was quite an education.
But that’s not why I called. Tell me about your adventures.”
Andy talked about school and work and asked how things were going at home. Somewhere in there Nan asked casually if she had talked to David recently.
“Yeah, I talked to him last night. Why? What’s up? Is something going on?”
“No, but you sound pretty worried.”
“I’m not worried. You know, I care. He’s my friend.”
“So you keep telling me. Anyway, I was headed to the mall and I thought I would stop in to say hello, but I couldn’t recall what store he worked at.”
“Oh, it’s that shoe place, up on the second floor on the south side, but he’s not working today. He said he was going to be working on his resume at the senior center.”
“Well, that’s a shame. I guess I’ll stop in to see him next time.”
It wasn’t a shame at all. Nessa grabbed her pocketbook, touched up her lipstick and headed right over to the senior center so she could bump into him. Striking up a casual conversation with him was easier than she thought. Jessica was at daycare and he was scouring the classified ads in the computer room with his resume up on the screen.
“It’s not easy finding a job with limited experience is it, Mr.
Bastion
?”
“You’re right. Most companies don’t
consider
working at the
Shoe Shop
as desirable work history. How are you Ms. Nessa?”
“I’m doing quite well, and yourself?”
“I’m fair to
middlin
’”
Nessa
laughed
at
his attempt at
the
colloquialism
. “You have to live her
e
more than a few months to adopt the local jargon.”
“Gotcha.
In that case, I’m doing fine.”
“Anything
catch
your eye?” she gestured to the paper in his hands.
“A few things.”
He showed her the large black circles.
“
Mmm
.”
She acknowledged thoughtfully. “I was hoping to run into you today.”
“Oh yeah?
What can I do for you?”
“I don’t need you to do anything for me. I just wanted to talk to you about Jessica.”
“Oh.”
He sat up straighter in the chair.
“Do you mind if we go somewhere a little more private? Will you take a walk with me?”
He agreed and packed up his things into an old leather messenger bag. They left the senior center and started walking, but Nessa didn’t start talking.
“So what about Jessica?”
David prompted.
Nessa sighed deeply. She had tossed around so many different ways to say this, but none of them were coming to her.
“You may have heard that I was not very kind to your brother while he was here… and that may be why he left.”
“Don’t blame yourself for that. Noah knows how to skip out all by
himself
.”
“Yes, well, that’s part of my point. I don’t think you should be shouldering the entire burden of raising Jessica. Don’t you think that her father should help?”
David kept walking at a measured pace. There was a long moment of silence as he considered how to respond. “So you know, then.” He finally said. Nessa gave a short nod of her head.
“Is this public knowledge?”
“No, David. Believe me when I say that I am the only person who figured it out and I have shared it with no one in town.”
“What about out of town?”
“You mean Andy? No, she doesn’t know.
Although I don’t know why you haven’t told her.
She cares a great deal for both of you.” Vanessa wondered if she was stepping too deeply into her granddaughter’s affairs, but decided that she was doing it out of love so Andy wouldn’t be too upset.
“That wouldn’t be fair to Jessica. She needs to have a parent that hasn’t left her. People will look at her differently if they know I’m her uncle.”
“You have a valid point, but Andy might look at
you
differently if she knew.”
“That’s not fair to her either. Andy needs to see me exactly like she does because I have a lifetime commitment to Jessica and that’s not going to change anytime soon.”
“What if you didn’t have to be the only one to take care of her?”
David stopped and faced Nessa, staring at her for several moments. The tension in his voice was clear. “There is no one else that I would give this responsibility to.”
Nessa startled with understanding at what he meant.
“Oh no!
I didn’t mean Andy;
not that she wouldn’t make a wonderful mother to that little girl
. I know very well that you’ve had a heap of your youth taken away and would never suggest that you do that to anyone else. I was talking about the girl’s mother.”
They had arrived at the church. “Please
come inside with me for a moment.”
They walked in and sat among the pews.
“Do you remember when I brought you here as
a boy
that summer you were here?”
“Yes, I do. And I remember why. You were very kind to us and I was ashamed of what my brother did.”
“Well now,
tsk
tsk
. That’s water under the bridge. But what impressed me that day was what a kind and responsible young man you were. Do you recall doing all that folding? You sat and talked with me and the other church ladies like a little grown up. You were so mature for your age. Do you remember all that?”
“Yes.”
“Now I think you’ve been making up for your brother your whole life. He acts up too much and you don’t act up enough. He needs you and you’re comfortable with that. Now Jessica needs you and you’re comfortable with that too, because you’ve been taking care of people as long as you can remember. But what you’re really doing is giving Noah permission not t
o
grow up – and it’ll land him in jail sooner or later. Or maybe something worse will happen. Meanwhile, Jessica is growing up and like it or not she needs her mother.”
“Look, I’ve heard all the argument
s
about that. I’m prepared for the princess phase and liking boys and explaining her bodily functions to her. Girls grow up without a woman in the house all the time.”
“I’ll give you that one and I think you’d be a great all-in-one dad. There’s just one little hitch. Jessica’s mother loves her and shouldn’t a child be around all the love she can get?”
“How do you know she loves her? Holly hasn’t bothered to call or write once in the last year.”
“Does she know where you live?”
“Noah told her. I’m sure she knows.” Even as he said it, Vanessa saw the truth dawning on his face.
“Are you sure about that? Is it possible that Noah lied?”
“Why would he do that to Jessica? Why would he do that to me or to Holly?” He’s a jerk, but he’s not that mean.”
“I think you should find out. Send her a letter. I can help you find her address if you want me to.”
David
sighed. This was a lot of information to take in. “I’ll have to think about it. But promise me that you won’t say anything to Andy.”
“I promise, but I really think you should.”
“When is she coming home this summer?”
“She didn’t tell you? She’s not. She wants to stay in L.A. She’s got an apartment off campus with a friend and a summer internship with that travel program on TV that she likes.”
“Oh.”
Vanessa could hear the disappointment in his voice.
“I’m sorry. I know that you two are good friends and she’ll miss you. She spoke with her mother a few weeks ago about not coming home. Josephine was sad about it, but Andy asked if she could babysit for you this summer because Josie’s working from home and she was just over the moon about the idea. I think she misses having a little girl around to dress up and have tea parties with so I’m sure she’ll be calling you about it soon.”
David tried to look excited about the idea, but it fell flat. “I’ve got to go pick up Jessica. It was nice talking to you.”
“Think about what I said, okay?
About telling Andy?”
13
Vanessa knew there was something not quite right going on with Andy during her second year at school. She was unusually quiet about boys and it sounded like she wasn’t talking so much to her old friends.