“Mom doesn’t want me talking to her. She’s afraid I’ll want to become a prostitute if I do.”
“Your mother is just trying to protect you. I advise you to cooperate.”
“Okay.”
“We’re home!” Abby walked in with a smile. Both she and Jasmine were carrying bags.
“I tried getting away with less, but Abby made me go back and get more stuff. I’m afraid we went over $500.”
Abby interrupted, “It’s scary how little $500 buys anymore. We just bought essentials for a week.”
“A week?”
“I figured that it would take her that long to adjust and get off the crutches.”
“Thanks for taking me, Abby.”
“You’re welcome, Jasmine. We do want to help you, all of us.” She paused to gather herself and joked. “Well, it looks like no one here has been working since we’ve left.”
“Hey, Mom. I did my chores and made some lemonade. Dad mowed the yard.”
“I was just kidding. The lawn looks good, Tim. Are you done?”
“Nope, I still have trimming and raking to do. Do I have enough time to finish before lunch?”
“You do if we go out for pizza.”
Jessie shouted, “PIZZA!”
“There’s one vote. Jasmine?”
She tried to imitate Jessie, “PIZZA!”
Tim finished up and the whole crew went to Mama G’s Pizza.
*****
THE ENSUING MONTHS
The days of Jasmine’s stay turned into weeks and then a month. Once healed up, Jasmine was able to find a job waitressing. Her success there soon led to her being a Shift Manager. That paid enough for a very humble apartment, not too far from the Hardaway’s house. They helped her move in one weekend. Jasmine and the Hardaway family had supper together at least once a week. Tim and Abby refused to let Jasmine pay back the money. They told her to use the money to help someone else someday.
Abby’s cooperative attitude at first had diminished more and more the longer Jasmine stayed. She was afraid to bring up Jasmine’s leaving to Tim for fear of upsetting him. Abby began to notice what she considered a ‘too comfortable’ attitude when Jasmine and Tim were together. She thought she might be seeing a return of the intimacy Jasmine and Tim had before their divorce. It would not have surprised her to find out that Tim and Jasmine had figured out a way to have sex.
To Abby, what was worse was the relationship between Jasmine and Jessie. Jasmine was like the ‘cool Aunt’ most teenage girls would like to have. She was willing to do the crazy things like scary rides at the amusement park with Jessie that Abby didn’t. It was on the day she heard Jessie respond to her when she ended a teenage temper tantrum with the phrase, “I wish Jasmine were my mother” that’s when Abby’s heart broke a piece off. She was very happy to see Jasmine leave. She was finally able to talk to Tim about the effect that having Jasmine there had on their family.
Tim said he hadn’t noticed any changes that Jasmine had made in intrafamily interactions when Abby talked to him about it. He asked, “Won’t you miss having Jasmine living here because of how well she had blended with the family?” That infuriated Abby to no end. She felt she needed a different approach. Soon, Abby had an idea of how to wake her husband up to the need to defend their family from this intruder. Abby asked Tim if she could go out with the girls from the office on Friday night. He and Jessie could have bonding time. He said, ‘Sure.’ Abby almost died when he responded, “Maybe we can go somewhere with Jasmine.”
She said to herself, “Jasmine is in our lives more now than when she lived here.” An upset Abby was focused on shocking her husband back to where he was before Jasmine came back into his life. She decided she would find out that if he was allowed to restore an old intimate relationship, it was only fair that she could too. A former boyfriend had been overly friendly at the last high school reunion was her choice. Nothing happened the night of the reunion, but he gave her his number and promised her a good time whenever she wanted. She never thought she would use it until now. Abby was now on her way to meet him. She was still undecided about how far she would go with him when her over-focusing on her date caused her to under-focus on driving. Abby ran a stop sign and was tee-boned on the driver’s side.