by Viva Fox
“I know, I know it’s unbelievable. I was shocked when I got the call too.” Patti reached out to take Gianna’s hands. She pulled her back onto the bed beside her. “The doctors are saying that it’s a miracle.”
A miracle? Bianca now awake to be a vegetable? Or an invalid? Gianna would have to ask them their definition of miracle.
“So…” Gianna hesitated. “Now what?”
“Well,” Patti rubbed her hands, “are you ready to see her? I think it would be good for her.” Gianna did not want to see Bianca. She wanted to remember Bianca as she had been, not as she currently was.
“If you think it’s best.” Gianna shrugged. Patti smiled.
“She’s in better shape than they ever thought she would be. It’s too early to say, but Bianca may go back to her old self.”
“What?” That got her attention. “She really might…be ok?”
She wanted Bianca to survive for herself, but she also wanted an ally. If Bianca was going to be ok, she might just have someone to cover for her when Kevin and Patti got weird, or when they were running off to tour with a band rather than staying home with their children.
“They want to run some tests,” Patti said carefully, “but yes, Bianca is recovering. She may be ok.”
This made Gianna smile.
“Ok then, I’d love to see her.”
******
It had been one month of physical, occupational, and speech therapy, but Bianca was finally ready to go home. She had recovered much faster than anyone had ever expected, to the point that the therapies had just become a formality. Now she was up, and functioning, weak but ready to attack the world.
Well, at least she hoped that she was.
It had been a rough month. Bianca had to come to terms with the fact that so much had changed. She’s lost a year of her life. All of the hard work that she had poured into school was gone. Her father had killed himself-at least that’s what Gianna had said. Mia was gone. And her mother was dating Kevin.
That was what didn’t sit well in Bianca’s mind. Her family had known Kevin for years. He’d been in the first band that her mother had joined. She and Kevin had toured everywhere together. It had meant leaving both of their families behind. Bianca remembered when Kevin had divorced. Stephen and Patti had discussed it. Bianca had been too young to ask what had happened. Now she questioned.
Had there always been something going on between her mom and Kevin? Or was she just paranoid? He’d come to see her in the hospital, and it had been uncomfortable. She simply didn’t know what to say to him. What did you say to the man that made your mother give up her entire life? Gianna said that Kevin tried, but he and Patti were just not around all of the time.
Someone entered the door and Bianca turned. Gianna stood in the doorway.
“Mom and Kevin are talking to the nurses.” Gianna entered the room. She was the only one who didn’t look at Bianca like she was an invalid. The doctors had all assured the family that she would be fine, and be able to go back to her normal life. But it didn’t seem to stick for everyone.
“Ready to go home?” Gianna sat down on the edge of the bed. Bianca didn’t like to lay down. She had spent too much time in bed. She didn’t care if she never slept again.
“How is home?” Bianca asked. It wasn’t the home that she had ever known. Gianna was silent for a few minutes.
“It’s a really nice house.” She finally came up with. “And we have three cats.” Bianca guessed that that was better than nothing.
“And how’s Kevin?”
“He’s ok.” Gianna answered. “They’re not around much.”
“Ok.” She looked towards the doorway as Patti and Kevin came in.
“Are you ready to go home, sweetie?” Gianna saw it already. The Favorite Child was back, and she would soon cease to exist. As glad as she was to have her sister back, she couldn’t believe this was happening again.
Bianca could only glance at Kevin as she they left the hospital. She had no idea what the world that she was returning to would be like.
The drive home was silent. Bianca watched the city that she had once loved buzz around her. It was so strange to see now. It looked different. She felt sick, but she didn’t think that it had anything to do with her lingering injuries.
Gianna had been right, the house was nice. It was a large three story brick on a small plot of land. She was a bit surprised that her mother had come to Staten Island. The family had always been the type of New Yorkers who joked about those who lived on Staten Island.
“So there’s a whole bedroom upstairs.” Patti told her as she was showing Bianca through the house. “We thought you might like it.” That incited a gasp from Gianna.
“You’re giving her the third floor?” Patti looked uncomfortable.
“G, come on, she’s been through so much.” Gianna bit her tongue. She couldn’t say anything, but Bianca sensed the hesitation. She immediately saw why.
The third floor had apparently been set up to be its own apartment. It had a kitchenette, a living room, a bedroom, and its own bath. Bianca saw immediately why Gianna would be jealous.
“You can have it, really.” She assured Gianna. Gianna shook her head.
“No, go ahead. You take it.” She was saying it because it was the right thing to do, and Bianca knew that. She shrugged awkwardly.
“Ok.” She glanced around. “So did you put my stuff in storage or…” Patti looked uncomfortable again. This time, Gianna only looked accusing. “Oh what now?” Bianca sighed.
“Well, baby,” Patti looked up at her, “we donated your stuff when we moved.” Bianca was stunned to anger.
“Wait. So they told you that there was a possibility that I could survive…yet you STILL got rid of my stuff?” What parent tried to erase their child so quickly? Bianca was stunned-truly stunned. All of the mementos of her life were gone. How her mother and sister could do such a thing was beyond her.
“Well we just…. didn’t know.” Patti offered nervously. Bianca sighed. Getting angry was undeniably bad for her recovery.
“Ok. So we’re getting me new stuff, right?” She meant it as rhetorical. There was only one good answer. If they gave her the wrong answer…well, that spoke for itself too.
“Of course, baby.” Patti was pulling her into her arms. “Of course we will. We’re just so glad to have you home.”
Bianca looked over her mother’s sister at Gianna. Gianna merely shrugged. Bianca understood. Their family had fallen into all sorts of weirdness.
******
In the three months since she had been back in the world of the living, Bianca still found everything to be strange. Her mother had done everything in her power to replace the things she had lost, but it didn’t help. Bianca no longer felt like she fit into this world…or this family.
She still had to straighten out her schooling, and what she would do with her life. She had just turned twenty-one. She was an adult now. She had no idea what to do with herself.
She was also quite tired of being alone all day. Patti and Kevin were both off doing whatever music industry thing that they did. Gianna was in school. Bianca had nothing. She sat at home all day and looked at the cats, who were still not sure about her. Today, she was making a change. Today she was stepping out.
She had downloaded the Uber app onto her new iPhone. As soon as the driver pulled up, she headed outside.
“Where to?” The driver whose name was Lennie asked.
“Somewhere fun?” Lennie chuckled.
“You got it, honey.”
Five minutes later, they were pulling up in front of a store that Bianca had never seen before.
“Is this a record store?” She asked suspiciously. Lennie laughed at that.
“It’s a record store, café and a place for live music. It’s very hipster.” Bianca didn’t think she looked hipster, but she thought she’d give it a try.
At this hour of the day, there weren’t many people in it. There was, howeve
r, a band setting up in one corner. Bianca went to browse through the records for a few minutes, and then headed over to the bar to order a latte. She was sitting there, sipping it, when someone moved to the bar beside her.
“You a groupie for them?” A boy in a green t-shirt and wearing a cowboy hat motioned to the band. Bianca shook her head.
“Hardly. I don’t know who they are.”
“No one does.” He sat down at the counter beside her. He held out one hand. “I’m Keith.”
“Bianca.” She shook his hand. He was good looking. She thought she spied some tangled blonde hair emerging from beneath his hat. His eyes were a bright green which matched the shirt he was currently wearing, and he had the air of someone who worked out.
“Good Italian name. Are you Italian?”
“On my mom’s side.” She was glad that he had sat. She wanted someone to talk to for a few minutes. Someone who wasn’t worried about her health. Someone who didn’t know her history. “Nice hat, by the way.”
“Thanks.” He tipped it to her. “I’ve never seen you in here before, and I come here a lot. New to the area?”
“Sort of.” Bianca shrugged, not wanting to get into it. “My mom lives nearby with her boyfriend. Why do you come here? For the records? Or the coffee?”
“Neither,” Keith grinned at her, “my band plays here a lot. Do you sing?”
That was a hard question. Bianca did sing. Or she had, rather. It had been one of her many talents. She was the only one of Patti’s daughters who had inherited the trait. She didn’t know if she still could.
“I used to,” she finally answered.
“Well, if you find that you do, this is the place to hang out. Lots of groups looking for singers.” Bianca wanted to hate the music industry. The pursuit of it was what had taken her mother from them. She had seen the strain that it put on her father. Part of her already hated it.
However, part of her was drawn to it. She wanted to know if she could sing. And then there was the dark thought in the back of her mind. If she could be a singer too, maybe she could prove a point to her mother. That was an even worse thought to have.
“I’ll see.” Bianca pushed the other thoughts out of her mind.
“Good.” Keith reached into his wallet. “You on Facebook? You should like my band’s page.” He handed her a business card. “If nothing else, you’ve now got my email address and phone number.” He gave her a quick wink. “Hope to see you around.”
Bianca watched him go off. She gave herself a quick once over. She looked decent enough (for someone who had spent a year in a coma). But she was still underweight and looked weak. In fact, she was tired now. She needed to get home.
Quickly pocketing the man’s card, she set up another Uber. She was glad when he dropped her off at home because now she was incredibly exhausted. As soon as she laid down, she was asleep.
She awoke to the sounds of someone moving around downstairs. Heading down, she found Gianna in her bedroom.
“Hey.”
“Hey.” Gianna looked up. “I came up earlier and you were sleeping. Is everything ok?”
“Yeah, I’m fine.” Bianca shrugged. “I went out today.”
“Oh? Anywhere cool?” Bianca sat down on the ottoman in front of Gianna’s bedroom chair.
“I don’t know. Some hipster place that has music and coffee?”
“Oh Ray’s.” Gianna nodded. “I know that place. They are pretty fun. They’re under twenty-one until ten on weekends. We should go back.”
“After I get some strength back.” Bianca warned. “I talked to this guy there. He asked me if I could sing.”
Gianna looked interested.
“You used to sing. Can you still?”
“I don’t know.” Bianca answered honestly. Gianna was looking at her. Then a slow smile spread over her face.
“Of course. Only you go out after a year in a coma and meet a boy on your first trip.” Bianca had to laugh at the irony.
“We talked for like five minutes. He gave me his card, told me to like his band on Facebook.”
“Maybe I’ve heard them.” Gianna thought this was momentarily nice. It was this type of thing that made her glad to have her sister home. “Anyway, you should find out if you can sing.”
“I will,” Bianca mused. “Tomorrow.”
******
Bianca hadn’t spent much time in the basement. There was a covered hot tub that they could use, but she’d chose to pass on. Kevin had set himself up a small recording studio in a corner of the basement. He used it for recording demos and the like. She let herself in, flipped on the lights and looked around.
Most of the recording equipment she didn’t understand, but what she mostly wanted was the music hook up. She set her laptop down, hooked up the cords, and brought her music application. She felt this was the best place in the house to see if she could still sing, so she would try here.
While she waited for her computer to load up, Bianca looked around. On the walls were pictures of Kevin’s touring days. She spotted a variety with her mother included. Those were what made her eyebrows rise.
In all of the pictures, Kevin had his arm around Patti. Bianca could clearly tell from the clothing that these were tours after her parents had married. Not that it mattered, Patti and Stephen had been together for years before they’d married.
The pictures seemed to get worse. Kevin’s hands were all over Patti. Patti had always worn seductive clothes on stage, and Kevin appeared to be taking full advantage of that. She didn’t know how any of them had missed it. It must have been there before.
Her opinion of Kevin’s relationship with her mother was getting darker. From what Gianna said, they’d gotten together so quickly after Stephen had died. Had something happened? Had they planned something? Stephen’s death had been a suicide-supposedly.
Bianca forced the thought from her mind. She was being ridiculous. These types of things only happened on soap operas. People didn’t really kill others and fake a suicide.
Soap operas and crime shows, Bianca reminded herself. Despite the stuffiness of the little studio, Bianca shivered. She had just given herself a terrible thought. Shaking her head, she tried to focus on the music app.
She had barely started a song selection when footsteps pounded down the stairs. She turned only to find Kevin standing the doorway.
“What are you doing in here?” She got the feeling he was trying not to sound accusing, but was failing nonetheless.
“I…wanted to see if I could still sing. So I brought my computer down to use your hook up.” Why on earth did it matter? Was there something in here that he didn’t want her to see?
“Oh.” Kevin nodded. “Right. Well, let’s see what we can do then.”
Kevin knew what he was doing. Soon he had the proper sound systems fired up.
“Ok. So. What were you going for?” Bianca studied the laptop screen.
“Well, I guess something easy that I know the words to,” she picked a country song that she thought she remembered from high school. “So you can tune down the voices so I can only hear the music?” That had been her entire point of this, after all.
“Yep.” Kevin toyed with a few more buttons. “Ok. Give it a shot.”
Bianca took a deep breath. The tune was familiar to her so it wasn’t hard. Remembering the words was another story. She began slowly, softly. When she stopped, Kevin nodded.
“I don’t think I ever heard you before, but it sounds like you still got it.” Bianca had to laugh. She did still have it.
“Was it good?” Despite her opinions of Kevin, he would know. He’d been rather successful in this business.
“You’ve got your mom’s talent-for sure.” Kevin looked a bit nervous. “Bianca, I know things have been difficult for you, but don’t just jump into something too quickly.”
It seemed so odd that he was telling her to quit so soon. She wondered why…a man in the music industry.
“Yeah, I’ll be car
eful. Thanks Kevin.” Bianca got up to leave the room. She was suddenly extremely uncomfortable with Kevin. But she didn’t fully know why.
******
She began spending her days at Ray’s. It was better than being alone in the house. She couldn’t get clearance to drive for another six months, so she relied on Uber, or Gianna the occasional evening. Gianna didn’t mind going. She was glad that she could get in somewhere with her sister.
And Keith was there. Bianca had found that she liked him. Technically, given the time that had passed, it had really been awhile since she had liked someone. He’d successfully managed to catch her up with life without knowing it. His music brought her back into today. He could talk about television shows without her having to know every word. It was extremely relaxing.
One afternoon, Bianca had been sipping on a latte at the counter. She was legally old enough to drink now, but she wasn’t prepared to start.
Keith had been wandering around the small club. They’d exchanged a few words, but nothing serious. He finally made his way over to her with his guitar in his hand.
“You’ve never really answered if you could sing.”
“Oh?” Bianca busied herself in her latte. Keith watched her.
“And you don’t drink either. Interesting character, Bianca Sullivan.” Bianca smiled faintly.
“It’s a…long story why I don’t drink.”
“Oh?” Keith settled himself onto the stool beside her. “I have time.”
“Some other time.” Bianca cautioned him. “As for the singing,” she hesitated again. Everyone had always told her that she was good. But was she really that good? Was she really good enough to sing here, now? “Why don’t you play a few notes and we’ll see if I know it?”
Keith smiled. His fingers immediately went to the guitar strings. He strummed over them, bringing the first few notes to life. Bianca listened carefully. She knew the tune. It was old-one that she easily should have known. Finally, it dawned on her.
“Country roads…take me home…to the place…I belong. West Virginia…mountain mama…take me home…country roads.” Keith grinned at her.
“Well, you know your John Denver.” He kept playing. “And you have a lovely voice. You should try with us sometime. Just for fun.”