like being either with the girls or only a couple of blocks away,” Justine said.
“I can understand that,” Addie said. “And...we’ve never lived together.”
“Maybe we never will,” Justine said.
“I hope we do,” Adele said. “I hope we at least have sleepovers.”
It had been a long time since all the bedrooms in Adele’s house had been used. When Justine went to college, she commuted at first. When she left home, she took her bedroom furniture with her mother’s blessing—it was pretty old, after all. Adele’s mother’s furniture, by the end, had been functional hospital furniture. It was gone within days of her passing.
Adele started looking online for bedroom furniture and within two weeks had found a bed and dresser at a very reasonable price. She went and looked at it, bought it and had it delivered. Two days after showing it to her sister, Justine decided to spend the night. “Just this one night,” she said. “I don’t want to get in your way.”
“You’re not in the way, Justine. You help a lot.”
It was true. Justine was a neat freak and tidied up constantly. She loved to go to the market and get fresh food—much fresher and better quality than the chain supermarket she’d been using for years. And Justine’s new job was so close. By July Justine had settled into one of the upstairs bedrooms with the used bedroom furniture and new mattress that Adele had purchased.
Half Moon Bay had a fantastic beach, and Scott had proven himself to be very inadequate about spending time with his daughters. He was working! Thank God they weren’t young and could take pretty good care of themselves. The combination of Scott’s delinquency and the draw of the beach saw Adele’s nieces coming to Half Moon Bay when their summer job schedules allowed. At first they came for the day and stayed for dinner, then they brought blow-up mattresses with sheets and blankets from home and duffels holding their clothes and stayed overnight. July saw the three of them, Justine, Amber and Olivia, at Adele’s more often than in San Jose. Instead of Justine going to San Jose to spend nights with her daughters, they were coming to her. They tried to arrange their work schedules for the same days and would drive back to San Jose together, returning to Half Moon Bay at the end of the day.
Scott was relieved of his parenting duties by his daughters who would rather be with their mother and aunt.
Finally in August, Olivia ran into Scott at a beach bar. She was getting herself a drink while he was ordering a couple of sandwiches. She looked around carefully before she said, “Hey, Dad.”
He started. “Olivia! What are you doing here?”
“I’ve been reading on the beach the last couple of hours and now I’m walking back to Aunt Addie’s house.”
“Why didn’t you tell me you’d be in town?” he asked.
She shrugged. “Because you said you were busy working at your girlfriend’s business.”
“You can come by! See the place! Meet her!”
“We talked about this,” she said. “I don’t really feel like meeting her.”
“Why the hell are you girls being like this? It’s wrong! The divorce has been final at least a couple of months! She’s a part of my life now. That’s how it is!”
“Fine,” Olivia said. “See you in San Jose, maybe. Be sure to let us know when you’ll be visiting.”
She turned and walked away.
“Olivia!”
She turned back.
“You have to treat me and Cat with respect!” he said.
“I’m respectful,” Olivia said. “She might be part of your life, but she isn’t going to be part of mine.” She turned to go again.
“Look, there are changes,” he said. “We’re all going to have to get used to the changes!”
“Maybe we will,” she said. “Two months isn’t enough time for me. Let’s talk about it in a year or two.”
“Did your mother tell you to say that?”
“Oh heck no,” she said. “My counselor asked me how I felt about meeting your girlfriend. I told her how I feel and