A lighthearted, singsong chuckle on my end did not ease her shock.
“Are you kidding? Brent, hold on, it’s Meredith.”
I heard a door close and then she dropped a bomb.
“Well, I hope you haven’t left yet. I’m in Paris.”
“You’re in Paris?! Paris Paris?”
For the record, my sister is not a jetsetter. I hoped she meant Paris, Texas, not the croissant-filled country half a world away.
“Yes, Paris Paris. Brent and I are traveling for the next three months while our house gets renovated.”
“You’ve got to be kidding.”
I really almost broke down then. My throat was tightening. Tears were locked and loaded. People were starting to look at me and wonder if TSA had made a mistake letting me through security.
My flight was already boarding as my sister continued, “We’ve been wanting to redo the kitchen and bathrooms for a while…”
What the hell does that have to do with Paris?
“…so we thought, why not make a big trip out of it while our house is unlivable?”
Unlivable. I guess there’s more than one way to demolish a home, a life.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Let’s see, I told the bank, the contractors, the permit office—oh darnit! Now that you mention it, I did forget to tell the half-sister I haven’t spoken to since when…Christmas?”
Her tone implied that was my fault, and it was—partly.
“Sorry, I’ve been MIA.”
“It’s fine. Listen, why don’t we try to schedule something for the holidays like we always say we will? This time we’ll do it. I’ll fix up the guest room for you and Andrew—”
I rubbed my eyes, hoping I could push the tears back to where they belonged. There was so much to catch her up on.
“No, Helen. It’s a long story, but I need to come now. Can I stay in the house while you guys are gone?”
“It’s a disaster zone. There are exterior walls missing. That’s why we left.”
“Right.” Of course. She’d just told me that. “What about jobs? Do you know of anyone hiring? I could update my resume…I think I have it saved on my old university email somewhere.”
At that point Helen began to crack up, then she repeated my request to Brent, and together, their chorus of laughter pounded on my heart like it was a punching bag.
Oh ha-ha-ha, your life is falling apart before your very eyes. Stop, stop—you’re killing me!
“Is this a prank? If so, it’s a very expensive, overseas-phone-call prank. Did Andrew put you up to this?”
“Last call for passengers for flight 365, service to San Antonio. Final boarding at gate 12.”
She must have heard the announcement, because her next words were delivered in a much more serious tone. “Oh my god, you’re really at the airport, aren’t you?”
I was flying down the terminal, knocking down any and all children and elderly people in my path, trying to get to my gate before they closed the doors without me. They even said my name over the loudspeaker. I always wondered what kind of dummy has to have their name announced like that. Me. I’m the dummy.
“Yes. Helen, I’m coming to Texas and I need your help.” I was out of breath from running as I pleaded with her. “Please. I can’t explain, but I just need to cash in whatever love you might have for me.”
She sighed, exasperated. She was always exasperated with me about one thing or another, which was one of the reasons I hadn’t bothered visiting in the past.
“Fine. Call me when you land.”
Turns out I didn’t need to call her. She apparently guessed the gist of my situation while I was sitting in a metal tube 30,000 feet in the air and came to her own conclusions. By the time I landed, I had a dozen text messages from her, each one berating me for my impulsiveness and apparent irrationality.
Helen: Is this all a game, or are you actually leaving Andrew? I’m not going to start calling in favors for you if you’re just going to quit and fly back to California in a week.
Seems cold, right? Well, here’s the thing: Helen and I don’t exactly see eye to eye. We never have. We’re ten years apart in age, and our father left her mother for mine. In her eyes, I had the glorious, perfect childhood that was taken from her…and okay, sure, those first few years were pretty good. I got to go on family vacations and every year I had one big Christmas instead of