Everything (29 page)

“Okay, but which birthday for which parent?”

“Well, that I don’t know.” Her shoulders sagged.

I didn’t think Wally even knew when my birthday was. I had assumed all the cards that I had gotten were from Mom. Since Aria was his favorite, I tried her birthday for his, 10-13-95, and got nothing.

“Okay, well, try yours for Mom’s,” she said.

I punched in mine for Mom’s, 06-07-91, and got nothing. I was getting frustrated fast.

“Try it the other way around.”

Letting out a grumble, I punched in Aria’s birthday for Mom’s safe and heard a click as the safe popped open. I stared at Aria in disbelief.

“Do Dad’s! Do Dad’s.”

I tried my birthday for Dad’s and was astounded when it clicked and popped open.
 

“My birthday was his combination?” I didn’t know what to think, other than that Mom must have programmed the safes so that way they were easily remembered, because I was pretty sure my birthday was a day he wanted to forget, as it was also the day my mom, his first love, had died.

I pulled out the stack of papers from Mom’s safe along with some jewelry and handed it to Aria to go through. Next, I pulled out the pile that was in Dad’s and started to go through it. We set out searching for any official-looking papers that may be a will or a person to contact for the will.

Mom had a lot of our drawings and awards, some from high school and some as from far back as middle school, in her safe. Some even as far back as elementary for Aria.

I found the deed to the shop and then another official-looking paper that had something about a lawyer by the name of Bartholomew Jackson. I put that paper to the side to call him Monday to set up an appointment with him to see what this paper was about. At the bottom of Wally’s pile was a stack of cards that at first I thought were cards Mom had given him over the years that he had kept, but as I looked at them closer, the cards looked familiar.

“These are mine.” I picked them up and examined them one after the other. “Why...why did he keep these?” I looked up into Aria’s eyes as she stared at me, coming undone.

Wally had kept every last single Father’s Day card I had given him, even the handmade ones before Mom had come into the picture. I remember I used to get them and leave them on the kitchen table for him. I thought that he’d put them in the trash because he never acknowledged that he’d gotten them at all. But here they were, and even after I was old enough to know better not to waste my money, I still got him a Father’s Day card, mostly because it was tradition and mostly because he was still my dad, and deep down, I still loved him no matter how he treated me.

But seeing these cards, all of these cards kept throughout the years, proved that he did love me, that I was his daughter too, not just Aria.

“Oh, Daddy,” I sobbed. My chest started to ache with this realization, and I hugged the cards to me tightly as I cried and cried.

I hadn’t even realized Aria was crying too, telling me she was sorry that she took him from me, she was so sorry about everything. Then she was up and yanking open the door and running past everyone. I vaguely heard the kitchen door being yanked opened and someone yelling her name asking what was going on, then someone telling Riley to go after her.

I was still hugging the cards and crying when Tina and Trevor came in.

“He loved me,” was all I could manage to get out over the sobs.

Tina sat down next to me, and Trevor stood next to the door, unsure what to do.

“He kept your cards! See, I knew he loved you. He just had his own way of showing it.”

“He kept my cards,” I repeated. I didn’t care that I sounded like a crazy person right now or that Aria had just run off. I knew Riley would keep her from doing something stupid. The only thing I cared about at this moment was that my daddy loved me—he had kept my cards.

Chapter 14

Aria came back a few hours later but didn’t come into the room. I only knew this because Tina told me. I hadn’t left our parents’ bedroom since I had found the cards, although I had moved from the floor to the bed and put all the things back in both safes.

“Is she okay?” I asked, sitting in the middle of the huge bed.

“She is...grouchy but okay.”

“I’ll talk to her in a minute.”

“I actually don’t think she wants to see you.”

“What makes you say that?”

“Because I asked her if she was going to come in here and tell you she was back, and she said no, she didn’t want to see you.”

Oh. “I think I’ll stay in here tonight, then,” I said.

She patted my knee. “Riley said she just mostly cried and babbled about things being her fault before he got her to come home.”

That’s what she had said before she had run off too. I had to talk to her, and soon. Can you make sure she eats something tonight?”

“Sure, I’ll be back later.” She got up and left, closing the door softly behind her.

A second later, there was a soft knock, and hope swelled inside me as I thought Aria had changed her mind, but it was just Trevor. He had left earlier, borrowing my car to go home and change and now was back.

“Hey, can I come in?”

“Sure.”

He came in and left the door ajar, fidgeting, eyes darting around the room.

“This feels so wired,” he admitted.

“I know. I’m sorry. I just can’t bring myself to leave yet, and since Aria doesn’t want to see me yet.” I shrugged.

“Yeah, what’s up wit’ that?” He shoved his hands in his pockets and leaned against the dresser.

“I don’t know. She’s in a place.”

“It seems you both are. Maybe you shouldn’t have come in here so soon after?”

“Maybe, but we needed to eventually, right?”

He shrugged and eyed me keenly, not saying anything for a minute, then asked, “Are you going to bounce back from this?”

His question took me off guard. How was I supposed to answer that? What did he mean by “bounce back”?

“What do you mean?”

“I mean people die, and people heal. They don’t forget them, but they heal and bounce back, move on. Are you going to be able to move on from this?”

“I don’t think I can answer that right now,” I replied truthfully.

A sad look crossed over his face, and he nodded. Then he came over and put one knee on the bed to lean in and place a kiss on my forehead before retreating.

“You’re leaving?”

“You’ve had a really emotionally draining day, babe. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“How will you get home?”

“Riley can drop me off.”

“He’s still here?”

“He wanted to make sure Aria got settled in. I think that guy has a thing for your sister.” He winked.

“I know,” I groaned.

“Try and get some rest. I’ll come by tomorrow, early.” He closed the door again on his way out, and I lay back on the bed and closed my eyes, tying to let the day’s events pass over me. Trevor was right—I’d had an emotionally draining day, and finding the cards made it that much more...more. And the fact that Aria didn’t want to see me now. What happened to make her feel that way? I had questions in my head, and when I fell asleep, I didn’t even know if Tina came back in to check on me or not.

* * *

The next day was normal for me, and then again it wasn’t. I was the same, and then I wasn’t. I had come out of my parents’ bedroom the next day to find a note on the fridge that said Aria had gone out for an early breakfast with Riley and would be back later, so it was just me and Tina. When Trevor showed up early as promised, the three of us ate breakfast consisting of eggs and bacon, not wanting to put much effort into anything else, and sat around, all waiting for the other person to speak.

I went into the living room and lounged on the couch, lost in my thoughts, and Trevor joined me but didn’t say much. He turned on the TV and watched sports or a movie. I fell asleep a few times, and when I opened my eyes, Tina would be on the two-seater engrossed in a movie or a book. She would look over at me and smile but, sensing that I didn’t want to talk, not say anything, either.

I stretched. “Is Aria back yet?”

“Yeah, but she went up to her room about an hour ago, I think she is napping too,” Trevor tore his eyes away from the TV.

“Oh.”

I had stared at the stairs, willing her to come down them and talk to me. I knew that this was her telling me she was at her limit, that she needed space, she needed time. And I was trying to give it to her, but it was killing me not being able to go to her, especially when I knew she was hurting just as bad as I was.

“Where do you go when you stare off into nothing like that?”

I was snapped back from my thoughts.

“Hum?”

“Where do you go? So often, you get this blank look on your face, and you are just gone,” Trevor had asked again.

“Just thinking.”

“You know, thinking. It’s what we human beings like to do,” Tina added in.

“And what am I?” he challenged.

“A lump.”

“Guys, don’t start,” I cut in before he had a chance to retaliate.

“Who’s retaliating? It’s okay, I understand that Tina says these things because she is jealous. Not having someone can do that to you.”

“Whatever.” She rolled her eyes.
 

I tuned them out. I barely saw Aria, and when I did, it was strained and awkward. She was avoiding me, that was for sure, and I didn’t know why. Later in the afternoon, I took a nap in my parents’ room, and Trevor had gone home. Opal came over in the evening to check on us and make sure we were okay and eating properly. She even noticed the tension between me and A and said that it would “work itself out.” She also said that Mick had taken off with most of Mr. Eugene’s valuables in his house, some watches and nice paintings, most likely to sell, and not to tell Aria. I guess Mick figured he wasn’t leaving empty-handed, that fucker.

Monday morning rolled around, and it was time for Tina to go home.

“Are you sure you don’t need me to stay? It’s no big deal.”

“Are you kidding me? Your mom would kill you if she knew you stayed another day.”

“Yeah, she would, but she would understand.”

“No, I’m fine.”

She shot me one of her “you can’t bullshit me” looks, and I laughed.

“Okay, not fine, but better,” I said.

Aria came downstairs to say good-bye and was behind me.

“You, stop being such a damn brat before I stick my foot up your ass,” Tina told her.

“I love you too, Jussy.” Aria gave her a hug.

Aria turned and went into the living room. I hugged Tina too and made her promise to text me letting me know she made it to school, as it was still dark out. She said she would, then she was out the door and we were alone.

“It’s weird. This is the first time we have been alone since, you know,” Aria said as I came into the living room.

“Yeah, it’s almost like the house is like ahhh.” I went over and sat on the couch across from her as she was sitting on the two-seater.

“A, what’s—”

“I’m sorry, Dacey,” she cut me off. “I’ve been acting like a bitch since we went in their room, and I feel so guilty, and it hasn’t been fair to you.”

“But why?”

She played with the hem of her shirt and avoided my eyes.

I went over and took her hands in mine. “Hey, you can tell me anything. You know that, right? Nothing can ever make me not love you—you’re my sister.”

“What if I caused something to happen that was so terrible...” She took a deep breath and tried again. “What if I took something...someone from you that you loved, that loved you?”

“What are you talking about, Aria?”

She took another deep breath and took out her cellphone and handed it to me.

I took it, confused, and she opened it to show me a text message between her and Mom.

I rocked my audition!

That’s great dear

I’m going to tell daddy

I’m with him now, we are going to brunch

Ok love you guys

Love

I looked up at her, realizing what this was, and she had a fresh wave of tears on her face.

“You texted Mom the day of the accident.” It wasn’t a question.

She nodded, unable to speak.

I knew now what she thought, what she had been trying to tell me, what she had been holding on to for so long since she had found out, why she had been staring at her phone in secret, the way she had been acting.

“You think this is your fault.” Again I didn’t ask a question.

“It is my fault,” she said in a whisper.

“Aria.”

“No! Don’t you see, Dacey? I distracted her while she was
driving
! I caused the accident, she didn’t even finish the last text message, and she must have hit send when the accident happened or something. I took them from us. I took
him
from you. I took
her
from you. I did this! I killed them!” she screamed.

I had to stop her from thinking this—it was an accident. I didn’t blame her. I didn’t blame anyone.

“Aria, stop. Look at me.” I grabbed her chin when she tried to look away. “You didn’t do this. Mom was careful. She didn’t text and drive, you know this. You don’t know where she was when she sent those messages. She could have been at Dad’s shop. She could have been anywhere, and we don’t know if she was even driving. You know how Dad always liked to drive. He could have taken over after she picked him up.”

I tried to talk to her rationally, but she was too wound up. She had worked it out in her brain over the past week that she had killed them and she had taken them from me, from us. The only way I was going to convince her was to get the report back from Officer Parks on who had been driving, and I prayed for both our sakes that it was Dad, as morbid as that sounded. I didn’t think we could bounce back from this. This was something that Aria would never be able to forgive herself for, and it would change her irrevocably.

I calmed her down enough to go to sleep on the couch and told her that no matter what, it wasn’t her fault and I still loved her and she wasn’t to blame, but the more I said it, the more hysterical she became, so I kept quiet and hugged her to me and she fell asleep in my arms. We didn’t make it to school that day but awoke a few hours later and got some breakfast. I hadn’t been out in town, so I suggested we go to Sharkey’s for a late breakfast.