Page 7 of Before the Storm

“Hi, Josie,” Steve said. He sounded bored, and it felt like he was eating something. “Didn’t you know? Your sister moved out. What happened, anyway? Did she fail out of college?”

Josie clung hard to the edge of the payphone and flared her nostrils. “I need some help, Steve. Can you put one of Tara’s roommates on?”

“Nobody’s here, actually,” Steve said. “Just me.”

Why are you always there, Steve? You don’t pay rent!she did not say.

Instead, she asked, “Okay. Do you know somebody named Donnie? I’m trying to get ahold of him.”

Steve whistled. “Old Donnie! He’s a rad guy.”

Josie rolled her eyes into the back of her head. “Cool. Do you know his number?”

It took Steve far too long to find the address book, find the phone number, and list the numbers for Josie. But finally, finally, Josie had the number scrawled on a little scrap of paper, and finally, finally, she was calling Donnie’s house. A guy with a scratchy voice answered on the third ring.

Their conversation did not go well.

Of course, Josie wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt. Josie wasn’t sure how she would feel if a stranger called her and told her she was going to be a parent. She probably wouldn’t take it well.

At first, Donnie was obstinate. “Why should I believe you? Why should I believe it’s my baby? Maybe she was seeing other guys. Maybe…”

But Josie argued with him. She fought back. And within ten minutes, Donnie was weeping. “I love Tara. I love her! Why didn’t she tell me what was going on? She should have told me about the baby! I would have taken care of her!”

Josie could hardly believe her ears.

After another ten minutes, Josie crept back down the hall to her sister. Tara hadn’t eaten a single bite of her dinner. Her eyes were on the black window where snow fluttered past. She looked desperate.

“I messed up,” Tara muttered over and over. “I really messed up.”

Josie couldn’t tell her what was going to happen.

She wanted it to be a beautiful gift.

Instead, that night, Josie sat up with Tara until Tara fell asleep. Josie dozed in the chair next to her bed until the hospital kicked her out, but she was back early the following morning after demanding that a coworker take her shift at the hotel. When Tara was discharged that afternoon, Josie wheeled her out. Tara couldn’t speak; everything was so glum. She couldn’t believe their parents hadn’t come to see her. She couldn’t believe they hadn’t apologized for storming out.

“You must think I’m so naive,” Tara breathed.

But Josie just said, “No! You love them. They love you. I know they’ll come around.”

The following afternoon, Tara felt well enough to go back to the Christmas Festival. Most everyone had learned about her pregnancy, presumably because somebody had overheard what happened and told the whole town about it. Most everyone was really kind, welcoming Tara into the bonds of motherhood. Tara couldn’t walk very far, so Josie made sure she didn’t exhaust herself. She soon sat Tara down by a bonfire, bundled her up with blankets, and told her to sit tight.

“Why?” Tara asked.

“You need to rest,” Josie told her.

This wasn’t exactly a lie, of course.

But when Donnie appeared in the crowd and saw Tara for the first time since he’d learned of the pregnancy, Tara’s face broke open with surprise. She hadn’t expected this. She hadn’t even thought of dreaming of it.

“Tara?” Donnie cried. He hurried toward her and fell to his knees in front of her. His eyes caught the firelight.

Josie thought she’d never seen anything more romantic in her life. She was watching from the opposite side of the bonfire.

It was the first time she’d planned something beautiful and watched it transpire. She joked to herself that Tara was an event planner, and maybe she was a life planner.

“Tara, I missed you,” Donnie whispered. “I can’t live without you.”

Josie thought it was heavy-handed, but it did the trick. By the end of the night, Donnie had asked Tara to marry him and promised he’d raise their baby with her. Tara was so smitten and overjoyed that she couldn’t stop crying.

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