That afternoon when we were leaving for Dad’s, she’d even asked if we were going to go to the grief group with him again that weekend—they had a Friday night meeting as well as a Wednesday one—and when we nodded, she’d looked a little wide-eyed and nervous but said we could tell her about it if we wanted when we got home. It was a start.
It was so much of a start that I decided to take Jeremy’s advice and I gave him my bag when we reached our floor and went straight to Jolene’s door, ignoring the whipped sound effects he made as he let himself into Dad’s apartment.
I definitely caught her off guard. As she opened the door, she was talking.
“If you can’t remember something as simple as taking your keys with you when you go to the store, then—oh. Hi. I thought you were Shelly.”
Her hair looked braided painfully tight, and she was slipping into her coat, but that first sight of me caused her whole face to light up.
“Hey,” I said, wanting to hug her, so I did. She smelled like cigarettes, and it made me laugh. “Smoking again?”
She shrugged and moved past me into the hall. “It keeps Shelly away, and that’s easier said than done these days.”
“She still opening your mail?”
Jolene shook her head. “No, she’s—I don’t even know. She’s trying to talk to me. Like, all the time.”
“Talk to you how?”
“Like an actual human being. It’s creeping me out.”
It looked like it was more than creeping her out. She was visibly unsettled and unsure, two things she almost never was.
“Maybe she’s trying to be a decent person again. I mean, you said she used to be your friend.”
Jolene’s spine snapped straight. “No, she pretended to be my friend in order to get close to my dad, so whatever she wants this time, she’s not going to get it.” Then she looked at me. “What are you doing here anyway?” She didn’t sound mean or annoyed, just curious, and a little like she was shoring herself up for another drive-by visit.
“Things are maybe going better with my family.”
“Oh?” she said, her hand reaching to grab her braid. And there was no hiding how badly she didn’t want that to be true, though she tried. “Good. I mean, that’s good.”
We leaned against the wall between our apartments as I updated her on things with my mom. When her eyes went a little shiny, I couldn’t tell if that was for me or her. I thought a little of both.
She had her braid coiled around her wrist. “That’s what you’ve been wanting from her, isn’t it? For her to try?”
“It is.” It felt big, maybe bigger than I’d let on, because I didn’t want to make Jolene think we might lose our weekends any sooner than we already would. Also, because my mom admitting out loud that she wanted to try was something Jolene had little hope of her own mother doing.
“Anyway, I don’t have to spend the whole weekend with my dad this time. We’re going to grief group tonight but not until eight. And I really miss you. Like, it’s excessively pathetic how much. Ask Jeremy.”
She bit back a smile. “More than five minutes of Adam time. You’re going to spoil me.”
I took a step toward her. “Yes, ma’am.”
She laughed, and I would have kissed her except the elevator was finally being fixed and there were repair guys all over the halls and stairway. I would have taken her outside, but winter had sunk its claws into us and was still howling as it held off spring for another week. Watching each other’s lips turn blue most definitely would have been a mood killer.
I also wasn’t about to bring her to my apartment, where Jeremy would probably be running lines with Erica via video chat and Dad would try to make small chat.
“Do you want to maybe go to your apartment?” I asked.
“Shelly went to the grocery store, but she could be back any minute.”
“Right.” We’d moved closer to the stairwell, and I had to back up against the wall to let a maintenance guy past.
She chewed her lip. “I might have an idea.” She didn’t look thrilled by it though.
“Hey, anywhere is better than here.”
“He might not be home, so don’t get your hopes up.”
“He?” I moved closer toward the stairs, but Jolene didn’t follow.
“Yeah. You’ve met him, the film critic. He lives in 6-2.” She pointed at the door one down and across from mine.
“Right, the homework guy.” I paused, still poised to head downstairs since I still didn’t understand what she was suggesting. “Do you need to pick up his recommendation letter or something?”
She was still biting her lip and staring at the door to 6-2. “He hasn’t written it yet, but he’s been busy.”
I frowned. “So then...you want to remind him about it?”
She shook her head. “He might let us hang out, if he’s home.”
“How is that any better than my dad watching us from over his laptop?”
“Because he’s not your dad.” She half rolled her eyes in my direction. “Or anyone’s dad. And anyway, I don’t see you coming up with a better idea.”
I silently walked back to her. In point of fact, I did not have any better ideas, but that didn’t mean I agreed we should start randomly hitting up neighbors we barely knew.
Jolene hesitated when we both stood in front of the door.
“He might not be home.”
“You said that already.”
“Oh, and his name is Guy.”
“Okay.” She must not have liked the way I said that because she looked at me and frowned. “Okay,” I said again, then before she could stop me, I knocked on the door.
“What are you doing?”
“Knocking. Wasn’t that the plan?”
Jolene directed her frown to the door and swallowed.
“Hey, we don’t have—”
The door opened, and I didn’t finish. The guy—Guy—saw Jolene first, and the way he smiled at her made me think of the stupid look on Jeremy’s face the first time he saw Shelly. Or maybe I imagined it, because a second later he noticed that Jolene wasn’t alone and his smile looked normal. His expression was friendly but curious when he turned back to Jolene.
“Hey,” she said. “We weren’t sure you’d be home.”
He held his hands up as if to say we’d caught him.