The Opposite Of Tidy (11 page)

That afternoon Tabitha waited with Junie for her father to pick her up for his usual Wednesday visit.

“I’m sorry about this morning,” Tabitha said. “I didn’t mean to bring it all up like that.”

“You’re right to, Tab. I know that.”

Junie didn’t want to talk about the morning though. She wanted to obsess over her Very First Date. But she couldn’t. Her mother and her hoarding and her general decay loomed over everything like an enormous blimp casting a wide, dark shadow. Junie was mad.

“And what I hate the most is that I can’t even be a stupid, giggly teenage girl freaking out about tomorrow.”

“I know. It sucks.”

Junie turned to Tabitha. “And it sucks that you’re not going on your Very First Date too. I’m sorry I’m harping
on it. But I really screwed up. With the lie. How am I going to get out of it without him thinking I’m a jerk?”

But Tabitha didn’t have time to answer, because just then her father’s car turned into the parking lot. And he wasn’t alone. That Woman was with him. Again. And her creepy perfect dog.

“Unbelievable.” Junie shook her head in disgust. She hoped they both saw. “This is supposed to be my time with him. Not my time with him and
her.
”

“Be nice,” Tabitha warned. She waved hello as the car pulled up.

With a roll of her eyes, Junie spun away from the car without so much as a nod in her father’s direction. She pulled Tabitha close and growled, “I am done with being nice.”

“It’s not his fault.”

“How can you say that, Tab? It is his fault. He could’ve fixed it! He had
years
to fix it. And he didn’t!”

Junie heard the hum of the window opening behind her. That Woman’s window.

“What?” She turned, her eyes narrowed.

Evelyn St. Claire took a little breath, pulling her chin back. “And good afternoon to you too, Juniper.”

“Call me later.” Tabitha gave her a shove toward the car. She leaned down. “Hi, Mr. Rawley. Hello, Ms. St. Claire.”

That Woman smiled. “Oh, please, call me Evelyn. I’ve asked Juniper to and she just won’t. Maybe if you do, she will too.”

“Maybe.” Tabitha eyed Junie, still standing there, frozen. “Get in the car, Junie.”

With a huff, Junie opened the back door. “Move over,” she said, shouldering Princess Over All III to the other side of the back seat. The dog gave her a sniff and tucked herself as far away from Junie as she could get. As her dad eased out of the parking lot, the dog stared at her, never blinking.

“How was school?” Her dad smiled at her in the rear-view mirror.

“Fine.”

“Learn anything interesting?”

“No, actually.”

“Well, we thought we’d go bowling,” he said, ignoring Junie’s tone. “Evelyn remembered that you like to bowl.”

“When I was eight, maybe.”

At this, Evelyn shifted in her seat but didn’t turn to look at Junie. She glanced at Junie’s father pointedly instead, putting her hand on his thigh as she did. This made Junie’s face hot with rage.

“I hate bowling, as a matter of fact.”

“You don’t hate bowling,” her dad said with a laugh.

“You’re just being difficult.”

“Fine. Let’s go bowling. What do I care?”

The three of them said nothing. Princess leaned forward a little and licked her lips, as if she might go ahead and bite Junie in the face for being a bitch to Evelyn. The dog was that smart.

After six blocks of saying nothing, the silence piling up in the car like corpses, Evelyn finally turned in her seat, her face set in a careful posture of neutrality.

“I feel compelled to say something—”

“Evelyn,” Junie’s dad said. “Maybe now isn’t the time.”

“It’s the perfect time, Ron.” Evelyn tucked a wave of blond hair behind her ear. “Juniper . . . as you know, I’m a professional life coach. That’s what I do. Coach people to reach their full potential.”

Junie couldn’t believe this. That Woman was going to lecture her. After what she did!

“And I see so much beautiful potential in you,” Evelyn continued. “And I want to help you in any way that I can to reach it. You are a smart, savvy, gorgeous young woman. And I know how hard this last year has been for you, and for your family. And I realize that I’ve had a part to play in that too. And I take responsibility for that. It’s up to you to take responsibility for your part in it, as well. As part of your journey to becoming a responsible adult in the world.”

Here, she paused.

Junie stared at her. Her mouth opened and shut, and she stared. At first, she had nothing to say to Evelyn St. Claire, and then, like a sudden belch of fury, she had
everything
to say to That Woman.

“Who the hell are you to talk to me about responsibility? When we hired you to help my mom escape from the clutches of her dysfunction, you had a
responsibility
to do your job and leave our family in a better position than when you came. And what did you do? Pulled out a couple of plastic bins, got my mom to barely start sorting out twenty years of junk, and then moved in on my dad and had an affair with him!”

“Junie!” There was panic in her father’s voice. “We can talk about this later.”

“Not later. Now!” Junie jabbed Evelyn’s shoulder.

“You took him away! You stole my dad and left my mom way worse than ever, and you have the balls to sit there and talk to me about responsibility?”

“I’m trained to help—”

“By having sex with your clients?”

“Junie!” Her father pulled the car to the side of the road. “That’s enough.”

“No, it’s not enough. Evelyn, you are a complete and utter bitch. You know that? You’re not a professional life coach. You’re a total bitch.” Finally spent, Junie sat back. Her heart pounded. She looked over at the dog. Princess was emitting a low, menacing growl, her lips curled up ever so slightly.

“Juniper Elspeth Rawley, you apologize this very instant.” Her father craned around in his seat, his nose red, which was what always happened when he was mad enough to drag out her whole name like that. “Right now.”

Junie shook her head and crossed her arms. “Not a chance.”

Evelyn’s expression was still parked on neutral. “Ron, never mind.” She undid her seatbelt and unfolded herself out of the car. She leaned back in and smiled at Junie’s dad. “You two need some time to get things sorted out. I’ll take a cab home.”

“And take your dog with you,” Junie added, surprised at her own gall.

“I will,” Evelyn said evenly.

Junie was astounded. Not even that had cracked her shellacked exterior.

“Apologize, Junie. Now.”

“No.”

“Now!”

Junie shook her head. There was no way on this green earth that any kind of apology or anything that could be mistaken for an apology was going to leave her lips. Not a chance.

Evelyn came around to the other side and let Princess out. Then she leaned into Ron’s window and gave him a chaste peck on the check. “I’ll see you at home.” She straightened and turned her gaze to Junie. “And maybe I’ll see you there, too. I hope so, Juniper.”

With her trendy little purse tucked under her arm and her dog at a perfect heel, Evelyn St. Claire walked away, tossing a little wave in her wake.

Alone in the car with her dad, still sitting in the back seat like a six-year-old, Junie started to unwind. Her hands shook and her throat constricted. She’d just been horrible. Tabitha would disown her. She might just disown herself. But still, she wasn’t sorry.

Her father said nothing. He tipped his head forward until his forehead rested on the steering wheel. He didn’t rip into her about being so rude. He didn’t tell her to get in the front. He just sat there, with his head down. For a very long time. Cars passed. The traffic light switched four times, and still he sat. Until, at long last, Junie tapped his shoulder and he looked up.

“Dad?”

“Yes.”

“I’m sorry.” She meant the apology for him, and him alone. And he knew it.

He shook his head. “Not good enough.”

“But . . .” A mixture of sadness and frustration and anger tangled Junie’s thoughts. She wasn’t sure which way to go with everything that was pushing at her head, wanting out. “But I’m not sorry about what I said to her. It’s true.”

“True or not, that was inexcusable.”

“Was it? Don’t I get to be honest?”

“No.” He shook his head again, slowly. “Not like that.”

Anger pushed its way to the front. Junie didn’t want it to, but there it was, hot and red. “You’re wrong, Dad.” As she spoke, her dad pulled the car back into traffic. “You don’t get to demand apologies from me. You’re the one who should be saying sorry. To me. And Mom. For breaking up our family. For leaving.”

“I’m not proud of what I did, Junie.” Her dad signalled to turn left, even though Evelyn’s place was to the right. “But it’s done. And it needed to be done. I was ready to leave, with or without Evelyn’s influence.”

Junie wasn’t sure she wanted to hear this.

“And I think you should leave too.”

She absolutely didn’t want to hear that. Her dad waited for her to say something, but when she didn’t, he kept talking.

“Your mother is an addict. Hoarding is a disease. Your mother needs stuff. Like a drug addict needs a fix, or an alcoholic needs a drink. She’s chosen her stuff over her family. I know it’s hard to hear it put like that. But that’s the truth.”

Junie shook her head. She wanted to argue. But she couldn’t. Because she knew he was right.

“I’m not going to live with you at That Woman’s place, if that’s where you’re going with this. I belong at home. With Mom. And so do you.”

“No, sweetheart. Your mom is sick. She needs to get better. You need to get out of there.”

“I can make her better.”

“No, you can’t. She has to do it herself.”

“Is that what Evelyn says?” Her dad made another right turn. He was driving her home. “What about our visit?”

He let out a sad little laugh. “I think you’ve pretty much put the kibosh on that for today, hon.”

Junie’s eyes welled with tears. “But I don’t want to go home.”

“And you don’t want to be with me, either. That’s clear.”

“But I do!” Junie really felt like the six-year-old in the back seat now. Whining. Unsure of what she wanted. Sure that she wanted her dad. And her mom. Together. And not screwed up.

By the time her dad pulled into the driveway, Junie was bawling. It was true; she didn’t want to be with her dad right then. Or her mom. So she opened the car door and ran down the street to the only place that felt safe any more. Tabitha’s house.

It took a while, but Tabitha finally calmed Junie down enough that she was ready to go home. It was dark out as they walked the short distance.

“It’s not fair,” Tabitha said as Junie’s house came into sight, the blue flicker of the TV illuminating the living room window. “You should be all giddy and stupid over your date, not worrying about all this mess.”

“Tell me about it.”

Tabitha hugged her. “See you tomorrow?”

“The big day,” Junie said, with a sarcastic edge in her voice. “My Very First Date.”

“It’ll get your mind off everything else,” Tabitha said. “Promise.”

Junie tried to open the front door, but it wouldn’t open all the way. Two large garbage cans were shoved against the closet. They were the big plastic kind with wheels and lids, and both of them were filled with bits and bobs of junk. More junk. New junk. Junie squeezed inside, then shut the door and leaned against it. She wasn’t sure she could handle any more today.

“Mom? What’s with the garbage cans?”

“You’ll be very proud to know that I left the house today,” her mother called from the living room. “I went to get groceries.”

“That’s great!” And it was. But not if it meant what Junie thought it meant.

“And the garbage cans?”

“They were in the alley behind the Quikmart. With ‘free’ signs on them. Perfectly good except the handles on the lids are broken.”

There was no point in going into all the reasons
why they did not need two broken garbage bins. Or the crap inside of them. Junie didn’t have to ask about that. She knew exactly what had happened. Her mother had gone alley-shopping, helping herself to all the crap people had put out for the garbage. It was the end of the month, so people were on the move from one house to another and would put out what her mother called “perfectly good and useful items” rather than cart them to the new place.