Chapter Thirteen #2
“I know you must miss her terribly.” Kit took Greta by the arm and led her through the living room. “I’m hoping to get to know her through you. I have so many questions.”
When they reached the designated impromptu dining area, Kit gestured for Greta to have a seat in one of the comfy chairs.
“When we were young, and it was a cold or a rainy day, Maxine and I used to sit in here and read. Sometimes we’d read aloud, and sometimes your mother—” Greta chuckled. “Of course, she wasn’t your mother then. Sometimes she’d read us stories.”
“That was nice of her.” Kit thought this would be a good time to say something like, It’s a shame they grew apart later in life, but Greta segued into another line of thought before Kit could open her mouth.
“We always had such a fun time at the camp in the summer. I’d come up in the morning and help out with whatever chores Maxine had to do that day—mostly cleaning up the cabins after campers had left, you know.
Making sure there was no food left in the refrigerators and sweeping the floors and making sure nothing had been left behind.
Get them ready for the next campers, you know.
Your grandparents paid us each one dollar for every cabin we cleaned.
Then we’d have the rest of the day to swim or play tennis or go out on the lake in a canoe or a kayak or one of the small boats and fish or just drift around. ”
“Where did you play tennis?” Kit asked.
“On the courts, of course.” Greta smiled. “You can’t see them now because they’re covered with snow and the nets were taken down a couple of years ago and never put back up. When the snow melts, I’ll show you.”
“That would be great, thanks.” Kit avoided the topic of the future. Maybe the snow would melt enough for her to figure it out for herself before she left. “Give me a moment to grab lunch. I’ll be right back.”
“Can I give you a hand?” Greta asked as Kit started out of the room.
“Thanks, but everything’s ready.” Except that it wasn’t.
Once Kit was in the kitchen, she realized the chowder had gotten cold.
She found a pot in one of the cabinets, gave it a quick rinse, dumped both containers of chowder in, and turned on the heat.
She plated the sandwiches and took them into her impromptu dining alcove.
Kit found Greta looking over the bookshelves.
“I have chowder heating, but it should only take a minute,” Kit announced.
“That’s fine, dear. I’m in no hurry,” Greta replied without turning around, and raised a hand with a fat hardcover book in it.
“I remember when this book first came out. What a scandal it caused at the time. Oh, and this one.” She pointed to another.
“Maxine and I went into Augusta to see the movie one Friday night. We weren’t allowed in cars, but my older brother drove us, so that was okay.
He said he was doing it just because he was such a good big brother, but we both knew he just wanted to be seen out with Maxine.
I’m pretty sure his stock rose pretty fast after that,” she said with a laugh.
“Judging from the picture I have of her, Maxine was quite the beauty.”
“She was the prettiest girl in town, maybe even in the whole state of Maine. But the thing about Maxine, it wasn’t just her beauty.
She had a kindness about her. I never saw her be mean to anyone or say anything hurtful.
Yes, she got a bit feisty when she got older, but when she was younger, before everything that happened, well, happened, she was the nicest person you would ever meet.
That was why everyone wanted to be her friend. ”
“I heard some of the girls in school hadn’t returned her kindness.”
“Oh, there’s always going to be jealousy when one person stands out so far above everyone else.
Maxine never paid attention to those girls.
Their attitude toward her did not affect her attitude toward them.
She was just a good soul in a gorgeous package.
And she was smart. Wicked smart. She skipped two grades in elementary, you know. ”
“Banks told me.”
“She still hung out with me and a few others during the summer, though. Even though we were two years behind her after a while. She never forgot who her friends were. She was loyal as the day is long.”
Finally, a thread Kit could pull.
“Hold that thought, Greta.” Kit grabbed the soup bowls from the table and disappeared into the kitchen. Moments later she returned with the steaming bowls of chowder.
“No one makes better than Linda,” Greta said after she’d taken a few spoonfuls. “My own mother made a mean chowda, but Linda’s got her beat by miles, and my mother would be the first to admit it, if she were still alive.”
“It is delicious.” Kit had a bit of the soup before she put down her spoon. “Greta, my mom was a really nice person, a really kind person. Maxine sounds so much like her. Why didn’t they get along as adults?”
“I’m not sure.” Greta averted her eyes. “You know, Barbie moved away and didn’t come back. Coulda just been the distance, you know?”
“Maybe.” Kit took a bite of her sandwich, then returned it to her plate.
She tapped her book centerpiece and said, “These books were on the shelves here. They belonged to my mom—well, they have her name in them. When we were little, my sister and I, my mom bought us these same books. There are others upstairs in her old bedroom.”
“Both girls were readers,” Greta said between bites. “They both read before they went to sleep at night.”
“My mother continued that habit, and my sister and I have done the same. But I can’t understand why she didn’t just give us the copies she had as a child, instead of buying new copies for us.”
Greta continued to chew slowly. Was she measuring her words or searching for a convincing lie? Finally, she said, “She would have had to come back.”
“Why wouldn’t she have wanted to come back? This was her home, she grew up here.”
Greta nodded. From the kitchen, the teakettle screamed sharply.
“Before you ask, I’ll have Earl Grey, thank you,” Greta told her.
“Be right back.” Kit went into the kitchen. She would have had to come back. Of course she would have. But why would she not want to was the question.
Kit poured water into the pitcher she found in the cupboard, grabbed the box of tea, and was back in her seat in seconds. She didn’t want to take a chance that Greta would drift into a different area of conversation.
“Why wouldn’t my mom have wanted to come back?” Kit asked as she poured hot water into both cups. “Wasn’t Maxine her only relative?”
Greta nodded. “Their parents were gone—died not too long before Miles died at the end of November 1969. Maxine’s parents the last day of September that year.”
“That much loss would have been a lot to process. That’s what you meant when you said she got feisty after what happened had happened.”
“Right. Their parents’ death was tough on Maxine and Barbie. They spent a lot of time together then, but after Miles died, Barbie was here every single day. She and Ed lived in Augusta, but she more or less moved out to the camp to stay with Maxine.”
“Did you know Miles?”
“I did.”
“Your impression of him?”
“He was the perfect man for her. Like the male version of Maxine. He was beautiful and nice as can be and smart like she was—not as outgoing, though. He was the love of your aunt’s life.
I know people use that term a lot, but for her, it was true.
She never loved anyone but Miles, not before him, not after.
She was crushed when he died, went into a terrible funk for months afterward.
I remember telling her how lucky she was to have Barbie.
I mean, they were so close, Maxine didn’t want anyone else around.
But I have to admit my nose was more than a bit put out.
Oh, I know they were sisters, but I considered Maxine my closest friend, and it hurt that she didn’t want to see me. ”
“She told you that, that she didn’t want to see you?”
“Barbie did, when I showed up one day. She said Maxine was in deep mourning and only wanted family. That she’d give me a call when she was up to speaking to me.
” Greta took a bite of sandwich and chewed for a moment.
“Which always struck me as odd, the way she said it. Just more or less, go away. You know, like, Don’t call us, we’ll call you.
I’d never known Barbie to be that brusque.
Real close to being cruel, which she never was that I’d seen. Still strikes me as odd.”
“Do you remember when that was?”
“It was after Miles died, maybe a month or so after. Camp had closed for the winter—they canceled all the winter reservations. Maxine and Barbie were holed up here for a couple of months. Then all of a sudden I hear Barbie and Ed moved to Pennsylvania. It was the damnedest thing. I had no idea they were moving—honestly, I didn’t believe it at first. The story going around town was that Ed’s father wanted to open a branch of his company in Philadelphia.
Maybe Barbie knew about that and didn’t mention it to Maxine, but I know Maxine was real upset when she left.
I got the feeling she felt she’d been blindsided somehow.
But I’m not gonna lie, I wasn’t all that upset about it.
I know it makes me sound petty, but I was happy when Barbie was out of the picture.
” It must have occurred to her that she was speaking to Barbie’s daughter. “No offense intended.”
“None taken. What happened after my mom left?”
Greta stared at a spot on the wall near the windows.
“For months before that, Maxine had pushed me away, like she only needed Barbie. Then Barbie was gone and Maxine fell apart completely. I mean, that woman cried day after day. Not that I blame her,” Greta hastened to add.
“I mean, she’d lost her love, her parents, then her sister moved hundreds of miles away. I know she must have felt abandoned.”