Page 91 of Life After

“You know what she’d say, don’t you?” Lyn laughed.

“Yep.” Jen inhaled a deep breath. Ruby’s voice was firmly stuck in her mind. It always would be. “Oh, my God! What’s with the face? Crack a smile. You could be dead tomorrow.”

Lyn laughed harder. “Oh, wow. You sounded just like her.”

These moments would always be bittersweet. Jen didn’t want to sound like Ruby. She wanted Ruby right beside her, saying those things herself. “I want to get to the bottom of what happened to her.”

“I…know what happened to her,” Lyn said quietly.

“I know wetechnicallyknow. SADS. But I mean…the why.” The one thing Jen had never been able to get her head around was the fact that her healthy best friend could just die in the night. “I think it would help to give me some closure if it’s even possible to find out the truth about the disease.”

“Again, I know why.”

“O-oh.” Jen frowned. “I didn’t know that.”

“You know how I always told you and Ruby to look after yourselves once Lee died?”

Jen didn’t have a lot of memories with Lee, Ruby’s dad. He had died when they were both young. “Yep. No fatty foods. Plenty of exercise. No smoking.”

“Well, Lee was a big guy. We all know he took no notice of keeping himself healthy. I don’t think I ever saw him exercise in the years we were married…and his gut? Well, let’s just say cuddles in bed were difficult since it always got in the way.” Lyn sighed. “Anyway, SADS, or the heart complications associated with it, are usually passed on from one of the parents. As much as a fifty percent chance. Even though I cannot prove it, given the fact Lee has been gone a long time now, it ties in with Ruby’s death. Even though her dad turned his nose up at a lettuce leaf, we came to the conclusion that maybe hedidhave a heart condition, and it was passed down to Ruby. We never knew about it, and testing may not have shown anything for Rubes, but it does make sense.”

“It…was hereditary?” It didn’t change the fact her best friend was gone, so Jen didn’t know why, but she felt a strange sense of calm wash over her.

“We believe so, yes.”

“H-how do you feel about that?”

“It depends on the day. Sometimes, I wish Lee had just been an unhealthy bastard, and that was what caused his heart attack. Other times, I wish we’d known if he had a heart condition, and then I could have been more proactive when it came to Ruby. I don’t think anything that happened to Lee could have been different, I’m certain he died young because of his lifestyle, and I was forever telling him he was killing himself, but I don’t know. I’ll always wish we’d had concrete answers.”

Jen mulled over the information for a moment or two, understanding where Lyn was coming from. She just hoped Lyn didn’t blame herself for what happened to Ruby. Nobody could have known she wouldn’t wake up on that hot, sunny Tuesday morning. “You know what I think is important to remember?”

“What’s that, love?”

“That Ruby lived her life to the fullest, was an amazing person for the time we had her, and laughed at anything life threw at her. We can’t go back, and we can’t bring her back, but we can remember everything she brought to our lives. We can go on and do the things she couldn’t but always wanted to do. We can talk about her and laugh about all the stupid shit she did, and we don’t have to feel sad about it all the time. That…it’s okay to have a good life even without her. She wouldn’t hold it against us.”

Lyn chuckled, but Jen heard the pain laced through it. “You’re right.”

“Makes a change. I’m usually doing everything wrong.”

“You let me know what you need from me when it comes to this fundraiser, and I’ll be right by your side, Jen.”

Jen raked her fingers through her hair and smiled. “I will. And Lyn?”

“Yes?”

“She would want you to laugh the way you used to. She always told me she could hear you before she saw you. I hope you find that laughter again one day, if not for yourself…for Ruby.” It was no surprise that Lyn found it hard to enjoy life after such a tragic loss, but Jen was going to do everything in her power to be the best friend she could be to Ruby and look after Lyn. “We’ve got this, you know? Life and all that.”

“I know.”

“I’m sorry for all the ways I let you down, but I’m here for you.Always. No matter what. Meandmy family.” Jen caught a tear as it dropped down her cheek. “And now, I have a birthday bash to sort out and a lot of bad karaoke singers to find. You know she loved the worst ones around.”

“Mmhmm. And now I have a meeting with the boss about a potential promotion.”

Jen beamed a smile. “That’s amazing. Good luck, Lyn. Even though you don’t need it. Ruby will be with you, and that’s worth more than all the luck in the world.”

“Bye, love. I’ll see you Sunday for dinner with Suzanne and Denise.”

As the call ended, Jen slowly lowered her phone to the dining table and rested her elbows on the table. Tears spilled from her eyes at a rate she couldn’t comprehend, but it wasn’t necessarily sadness. It was a relief. An…understanding regarding Ruby’s death. An appreciation that Jen had rekindled those relationships that meant so much to her.

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