Snapshot (The Jamieson Collection)

by Angie Stanton

  “Afraid not. It’s all in black and white. I found the will in Mom’s bottom dresser drawer. Signed and notarized. This place has to be cleaned out anyway, so I don’t know why you’ve got your undies in such a twist.”

  The dirtbag in the hall tried to inch past with Marti’s stuff. She turned on him. “Put it down! Now!” She glared at the unwashed man. He lowered the pile to the floor and stepped away, focusing on the floor.

  Kristi appeared at the door and gasped. Marti kept her eyes glued on her mother. “Kristi, go get the apartment manager. He lives in 4B. Tell him to come quick. And if he’s not home, call 911 and report a robbery.”

  “And what the hell do you think the apartment manager or police are going to do? I’m not breaking the law,” her mother spit back.

  “For one, I’ll have them search you for drugs.” Marti glared, but her bravado faded fast. If her mother’s words about the will rang true, well, she didn’t know what she’d do.

  “Fine. I’ll give you two days. You can take the will to whoever the hell you want. It’s legal. And then I’m coming back for the rest.” She glared. “Come on, Mike. Let’s go cash in this load.”

  The tension between them was so thick Marti could barely breathe. Marti wished she had the nerve to reach out and slap her, but she didn’t. Instead, her mother strolled by with a snide confidence that turned Marti’s stomach. The grotesque man followed, eyeing her laptop.

  After they left, she watched out the window until her mother drove Grandma’s car away. Grandma taught Marti how to drive in that car. She was scheduled to take her drivers’ test in a couple weeks. She sighed in defeat.

  Glancing around the disheveled apartment, she discovered every storage area turned upside down. She spotted Grandma’s expensive Lladro figurine broken on the floor. The emotions Marti worked so hard to control bubbled up. Why were all these horrible things happening? A sob broke free. Grandma was a sweet, wonderful woman. She didn’t deserve to die, and she didn’t deserve to have her beautiful things treated this way.

  As Marti picked up the shattered pieces of Grandma’s life, Kristi returned with Gary, the apartment manager. Kristi searched the room with fear in her eyes.

  “It’s okay, they’re gone. But she’s coming back in two days for the rest.”

  Gary, a middle-aged man whose stomach hung over his belt, took one look and shook his head. “I was afraid something like this would happen.”

  “What am I going to do?” she asked Gary, who was a trusted friend of Grandma’s.

  “Actually, we need to talk about that,” he said, closing the desk drawers. Apparently he needed to create some sense of order in all this disarray.

  “Hello.” Ruth, Grandma’s best friend, appeared at the door. She lived on the first floor at the end. She’d been so kind and helpful with organizing Grandma’s funeral arrangements.

  “Hi Ruth, I’m glad you’re here.” Gary welcomed her in.

  “Dear god, what has Tami done this time?” Ruth pinched her lips and blinked away her tears.

  “She’s taking everything of value and selling it. She said it all belongs to her. She doesn’t want to keep anything,” Marti whined. “That can’t be true, can it? Grandma would never do that; she knew Mom could never be trusted.” She failed to keep the emotion out of her voice.

  “Come sit down, dear. We need to talk.” Ruth sat on the couch and patted the cushion.

  Marti wiped her nose with the back of her hand and sat at the other end. Gary leaned against the desk facing them. Kristi watched from the doorway.

  Ruth sighed. The pain of Grandma’s death hit her hard, too. “Marti, your mother spoke the truth about your grandma’s will. The reason I know is because I’m the executor.” Ruth fished in her purse and pulled out a thick white envelope that read, “Last Will and Testament.”

  “The last time Judy updated her will was after your mother came out of rehab. You were eleven. She always wanted to believe the best in her daughter, and thought Tami had finally beat her drug addiction. Unfortunately, she was wrong.” Ruth slid the papers out of the envelope and handed them to Marti.

  “You were a minor then and still are today. Your grandmother never expected to die so young.” Ruth paused, took off her glasses, and wiped her eyes. “It’s so unfair. Your grandmother was an eternal optimist. She always thought Tami would turn her life around. Your grandmother always thought she’d be here for you. If she had any inkling of her impending death, I know she would have handled her legal matters differently.”

  Marti’s mind swam in confusion.

  “Even if she did leave her estate to you, there is very little left. Over the years, Judy spent all her savings and most of her retirement money on your mother’s treatments and legal troubles. Tami was her daughter, and she would have done anything if she thought it would fix her addiction problem.”

  Marti never knew that. Grandma always took care of everyone else, so this shouldn’t have been a surprise. She wondered how Grandma came up with the money for her expensive camp.

  The weight of the situation threatened to bring Marti to her knees. “What am I going to do? I have to figure out how to pay the rent.”

  Ruth shared a glance with Gary. He grimaced.

  “That leads us to another matter. Marti, you’re only fifteen. You can’t live here,” Gary said.

  “Almost sixteen,” she added. “And, why not? I could join the work-study program at school. I’ll work four hours a day and on the weekends. I can do it.” If there was one thing Marti knew, it was that she could do anything. If she needed to work full-time, she’d find a way to balance it with school.

  Gary sunk his hands in his pockets. “It’s not even about the money, which you are too young to handle anyway. You’re a minor. It’s illegal for me to rent to anyone under eighteen years of age.”

  Marti watched her world grow smaller. Darker. She picked at the edge of her skirt. “But you know me! I’d come up with it. You know I would.” Her eyes darted between Gary and Ruth.

  “If I could do it, I would, but I don’t own this place, I only manage it. It’s the law, Marti. I’m sorry.” He looked at her with sad eyes, unable to budge on the topic.

  This couldn’t be happening. Why was he saying all these things?

  “Marti, you can’t live by yourself,” Ruth said and delivered a long, knowing look.

  Confused, Marti wondered what Ruth was getting at. She couldn’t live by herself, so who was she supposed to live with? Ruth? And then realization hit. “No way! I am not living with my mother!” She crossed her arms and stared at the uncomfortable pair of heels she still wore. Never. She’d live on the streets before she’d go with her.

  “No. Your mother is not an option. She has her own demons to deal with. She would never be appropriate.”

  Marti sighed in relief. Thank God they agreed on that!

  “However. You have a father.” Ruth paused and Marti’s head snapped up. Ruth continued. “He is your closest relative and far more stable than your mother has ever been.”

  “No!” She turned to Kristi who appeared just as shocked. There was no way she would live with her dad.

  “I hate him! And trust me, he would never want me anyway.”

  “Actually,” Ruth said in a calm, slow voice. “He does.”

  Marti’s eyes widened as the remains of her normal life shattered. She shook her head and begged. “Please, no. Don’t make me go there.”

  “He is your father and is legally responsible for your well being.”

  Well being, shit! The man couldn’t see past his nicotine stained fingers. “Maybe I could live with you,” she suggested out of desperation. “I’d be really helpful and would get a job. I’d be really good. I promise.”

  Ruth ignored her pleas. “He has the resources to care for you. In fact, he sounded very happy about seeing you again. I think he regrets how poorly things went when you were younger. I think he wants to redeem himself.”

  “You talked to him?
” she asked in a whisper.

  “Yesterday.” Ruth let the news hang there. She knew all this time that Marti would be shipped away from everything she knew and she hadn’t bothered to tell her.

  “But he lives in California. That’s half a world away! I can’t leave my friends and my school!” Things were moving too fast. Her throat tightened. She felt the urge to run to her room, slam the door and bury her sobs in her pillow, but her pride would never allow it.

  “I know a lot is happening, but we need to make sure you’re safe and well cared for. Your grandmother would have wanted that.”

  Marti’s eyes watered. She blinked back the tears. Grandma would never want her to live with her dad. Maybe she could run away, but with what? Her mother had just stolen anything of monetary value. Then she thought of Adam. Was it only yesterday she was at camp with him? It seemed like a lifetime since he held her in his arms and made her feel safe and special. And sexy. Her face warmed at the memory. She’d been so bold. What had gotten into her? She’d never acted like that in her life.

  “Marti?” Gary interrupted her thoughts.

  She looked at him. How long had her mind wandered? “Yes?”

  “You can stay here for another week to pack up and say goodbye to your friends, but after that, either your mother takes over the rent, which I don’t see happening, or I have to list it for a new tenant.”

  Ruth interrupted, a cheery tone in her voice. “You’ll be able to move to California before school begins. It will be a wonderful new start. You’ll make lots of new friends.”

  Marti looked at Kristi, who had remained quiet during this nightmare. Kristi looked devastated. They both knew it would not be wonderful. It would be a disaster.

  Chapter 14

  Ruth wouldn’t leave. She forced Marti to eat some dinner and then washed up the dishes, placing them in the dish rack and covering them with a white dish towel, just like Grandma did. After Ruth helped put the apartment back together, Marti insisted the woman leave. But then she popped back over, but it was to bring Kahlua home. The cat padded off to her bed, as if nothing was amiss.

  Kristi offered to sleep over, but Marti wanted to be alone so she could call Adam. She hadn’t told Kristi about him yet. Too much had happened in the last twenty-four hours, and Marti wanted privacy.

  At long last, everyone went home. Marti wandered through the quiet apartment. She tried to soak up any remaining essence of Grandma. Thoughts of dread over her move toLA. tried to consume her. She pushed them away.

  Marti opened the refrigerator and peeked at the tidy way Grandma organized the condiment bottles. In the freezer, Grandma kept her coffee grounds in a sealed container. She recalled how Grandma would pull out that container every morning and scoop them into her coffee maker. Now those grounds would likely end up in the trash. Marti frowned and closed the door.

  Grandma’s bedroom remained a mess from her mother’s maniacal search. Marti tucked the clothing items back in the drawers and closed them. Better.

  She sat on the edge of the bed and smoothed the faded, yellow spread. Her finger caught on a hole in the fabric, the material frayed from too many washings. It would never look the same. Marti felt the same. The fabric of her life always had flaws, but now it was ripped beyond repair. Life would never be the same again. She sighed. How was she going to survive this?

  Marti slid one of Grandma’s pillows across the bed and hugged it. The familiar scent of Grandma’s perfume wafted to her. Marti buried her face in the soft pillowcase and wished she could hug her grandmother one last time.

  She thought of Adam and how he’d been such a rock, staying by her side and convincing Peter to bring the tour bus to camp so she could get home. She longed to feel Adam’s arms around her. She missed the way he tucked her into his body, as if they were created for each other. When she decided to have sex with him, she had made the right choice; he was a great guy.

  She gathered up both pillows, took them to her room, snuggled up at the head of the bed and called him on his cell. As the phone rang, giddiness tingled through her as if she were twelve years old with her first crush. She smiled for the first time since learning of Grandma’s death. Thank god for Adam. Somehow, he would help her through this.

  The phone rang again. And again. Her smile faded. She assumed that Adam would be waiting for her call, anxious to talk. She hadn’t spoken to him since he left late last night. She didn’t even know if he was home yet or still on the tour bus with Peter and Libby.

  The phone rang again and then went to his recording. Her heart sank that she couldn’t reach out to him, but the sound of his voice soothed her.

  “It’s Adam. Leave me a message.” Beep.

  Short and sweet. What did she expect? A recorded message just for her? “Oh, hi Adam. It’s Marti. I, um, didn’t expect your machine. This is sort of weird.” She laughed nervously. “I just wanted to talk to you. You know. Today was Grandma’s funeral.” She paused, not sure what to say next. “Call me… if you want to.”

  She ended the call, tossed the phone on the bed. What an idiot! Now that they weren’t at camp, she didn’t even know how to talk to him. Marti stared up at the glow in the dark stars stuck to her ceiling. Grandma put them there years ago. They didn’t glow anymore. Nothing did.

  Maybe summer camp was just that. A summer fling with a guy, and now it was over, like everything else. But he wasn’t just any guy. He was a rocker! She fell back on her bed and covered her face. Like that would ever work. She shook her head.

  Why would he want anything to do with her now? She was totally a fool. Not only had she slept with him, she’d thrown herself at him. Marti cringed, remembering her bold behavior that night in the nature center. Is that what her mother was like at her age? Sleeping with guys and refusing to take no for an answer if they didn’t want to? She hugged herself and rocked. No. She was not like her mother and never would be.

  Her phone rang.

  She scrambled to answer it. “Hello.”

  “Hi!” Adam’s sweet, beautiful voice rang across the phone waves. “Sorry I missed your call. It’s pretty crazy here.”

  “That’s okay. Are you still on the bus?” She gripped the phone like a lifeline.

  “No, I’m back in San Antonio. Peter had strict instructions to get me on a direct flight from O’Hare. He’s taking Libby to Boston, where she’s starting school soon. He bought a condo there, so he’s gonna get things set up, and then we’re all meeting in New York in a few days to work.”

  “Wow, that was fast. I figured you’d be on the bus for a couple days.”

  “Not when my dad has other plans. He has me seeing a specialist for my arm. He doesn’t trust the doctors in Wisconsin. But enough about me. How are you? How was the funeral?” His voice turned soft and kind like the Adam she remembered, and she wanted to transport herself to him through the phone.

  “It was fine. It didn’t really seem real.” She recalled her mother’s blathering in front of everyone and how much she had wanted to tell her to shut up.

  “Are you doing okay?” His concern almost made the whole ordeal okay.

  “Yeah, I’ll be fine. It’s just hard.” She sighed.

  “I wish I could be there.” She heard the longing in his voice.

  “Me too.” She sank back into her pillows, imagining him curled beside her. “Things are happening so fast. I don’t really know what to do.”

  “What’s going on?” His concern made her feel less alone.

  “To start off, my mom has been horrible.”

  “Hang on a sec,” he interrupted.

  Marti heard mumbling in the background. Was he talking to his mom? His brother Garrett? She wondered what his home looked like.

  “Sorry about that. It’s a little hectic here.”

  “What’s going on?”

  “In a nutshell; my life. I forgot how insane things always are. I wish I could morph us back to camp and never leave.”

  “Me too. Can you imagine how great th
at would be? I’d never leave.” She picked up a stuffed bear and pet its soft fur.

  “Hang on,” Adam said, and then started talking to someone in the background. She overhead him say. “I know. I said I’m getting off.”

  Now she really wondered what was going on.

  He sounded irritated as he continued talking to someone else. “Give me a second, will you?” After more mumbling he came back on the line.

  “Marti, I’ve gotta go. I’m sorry. I’ll try to call you later.”

  “Okay. Sure.” She heard more mumbling and the phone clicked off.

  She looked at the dark phone, empty and void. She didn’t get a chance to tell him about her mom stealing everything in the apartment or how she missed her grandma so much she couldn’t bear it, or more importantly, that they were forcing her to live with her dad. She glanced around her room. The colorful pictures and keepsakes of her life would soon be packed away. She’d be alone in that strange mansion with no one to count on.

  She hugged Grandma’s pillows and buried her face in them, willing herself not to cry.

  * * *

  “God, mom! I was trying to talk,” Adam complained in a low voice so the other people in the Medical Imaging Waiting Area wouldn’t hear.

  “Don’t use that tone with me,” she scolded. “You can call your friends anytime. These people are trying to do their job.” She tilted her head toward the technician who waited with his arms crossed. “Now hand over your phone. I’ll hang onto it while you’re having your MRI.”

  He ignored her request. “Marti’s grandmother just died, and today was the funeral. It was a pretty important phone call.” He shot her the stubborn look he generally reserved for his brothers.

  “I’m sorry your friend lost her grandmother, but you know better than to call when you’re in the middle of something.” She held open her hand.

  Adam stood and handed over the phone. He knew that no metal was allowed near him during the MRI, otherwise he would have fought to keep his phone.