Chapter 4
For the first time in over a month, Alethea actually felt motivated to wake up and get out of bed. Still feeling uplifted from yesterday’s cooking session, she had wanted to get a few errands knocked out before hunkering down in front of the computer for the day. Taking a quick shower and wrangling her thick, tight curls into a low bun, Alethea turned on the bluetooth speaker while she got dressed. She chose one of her upbeat, old-school playlists as she rummaged through her closet looking for a short sundress to wear.
Dancing around to music while getting ready in the morning used to be something Alethea had done for as long as she could remember. When had she stopped doing that? In fact, when had music stopped being such a constant part of her life? Music was always on in the background while she was growing up, wasn’t it? Funny how those memories were all so fuzzy. That had seemed to be a good thing before, when it had been too painful to remember. But now that she really wanted to think about the past, her memories of growing up still somehow felt out of her grasp. She tried hard to focus, attempting to picture the old aqua-colored cd player sitting on her child-sized dresser, but just as the image formed in her mind it seemed to dissolve again, almost like smoke.
Chasing the hair tie that she was simultaneously flinging in front of her, Dandelion came crashing into the room like a bat out of hell. Skidding to a halt with her pretend quarry clutched tightly in her paws, Dandelion suddenly jerked in the opposite direction, dashing out of Alethea’s bedroom and back into the living room. “It seems I’m not the only one who’s got energy this morning,” she called to Dandelion, who from the sounds of it, had chased the elastic tie into the kitchen. “You behave while I’m gone.” Alethea grabbed her keys from the hook and slung her brown hobo bag over her shoulder.
Dandelion saunteredout from under the bar stools carrying the hair tie in her mouth and paraded right by Alethea, not acknowledging her in the least. Behave herself? Really! For Goddess’ sake, Dandelion should be saying this to Alethea, not the other way around. Sometimes her human had the audacity of a kitten! Although, she shouldn’t let herself get distracted by such silly nonsense. Alethea would only be out of the apartment for a short time, and there was a good deal of work for Dandelion to get done in her absence.
It feltgood to be outside, running errands in the mild heat of the morning. Alethea was glad she had managed to get an early start because it was supposed to be another scorcher today. Summer didn’t even officially start until next week, but the weather had other ideas, apparently. After taking a short cut to the pharmacy through the park and picking up some groceries at the large market a number of blocks away, it was already a good ten degrees hotter outside than when she had left. She was starting to sweat by the time she got back to her apartment building and welcomed the chilly blast of A/C as she opened the glass doors to the mailroom on the bottom floor. She managed to wrangle the huge pile of mail that had accumulated in her mailbox while only dropping a few stray flyers. Yikes, I really just let everything fall apart, didn’t I? she chastised herself.
Sometimes things have to fall apart so they can be put back together the right way. The thought seemed to just pop into her mind out of nowhere. It was strangely familiar, though. Had she heard someone say this recently? Maybe it was from one of the cheesy rom-coms she had been binging most nights on the couch.
Back inside the apartment, she put her overstuffed canvas shopping bags down on the counter and began flipping through the huge stack of envelopes and circulars. More junk mail addressed to Jackson. She felt that knot in her stomach lurch and remembered why she had stopped picking up the mail in the first place. Even just seeing his name felt like a knife stabbing her in the gut. Alethea gritted her teeth, crumpling the offending flyer in her hand and threw it into the trash can along with a few choice expletives. Then she slumped down onto the kitchen floor, tears streaming down her face, the rest of the mail scattering around her. She had managed to make it through the past few days without crying, but now the floodgates had reopened and she couldn’t stop the sobs from coming. Dandelion gently nudged the side of her leg, and Alethea raised her head high enough for her cat to wiggle onto her lap. “I don’t know what I’d do without you, Princess.” Alethea kissed the top of her cat’s furry head. Dandelion didn’t know either.
……
Feelinga bit calmer after a good cry and a long shower, Alethea sighed as she grabbed her laptop. She was back in position on the couch, wearing a fresh pair of comfy leggings and holding the iced coffee that she had made by pouring yesterday”s leftovers over a cup packed with ice. Definitely not as good the second day, and certainly nowhere near as good as the cafe’s, but at least she wasn’t being wasteful she reasoned. The thought of more unfruitful scrolling through job sites was too depressing. Maybe she should switch focus and try to find an apartment for a bit. Alethea squeezed her eyes shut tight. “Oh please please please let me find a place to live.” She wasn’t really certain to whom she was doing the begging. The Universe? Opening her eyes, she looked over at Dandelion who was curled up on the chair across from her as she reluctantly opened her laptop. “Ok, wish me luck.” The napping cat didn’t even stir.
Several agonizing hours later and with no promising leads to speak of, Alethea was starting to go into panic mode. What if she couldn’t find a job or a place to live in time? What if she had to leave the city and admit that she had failed, giving up on all her dreams? Maybe she should reach out to a temp agency and work at some corporate cubicle farm in the suburbs. It was a truly devastating thought. Moving to the big city was all Alethea had ever dreamed about. She wasn’t even really sure why. The city had always just called out to her soul. Well, as far back as she could remember at least. Anything before her last two years of high school was still pretty blurry, but she couldn’t remember ever feeling differently.
Closing her laptop and resting her head in her hands, she sunk farther down into the couch. What was she going to do? It all just seemed so hopeless. “Meow!” chirped Dandelion loudly, startling Alethea as she defiantly jumped onto the coffee table and plopped down on top of the huge stack of mail and papers left out from when she went over her finances with Priya. “MEOW!” she wailed, even louder this time and began pawing playfully at a postcard sticking out of the pile.
“Hey, you know you’re not allowed on there!” Alethea shooed her rambunctious cat off the table and attempted to shuffle the papers back into some sort of order. She hadn’t even noticed the postcard from her Aunt Scarlet before, obviously distracted by her earlier mini-breakdown over Jackson’s junk mail.
HELLO FROM SUNNY FLORIDA!the giant neon pink block letters exclaimed over a group of flamingos dressed in bikinis drinking tropical drinks through crazy-straws. Yup, this postcard screamed Aunt Scarlet alright. Flamboyant, over-the-top, and very pink. According to her aunt’s giddy scrawl, she was having the time of her life. She had gone to stay with her best friend Charlie and his new husband Jonatán at their posh retirement community, and apparently the three of them were getting along famously.
She must be back home from her vacation by now, Alethea thought, noticing that the postmark was from two weeks ago. She felt a little pang of guilt for avoiding her aunt. Well, avoiding talking to her aunt so that she didn’t have to tell her about the betrayals of Black Tuesday, was more like it. The thought of hashing through all of the gorey details again made that knot in her stomach squeeze even tighter. Especially since she’d have to admit that her aunt had been right. Aunt Scarlet had never liked Jackson and had no qualms about letting her opinion be known to anyone who would, or in Alethea’s case wouldn’t, listen. This had driven the wedge even further into their already strained relationship.
Despite it driving Alethea crazy that her eccentric aunt was always right, at least she had the decency to never say I told you so or rub it in. Aunt Scarlet was simply matter-of-fact about her opinions. It just so happened that her opinions were many. Guess I’ll stop procrastinating about this, too. Grabbing her phone, she steeled herself and dialed her aunt, scooping up a protesting Dandelion in the process. The cat squirmed free from Alethea’s grasp and onto the safety of the sofa. But no sooner than she was out of Alethea’s arms did she turn around and give her a gentle head butt, which made Alethea smile.
Dandelion wasin fact pleased that Alethea finally had the sense to reach out to Aunt Scarlet, even if it had taken a bit of cajoling on her part. The head butt was her signature move when using positive reinforcement with humans. She found a good spot on the cushion next to Alethea and settled in. Of course with her excellent hearing she could easily overhear the conversation from the other room, but Dandelion wasn’t taking any chances. She wanted to be front and center so as to not miss a word.
Her aunt pickedup on the second ring and after hearing her cheerful voice, Alethea felt an even bigger stab of guilt. Had she really avoided talking to her aunt this past month over not wanting to admit she was wrong? It seemed so silly to her now. “So…how was Florida?” Alethea asked casually. Her aunt let out a delighted laugh in response, gushing with excitement. Between the jet ski lessons, the late-night karaoke sessions, and joining Jonatán’s hiking group, Aunt Scarlet had been on the go the entire visit, which of course was exactly how she liked it. Her social butterfly of an aunt thrived on group outings, and Alethea could tell the visit had revived her gregarious spirit.
“And how about you, how are you dear?” Aunt Scarlet asked once she was finally done describing in detail the handsome widower and two divorcées she had met at the community barbeque. Before she could chicken out, Alethea just started blurting out the past month’s events, in all their ugliness. She told her aunt every last bit of it, even how ashamed she had been feeling about the cold and detached way Jackson had left her, despite the words tasting like poison as she spoke them out loud.
“I’m so sorry dear. I can only imagine how much that must have hurt. But it sounds to me like they both got what they deserved.”
“And what do you mean by that, exactly?” Alethea snapped back defensively.
“Well, they certainly didn’t deserve someone as caring, thoughtful, and incredibly talented as you and now neither of them have you.” Aunt Scarlet’s tone was matter-of-fact. In fact, her aunt was acting surprisingly calm and irritatingly rational. Alethea knew her aunt wouldn’t gloat or rub it in her face that she had predicted Jackson’s infidelity, but she had thought she would’ve at least been slightly scandalized by how things had unfolded. Alethea couldn’t bring herself to say anything in response, and the silence seemed to stretch on.
After a few seconds, Aunt Scarlet continued. “Listen dear, I know that being deceived by someone we love can be the most painful hurt imaginable. You may not see it yet, but learning the truth about them also gives us a chance to learn the truth about ourselves.” Her aunt’s voice sounded slightly distant, as if she was remembering something from long ago. Alethea could picture her aunt on the other end of the line, tilting her head back slightly to the side and squinting her eyes the way she did when she was trying to recall something from the past. Her wild curls of outrageously bright fuschia dyed hair would be framing her round apple cheeks. She loved her aunt like a second mother, but at this moment, her aunt waxing poetic was just about the last thing she needed.
Regaining her focus, Aunt Scarlet cleared her throat and carried on. “Anyway, I do have something very important to talk to you about and it seems like now might actually be the perfect time.” When Alethea didn’t object, her aunt continued. “I’m moving to Florida, dear.”
Alethea tried very hard to hold back her shock. Her aunt could be impulsive sometimes, sure, but moving to Florida?! She attempted to sound casual. “I’m really glad that you had such a great time, Aunt Scarlet, but, um, don’t you think that’s kind of a fast decision?”
“Charlie and Jonatán’s next-door neighbor had recently put her condo on the market and they suggested I meet with their realtor while I was in town.” Alethea’s aunt completely ignored her question and barreled on. “The property is a steal and you know how much I miss Charlie since he moved! It’s funny how things just seem to work out sometimes. Honestly, this opportunity really couldn’t be more perfect. Besides, you’re all grown up now and it’s been overdue for me to move out and into a place of my own.”
A place of her own, what did her aunt mean by that? “Well, that’s wonderful news, Aunt Scarlet. It’s great to hear you this excited.” Truth be told, Alethea did love her aunt’s bestie, and she could definitely understand why her Aunt Scarlet would want to live close to him again. Charlie was someone who truly embodied the phrase young at heart. His joy of life was infectious, and there was always an adventure to be had when spending time with him, even if you were just going out for a day of shopping and running errands.
Alethea had only met Jonatán once, when she had been Aunt Scarlet’s plus-one at his wedding. But even from what little time she had spent with the couple, she could tell how madly in love they were with each other. Any man that could make Charlie this happy was okay in her book. Getting over the initial shock of the news, she was actually glad that her aunt had decided to do something so spontaneous for herself. Come to think of it, had she ever really seen Aunt Scarlet do anything just for herself without putting others first? Usually her aunt’s spontaneity revolved around helping or doing something nice for others. Alethea hadn’t really bothered to consider this before, she realized a bit sheepishly.
“Thank you dear, I thought you’d be happy for me. I really do hate to drop all of this on you so quickly.” Her aunt hesitated for a moment. “Everything just started falling into motion, you see. I need to be back for the closing in two and a half weeks, so I’m sorry to say you’ll need to come back home fairly soon and decide what you want to do with your house.” Those words seemed to echo through the phone.
Of course. It was her house now. It just felt so strange to think of it that way. Right after the death of her parents, Aunt Scarlet had moved in and been named Alethea’s legal guardian. Alethea supposed she hadn’t ever considered that her aunt would want to leave one day. The home she had grown up in, her parent’s house, had been in the family for generations. Even though Alethea had technically inherited it, she had never actually thought of the house as belonging to her.
She made plans to talk to her aunt again in a few days to go over things in more detail once Alethea had some time to process what was unfolding. She put her phone down on the Bluetooth charging pad and walked into the kitchen, swapping her coffee cup for a wine glass. Of all the things she had imagined her aunt saying, this was absolutely the last thing she would ever have expected. “Well Dandelion, I can’t believe I’m saying this, but it looks like we’re going home.”