P&P

Chapter Twelve

The first week of Charlie leaving with Caroline and Darcy was absolutely awful for Jane. Our mother was extremely disappointed to see them go, and proclaimed to the whole house that she had given up the hope of ever having grandchildren. First I turn down Richard, and then Charlie leaves town. Now Jane and I have no possible hope of procreating with someone in the distant future.

According to my mother, anyway.

"I thought everything was going so well." Jane told me after a week of crying herself to sleep. "I was going to tell him I...that I only wanted to be with him."

"Have you asked Caroline why Charlie never told you they were leaving?" I asked her.

"She just said Darcy was anxious to see his sister and that Charlie needed time to blow off some steam before school starts up again." She then gasped suddenly, putting a hand to her mouth. "School! I still need to set up my schedule for the new semester." Jane was a Communications major, studying to work in the movie industry. She could do wonders behind a camera.

"As do I, sis." I told her. "I still don't know what I want to do with my life."

"No Freshman ever does." Jane assured me.

"You did."

"I knew for a very long time." She reminded me. There were phases when Jane would take her Nikon camera everywhere; she would take dozens of photos of me and Lydia, the landscape, our neighbors' pets, the mailman, you name it. "It might take a while for you to find your place, but trust me, you will."

I was enrolled at the local University, as was Jane. This summer was supposed to be about finding a job to help pay for tuition and books and signing up for online classes. What I wanted to do was take a year off school to figure out what I wanted to do with my life, but my father was afraid if I did that then I would never go back, so we compromised on online courses. But of course, I never got around to doing anything productive. No wonder my father was afraid I'd never go back to school if I took a year off now.

"You're going back to your job at All Smiles, right?" I asked Jane. All Smiles was a photography company that specialized in taking adorable pictures of babies and toddlers. Of course, my sister had endured screaming children and cleaned up bodily fluids on a daily basis, but a job was a job. How she could do it, and with a smile, was a complete mystery to me.

"Yes." Jane sighed. "There's so much to do. I have to call my boss and go down to the University. I just got so caught up with Charlie I hardly noticed when August crept its way towards us."

"I know what you mean." I told her. "This summer has just been really crazy."

"Yeah." Jane agreed. "Really crazy."

I received a text from Charlotte later that day telling me to meet her at the swing-set at the park. We practically grew up together at that park. Now that we were older, we usually only met there during emotional turmoil or when we needed to talk about something important. I guess it seemed like a fitting place to tell her about Charlie and Jane. I wondered what she had to talk to me about.

Charlotte was already on a swing when I got there, looking down at her sandals as she gently swung back and forth. I sat down on a swing next to her and asked her what was up.

"You said you'd never judge me, right?" She didn't look up at me. She kept looking down, and I wondered what was wrong.

"Of course." I assured her. "Whatever it is, I'll support you."