49

 

Tiffany kissed Aunt Ira lightly on the cheek while Aunt Ira lovingly embraced her.

“Hi, Mommy.”

“Look who’s here,” Aunt Ira said.

“Hi, Lauren.” Tiffany gave me a quick hug. “What are you doing here?”

“Lauren will be staying with us senior year and going to Lincoln Prep with you.”

“Cool!” Tiffany grabbed an apple and headed out the door. “Let’s go to my room.”

I had just finished slicing the last carrot.

“I’ll call you girls for dinner when Bob gets home.”

I followed Tiffany upstairs to her room. She flopped on the bed. I joined her.

“So tell me about your prom. I hear you went to two. And who is this dude you went with? Did you meet him after you asked me if I knew anybody? I heard he’s a white boy.”

She was full of questions. I was surprised that she had kept up with my life. I felt good that she had. I guess it was what being part of a family meant. Everybody knew everybody’s business.

I told her about Patrick and how I met him and about his prom and about my prom weekend with my friends. She, in turn, told me about her prom and about her boyfriend and about her friends and all the fun they had. We talked and talked, finishing each other’s sentences, which caused us to break out into deep belly laughs. We slipped easily into being cousin friends.

Even though I hadn’t spent much time around Tiffany the past few years, you never would’ve known it. We acted like we talked all the time and saw each other often. I was amazed at all the things we had in common. We loved reading the same books and liked watching old black and white movies. But there were differences, too. I loved to write. She liked acting in plays and singing. She didn’t even seem to mind at all that I would be living with her and going to Lincoln Prep senior year.

If the situation were reversed and Tiffany was coming to live with me, I probably wouldn’t be as welcoming.

After we reached a lull in the conversation and we both were lying on her bed looking at the ceiling, she said, “I’m glad you’ll be staying here. Mommy has been trying to get me to call you, but I didn’t know what to say. I didn’t know if you wanted to be bothered with me.”

I laughed. “I probably didn’t.”

She laughed, too.

“But since the thing with Dad I’ve been thinking a lot about my life. I realized I didn’t really know you. And that is not right. I want to know you better, Tiffany.”

She turned on her side facing me. “I want to know you, too. We had fun when you stayed here that weekend.”

I’m glad she thought so, too.

“You know what I really want to do? I want to visit Meré and Granddad when you go. I want to go with you this summer.”

“No, you can’t go with me,” she said, quickly. “I’m not trying to be mean or anything, but you have to go by yourself. When I’m there, I feel like the most special person in the world. They give me all their attention. They take me places. They spend time talking to me. They want to know what I think about lots of things. And of course, they take me shopping.

“You have to go alone so you can experience that feeling of specialness. You’ll be so glad you did.”

“But I don’t really know them that well, only through brief phone calls. I wouldn’t know what to talk to them about.”

“Yes, you will. You’ll see. Everything will come naturally. Just be yourself.”

“I’m not sure who that is anymore.”

Tiffany threw a pillow at me.

“You are a Moffit. And a Cole. Just like I am a Monroe and a Cole. You can’t run from who you are.”

“I’m not trying to run.” I struggled for words. “I just want to know who I really am.”

“Then visit your Cole grandparents. And your Moffit grandparents. You already have a special relationship with Mama Cole. You call her ‘Grand Meré. That’s special. I call her ‘Mama Cole’. That’s special. She doesn’t prefer one over the other. She likes being called both.”

“But she loves the girls who call her ‘Meré and ‘Mama Cole’ more than anything,” Aunt Ira said from the doorway. “Dinner is ready.” She turned and went back downstairs.

I hadn’t realized she’d been standing there. Tiffany and I washed up for dinner and went downstairs where Uncle Bob kissed both of us.

“There are my girls!” he said.

I was glad to be included as one of his girls. This thing called family was strange. The family key unlocks everything. Without question you are gathered into the fold and made to feel as if you are one of them.

Whatever happened senior year, I had a feeling I was going to like living here.