Free Hyacinth Girls by Lauren Frankel Page B

toenails, painted baby blue, and her wide freckled shoulders that always fit perfectly under my arm.
    “Where the hell have you been? Where the hell?”
    Callie crossed her arms and caught my eye. “I was just out on the bike.”
    “You’re too much for me,” Aunt Bea said unapologetically. “I’m not up to kids anymore.”
    Callie flinched, and then she turned her head, as if preparing for another blow. She pulled her hair across one cheek, and I glanced at Bea. She didn’t even seem to notice. She rustled the bag of chips on her lap, and I willed her to shut up. “I missed you so much,” I said, pulling Callie into a hug. “You can’t just disappear like that.” Her slender body was hot and rigid. She touched my back and then pulled away.
    “You came to take me home?”
    “Bea’s not feeling well, so she called me,” I explained. “I’ve been driving around looking for you. Why didn’t you answer your phone?”
    “I didn’t hear it,” she said. Then she looked at Bea with open frustration. My aunt put another chip in her mouth before Callie turned and skulked out of the room.
    “You didn’t tell her you were sending her home?” I asked, after hearing the bedroom door slam.
    “I told her,” Bea said.
    “Well, she didn’t seem to know.” I felt a nastiness rising inside me. “How much money do you have left?” I’d given Bea an envelope of cash to pay for Callie that week, and if she was sending her home, she could just give it back.
    “It’s gone,” she said sourly.
    I left without saying good-bye. When Callie dragged herself outside, I put an arm around her.
    “You okay, Callie?”
    She didn’t answer.
    “I know this is hard, but you shouldn’t take it personally.” I mustered up as much charity as I could. “You know she’s in pain and she’s not a happy person.”
    Callie blinked at me in the sunshine and then shook her head as if it wasn’t worth talking about.
     
All My Interactions with Robyn Doblak, #4
    For Rebecca/From Callie
    Rebecca, remember when I was five and I stopped sleeping for a while? I was staying with Grandma Susanna and Grandpa Pat, and at night I waited for Mom. I would listen for the sound of her key, then the bedroom door would open and I’d see her in the dark. Her jacket smelled like cold air, and she’d whisper, “You still awake?”
    Sometimes she’d let me sit up in bed, and I’d show her how Grandpa Pat taught me to whistle through my teeth or I’d show her a scab I was growing on my hand. Other times, she’d tell me what it was like. She told me about the beetles and worms and the tunnels underground and it didn’t scare me. I wanted her to know it didn’t scare me. I waited every night and squinted into the darkness until I heard her key and then I could relax. I wanted to go with her.
    Grandma and Grandpa heard me through the walls. They heard me talking and asked me what was going on. Then they said I was making it up and playing a joke. I screamed and they sent me to my room. I thought Mom wouldn’t come anymore. But that night I waited and waited and finally she came. Then Grandma Susanna got sick and you came to stay.
    Remember when you heard about Mom’s visits, and you wanted to talk to me? You looked me right in the eyes and asked what Mom had said and how she looked. I could tell youwere trying not to get too excited, and I decided I wouldn’t tell you that Mom was just in her regular jacket. I said she wore a long sparkly dress with silver shoes and a veil. Then you asked if you could sleep in my room that night.
    I remember you flossing my teeth and reading my favorite story about rabbits, then you lay down on the flip bed on the floor of my room. Sometimes when we lived in the old place and Mom was taking her classes at night, you would sit in my room if I had a bad dream. I could hear you breathing like then, and I started getting confused about where I was. I thought if I looked over one way there would be the blue