Page 6 of Strictly Business

“Leave the girl alone, Jen,” Dad steps down into the foyer pulling me into a hug. “C’mon, your brother and Elizabeth will be here soon. Dinner is ‘bout done. Let’s get you settled before they get here.” He picks up my bags and carries them downstairs to my bedroom.

“Honey, where’s David? I thought he was coming with you,” my mother asks, following us inside.

“Oh… He had to work.” The lie comes out easier than it should, but lately, I’ve had to come up with more and more excuses as to why no one has seen my husband in the last two months. “Barnes needed him last minute for some meeting.”

“Don’t act so surprised, Jen,” Dad says returning from downstairs. “He barely got away for their honeymoon.” He sounds more annoyed than usual. Dad has always found David's lack of boundaries when it comes to work annoying, but he doesn’t usually express his displeasure so outwardly.

"I'm just sayin’, it would be nice to see our son-in-law from time to time."

"I'm going to go change before dinner," I excuse myself before they ask me anything more about their soon-to-be ex-son-in-law.

My parents told me they had asked Nina for some pointers on redecorating the house, including my old room, but I didn’t think it would be like this. There isn't an ounce of me left. Long gone are the lime green walls, pink comforter, and widespread photo collage that took up half a wall. They’d even taken down my Empire Strikes Back movie poster. It had all been replaced by white walls, grey sheets, and a photograph of Mount Kirkjufell, which I recognized as one Elizabeth had taken on our family trip to Iceland a few years ago after Dad retired. I wonder if they finally did the same to Josh’s old room… It had remained the same after he moved out, ready and waiting for him anytime he returned. I guess I won’t be afforded the same luxury.

“Knock, knock,” the gentle voice of my sister-in-law cuts through my thoughts. She leans against the door frame with a small smile. Her blonde hair has been lopped off, now resting on her shoulders. It’s very different compared to what I’m used to. I almost don’t recognize her. “Can I come in?”

“Of course."

Elizabeth pulls her legs underneath her when she sits on the bed. When my brother started dating Elizabeth, she always ensured I felt included — unlike most of his other girlfriends. I think it comes from her traumatic past, but whatever it is, I’m thankful for the friendship their relationship has brought me. Sometimes, I forget how much I loved being able to have a sister’s night whenever we wanted. Living in New York, I can’t call her up and invite her over on a random Tuesday night; I only get to see her whenever one of us is in town. “So, wanna talk about it?”

“I guess it depends on what ‘it’ is.”

“I may have heard things didn’t end so well when Nin was in town.”

I laugh, “Of course she told you.”

“Technically, she didn’t tell me. She told Nick, who told Josh, who told me, and then I may have asked her about it.”

“What did she have to say?”

“What do you think she said?”

“I’m on my last leg, one wrong move, and I’m out.”

“Something like that,” she says. “What’s going on, Mic?” Elizabeth reaches across the bed and takes my hand in hers. “This isn’t like you. I mean, yeah, you’ve always run on ‘MJ Time,’” we both laugh because it’s true, “but this is different. It’s not five or ten minutes here and there; you're constantly late or missing things. It seems like ever since we got back from Italy something has changed... You’ve barely talked to anyone; you bite our heads off when you do.”

"Everything is fine."

“Look, you don’t have to tell me if you don't want to, but I’m here if you need to talk.”

“There's nothing to worry about. Everything is perfect.” I can tell she wants to fight me on this, but squeeze her hand reassuringly. "If something was wrong, I'd tell you. I promise." I hate the way the lies flow so easily. Kind of feels like the truth and I aren’t related right now.

“There you are,” Mom calls from the doorway. “Elizabeth, Josh was looking for you.”

Wait a second, did Elizabeth just roll her eyes? That's odd...

“I should probably go," Elizabeth sighs, "he has an early morning tomorrow.” She squeezes my hand and gives me a brief smile. “I’ll see you on Saturday?”

I nod before she gives Mom a brief hug goodbye. When she’s gone, Mom slowly makes her way into my room — cautious. “Dad’ll bring up your stuff soon,” she still stands a few feet from me. “I figured you'd want to go through it on your own time. Decide what to keep and what to get rid of.”

“Didn’t waste any time getting rid of me, did you, Mom?”

“Don’t be so dramatic, MJ.”

“Drama is my middle name.”

Mom rolls her eyes and pulls me up from my bed by the shoulders. She leads me in comfortable silence to the kitchen, where two red mugs sit on the counter.

“I’m surprised Nin let you repaint the cabinets black.” Nina loves a clean look, rarely does she use dark colors on top cabinets.

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