Acceptance

[fol_fan1989]

Chapter Thirty-One

“Here are the earrings you wanted, Tootie,” Blair said.
“Thanks, Blair.” Tootie took them and zipped them securely in her purse. She set it on the chair next to her.
“Are you ready for your opening night?”
“Yeah,” Tootie stirred her coffee. “Just one ticket for you, right?”
“Yes,” Blair sighed. “I’m going solo.”
“It’s been a while since you brought home a guy. Anyone special you haven’t told us about?”
“No, Tootie.”
“Got it,” Natalie said from her seat beside Blair. “You’ve hit a dry spell.”
Blair glared at her. “No, just no one special enough to bring home.”
“I can’t believe Jo’s not here yet,” Tootie said, glancing around the coffee shop. “She never misses Sunday brunch.”
“She’s missed two in the last month,” Natalie pointed out.
“Maybe she and the girls stayed up too late with Mrs. Garrett,” Blair said.
All three of their cell phones pinged with an incoming text.
“Jo can’t make it,” Tootie said disappointedly after she looked at her phone.
“We all got the same text,” Natalie said. “She just said something came up and she needed to stay home. You think she’s okay?”
“I’m sure she’s fine,” Blair said. “You know Jo. She’s private. And stubborn.”
“I can’t believe she still keeps things from us,” Tootie said.
“Tootie, not everyone wants to over-share on social media.”
“I’m not asking her to share online. I’m just saying she could tell us.”
“I’m sure everything’s fine,” Blair reassured her. “Let’s order.”

***

Mrs. Garrett stood in her kitchen mixing up a batch of cookies. She always baked when she was upset, even though now her house was empty and she had no one to share food with.
She put the cookies in the oven and set a timer. She picked up her cell phone to send Jo a message. She wasn’t great at using the phone, but Jamie had showed her how to text and make and answer calls.
How is everything this morning? She hit the SEND icon.
Jo’s response came about 20 minutes later, after the cookies were out of the oven.
Jo: Julia’s still asleep. Jamie and McKenzie are at work. I don’t know how I should punish Julia.
Mrs. Garrett replied: Probably something like how I punished you girls the time Tootie got drunk.
Jo replied immediately: I almost forgot about that. No phone, no TV, no friends for a month?
Mrs. G: I think it was something like that, Mrs. Garrett sighed as she sent the text.
Jo: Thanks, Mrs. G.

***

Julia’s head was pounding. She reached to her right for her phone on the nightstand. She couldn’t find it. Had it fallen on the floor? She sighed and lay back down. What had happened last night? She tried to remember. Why was she in her room and not at Lily’s? It started to come back to her in horror.
They’d snuck out of Lily’s and caught an Uber down the road so Lily didn’t have to drive. The party was already lit when they arrived.
Brett had swept her off her feet. She remembered dancing with him; he was strong and smelled good. He’d complemented her in his deep, sexy voice. He’d gotten her a beer and had let her open it. It had tasted awful, but she’d loosened up. She remembered being nervous, and the alcohol had helped her open up to Brett. They’d made out. A lot. They’d talked and danced and drank until … What? She vaguely remembered her mother picking her up from the police station, but everything else was foggy.
She slowly got out of bed and made her way to the bathroom.
“Julia.”
She’d just finished in the bathroom and opened the door, when her mother’s voice made her jump.
“Mom?”
“How are you feeling?”
“My head hurts. I’m going back to bed.”
“We need to talk first.”
Julia ignored her and went into her bedroom.
Jo followed her.
“What the hell, Julia.” Jo sat on the end of Julia’s bed. Julia sat at the head, leaning against pillows.
“I’m sorry. I know you’re disappointed.”
“Disappointed? That doesn’t even begin to cover it! You’re in deep here.”
Julia sighed.
“What happened last night?”
Julia did her best to recount what she remembered.
“You snuck out, you drank, you got arrested! And you aren’t supposed to be seeing guys!” Jo’s voice rose as she spoke.
“I know it was all stupid. I know you have to punish me.”
“No phone, no friends, no TV for a month.”
“A month?!”
“Want me to make it two?”
“No. Okay.”
“You go to the shop to help Mrs. Garrett and you help out at home. No where else.”
Julia nodded solemnly.
“Give me your phone.”
“I don’t know where it is. It wasn’t on the nightstand where I always put it.”
Jo walked to the other side of the bed and picked it up from the floor beneath the nightstand. “It was on the floor. I’m turning it off.”
Julia curled up on her side and started to cry.
“Get some rest,” Jo said as she left and closed the door behind her.

***

Jo saw Natalie’s name flash on her screen a few hours later. No doubt she was calling to find out why Jo had skipped brunch. Unlike the rest of her friends, Jo wasn’t as consistent with brunch as she was with Friday night dinners at Mrs. G’s.
“Hi, Nat,” Jo answered.
“Hi, Jo. I was just wondering if everything’s okay. You weren’t at brunch.”
“Everything’s fine.”
“Are the girls all right?”
“Yeah.”
“Jo, I can tell by your tone of voice that something happened. You can’t fool me, Polniaczeck!” Her tone turned gentle. “What’s going on?”
“Julia wasn’t feeling well. That’s why I missed this morning.”
“Is she all right? Is it serious? Is the cancer back? Oh, my God.”
“Natalie,” Jo stopped her. “It’s nothing like that. She and Lily got into some trouble last night, and this morning she wasn’t feeling well.”
“They got into some trouble last night and this morning she didn’t feel well? She was drinking, wasn’t she?”
“How do you do that?”
“Jo, I may be moving into teaching, but I still have a reporter’s mind. I can connect the dots.”
Jo sighed. “You connected them pretty directly this time. She was supposed to be spending the night at Lily’s, but they snuck out and went to a party where there was alcohol. The cops busted it up. I got a call just as I was finishing watching a movie with Mrs. G, Jamie, and McKenzie.”
Natalie was quiet on the other end of the phone, but Jo knew she was listening.
“I had to pick her up from the police station. Her speech was slurred, and she was so unsteady she couldn’t even use her cane properly. I practically had to carry her to the car. First sneaking out to meet guys, and now this?”
“Were there guys at the party?”
“Of course there were guys at the party.” Jo paused. “When the girls were younger, Jamie was the one I worried about most. Now all she wants to do is be wherever McKenzie is, and McKenzie’s such a home body that they’re here all the time. And Julia’s the one I’m worried about.”
“Did you punish her?”
“I took away her phone, TV, and friends privileges for the next month. And I told her she’s either here or helping Mrs. G.”
“That seems fair.”
“Nat, what’s gonna happen when she goes off to Langley?”
“She’ll have to make her own decisions and live with the consequences. It’s part of growing up.”
“I know,” Jo sighed. She heard a door upstairs close. “I’m gonna go check on her. I think she’s up.”
“Jo, just don’t hover, okay?”
“I know. Then she’ll hate me even more.”
“You two are just going through a rough patch. It happens in every mother-daughter relationship.”
“Thanks, Nat. I gotta go.”
“Let me know if you need anything.”
“I will. Bye.”

[fol_fan1989]

Chapter Thirty-Two

Jo walked out of the bathroom and was surprised to see the kitchen light on. She padded into the kitchen and found McKenzie leaning against the counter.
“McKenzie, are you all right? It’s the middle of the night.”
“My blood sugar’s low.”
Jo stepped closer and saw McKenzie was shaking.
“Did you eat something?”
“I found some juice.”
Jo turned on the dining room light and pulled out a chair at the table. “Come sit.”
“You don’t have to wait up.” McKenzie sat at the table.
“Naw, it’s okay. I wasn’t sleeping anyway.” Jo sat across from her.
“Are you having trouble sleeping?”
“Yeah,” Jo sighed. “I’m worried about Julia.”
McKenzie nodded.
Jo shook her head. She didn’t want to share her problems with McKenzie. She had her friends, and Natalie was right; she and Julia were just going through a rough patch. Besides, McKenzie had enough of her own problems. Jo looked up at McKenzie, who looked far away.
“Did you know my parents were there when I was diagnosed with Diabetes, but as soon as I was out of the hospital, they left most of it up to me and the staff at Eastland?”
“I’m sorry to hear that,” Jo said sadly. She shook her head. McKenzie had really gotten a bum hand when it came to family. “You had to grow up pretty fast, didn’t you?”
“Yeah,” McKenzie said quietly. “The dietitian and nurse on staff were great and knew their stuff, but Jamie helped a lot, too.”
“Jamie?”
“She took it upon herself to learn as much as she could about what food and carbs do to my blood sugar, how to count carbs so I know how much insulin to give myself, what blood sugar range is considered healthy-- everything. We learned a lot alongside each other.”
“She did?”
“Yeah. I’m not sure I’d be here without her. She still helps me with it, even though I can do everything myself.”
“Like the first time you had dinner with us at Mrs. G’s. With the hamburger buns.”
McKenzie nodded. “She’s not just my best friend and my girlfriend, she’s my partner. I don’t know what I’m going to do without her when she leaves.”
“She’ll only be 20 minutes away.”
McKenzie shook her head. “It won’t be the same.”
“I know.” Jo said solemnly. She nodded.

***

McKenzie slipped back into bed after her blood sugar had come up.
“Kenzie, you okay?” Jamie sounded groggy.
“My blood sugar was low. It’s better now. Sorry. I didn’t mean to wake you.” She snuggled in next to Jamie.
“You sure you’re okay?” Jamie reached for her.
“Yeah.” McKenzie kissed her gently. “Don’t worry.”
“Don’t steal all the covers,” Jamie whined as they adjusted themselves beneath the covers.
“It’s hot. You can have all the covers.”
“Night, Kenz,” Jamie murmured.

***

“Baaby,” Jamie whined the next morning as she reached for McKenzie.
“I want to get in the shower before Julia takes forever,” McKenzie said from where she stood by the closet.
“No,” Jamie whined. “Come here and kiss me.”
McKenzie smiled. She lay beside Jamie and kissed her deeply. Jamie ran her hands through McKenzie’s hair as she kissed her back. McKenzie pulled away, and Jamie gave her a goofy grin. McKenzie laughed and kissed her forehead.
“I’m going to go shower now.”
“Go shower,” Jamie said.
McKenzie laughed. “I love you.”
“I love you, too,” Jamie said.
“I don’t know what I’d do without you.”
“You never have to know.”
McKenzie looked at her sadly.
“What?”
“When you go to school…”
“It’s twenty minutes away. We’ll see each other all the time.”
“You won’t spread your wings and change everything about yourself when you go to college? What if we grow apart?”
“We won’t.”
“You don’t know that!” McKenzie cried.
“Kenzie, I’m scared, too. I don’t know what’s going to happen. But I know I love you, and that won’t change.”
“But a lot of high school sweethearts, or even college sweethearts—”
“We’re not most people. Think about what we’ve gotten through in just a few months. Your diagnosis, both of us coming out to each other and then to our families, everything your family’s put you through, my sister.”
“Your sister?” McKenzie cracked a smile.
“There’s that smile I love.”
McKenzie’s smile widened. Jamie smiled back.