creaks and pops of the old house, there was nothing inside. Max was, of course, gone, but my body reached for him all the same without my moving. My nerve endings registered the cool air even through the blankets.
Nothing here but us…whatever the heck I am.
Figuring who or what you are is part of achieving full adulthood. I’d thought I was done with that. If I was a true grownup, I’d be okay with being on my own. Aunt Alicia, why didn’t you tell me? I sobbed my loneliness and frustration out, and of course some grief, although I knew that would take a while. The tears left warm tracks down my cheeks that cooled as soon as the air hit them. Aunt Alicia and Gladis Ann had always been constants in my life. Even if I didn’t talk to them but two or three times a year, there was security knowing they’d be here, in this old house, a refuge if I needed them. Now I am truly alone. Well, if I don’t count the men who seem to pop into and out of my life.
Meh. I dismissed them with a physical and mental shrug. My next relationship will be with the real thing.
When I got down to the kitchen, I put on a pot of coffee. Something seemed different, and when I looked into the small workroom off the side of the kitchen, I found a plate of assorted Italian cookies wrapped in plastic wrap, a note in Gladis Ann’s elegant handwriting, and a manila envelope on my aunt’s work desk.
So sorry to leave you like that last night, honey. I’m glad the help I called for you came. Max is a good guy, but he also has his secrets, so be careful. Say hello and goodbye to Giancarlo for us.
Your aunt and I have gone on our final journey together, earlier than we thought, but who ever knows how her life will end? We didn’t have much time to gather stuff up for you, but you’re a smart girl—you’ll find the answers in the house, which is now yours, as is everything in it. Look with your eyes and your heart, and let the light be your guide and the past your key. Just don’t get caught in the shadows and remember the odds are with you.
The will is in the envelope. We’ll miss you, and remember, we’ll always love you. Your mother says the same.
Alicia and Gladis Ann
Chapter Nine
I thought I’d cried myself out upstairs, but I found a few more tears. Okay, a lot more. By the time I finished crying, the coffee I’d put on when I came downstairs had brewed.
Why didn’t she come say goodbye upstairs? I knew so little of all of this—the strange metaphysics of multi-part souls and their manifestations. Maybe dashing off the note and pulling the cookies out of the freezer was all she’d had time for, and she couldn’t get caught by my questions. I read the missive again.
What does Giancarlo, my alcoholic Italian boyfriend who sucks in bed, have to do with this bizarre situation?
I shook my head. Too many questions, too little time for answers.
“Well, it looks like I’ve got my agenda set for the day,” I said out loud to combat the quiet in the house. Nothing, of course, replied, and I missed Wolf-Lonna especially. Without her presence in my head, I found myself talking to myself internally and externally more than I had ever before. With a sigh, I sat at the kitchen table with the will to see what I had been left with physically.
By the time I finished deciphering the legalese of the will—yeah, I know, since I worked for the government, I should be good at it, but I’m not a lawyer, and they just don’t write the darn things in plain English—it looked like I was the beneficiary of the house, the property, and a nice, tidy sum from not just one, but two life insurance policies. Apparently doubling had some ethical gray areas. The upside of it was I wouldn’t have to work again if I didn’t want to. The downside was that I still had to gather myself up, figure out what the hell I was, and get all my parts in accord.
I also had to discover what Giancarlo had to do with all of it and who Max was working
Nothing here but us…whatever the heck I am.
Figuring who or what you are is part of achieving full adulthood. I’d thought I was done with that. If I was a true grownup, I’d be okay with being on my own. Aunt Alicia, why didn’t you tell me? I sobbed my loneliness and frustration out, and of course some grief, although I knew that would take a while. The tears left warm tracks down my cheeks that cooled as soon as the air hit them. Aunt Alicia and Gladis Ann had always been constants in my life. Even if I didn’t talk to them but two or three times a year, there was security knowing they’d be here, in this old house, a refuge if I needed them. Now I am truly alone. Well, if I don’t count the men who seem to pop into and out of my life.
Meh. I dismissed them with a physical and mental shrug. My next relationship will be with the real thing.
When I got down to the kitchen, I put on a pot of coffee. Something seemed different, and when I looked into the small workroom off the side of the kitchen, I found a plate of assorted Italian cookies wrapped in plastic wrap, a note in Gladis Ann’s elegant handwriting, and a manila envelope on my aunt’s work desk.
So sorry to leave you like that last night, honey. I’m glad the help I called for you came. Max is a good guy, but he also has his secrets, so be careful. Say hello and goodbye to Giancarlo for us.
Your aunt and I have gone on our final journey together, earlier than we thought, but who ever knows how her life will end? We didn’t have much time to gather stuff up for you, but you’re a smart girl—you’ll find the answers in the house, which is now yours, as is everything in it. Look with your eyes and your heart, and let the light be your guide and the past your key. Just don’t get caught in the shadows and remember the odds are with you.
The will is in the envelope. We’ll miss you, and remember, we’ll always love you. Your mother says the same.
Alicia and Gladis Ann
Chapter Nine
I thought I’d cried myself out upstairs, but I found a few more tears. Okay, a lot more. By the time I finished crying, the coffee I’d put on when I came downstairs had brewed.
Why didn’t she come say goodbye upstairs? I knew so little of all of this—the strange metaphysics of multi-part souls and their manifestations. Maybe dashing off the note and pulling the cookies out of the freezer was all she’d had time for, and she couldn’t get caught by my questions. I read the missive again.
What does Giancarlo, my alcoholic Italian boyfriend who sucks in bed, have to do with this bizarre situation?
I shook my head. Too many questions, too little time for answers.
“Well, it looks like I’ve got my agenda set for the day,” I said out loud to combat the quiet in the house. Nothing, of course, replied, and I missed Wolf-Lonna especially. Without her presence in my head, I found myself talking to myself internally and externally more than I had ever before. With a sigh, I sat at the kitchen table with the will to see what I had been left with physically.
By the time I finished deciphering the legalese of the will—yeah, I know, since I worked for the government, I should be good at it, but I’m not a lawyer, and they just don’t write the darn things in plain English—it looked like I was the beneficiary of the house, the property, and a nice, tidy sum from not just one, but two life insurance policies. Apparently doubling had some ethical gray areas. The upside of it was I wouldn’t have to work again if I didn’t want to. The downside was that I still had to gather myself up, figure out what the hell I was, and get all my parts in accord.
I also had to discover what Giancarlo had to do with all of it and who Max was working
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