Page 68 of Road Trip
“Will you promise me you will call Dr. Thorsen? I want you to check in with her and make sure your meds are—”
“Fuck you, Kelly! I’m not a child anymore, and for your information, I already saw her. She said my meds were fine! I don’t need you telling me what to do. I just need you to be home.” So much for getting through this conversation in one piece.
“I’m sorry, Sis. I just know that when you’re physically feeling okay, it’s easier for you to manage your moods. I’m just trying to help—”
“I don’t need your help. I just need you. God! Why are you always trying to fix things?”
She had a good point. After what I’d just gone through with Abra, I was seeing some definite similarities. I hated for these two women in my life to be in pain and wanted to take care of them, but was I doing it for myself, to avoid conflict?
“My job requires me to problem solve, to try to make things right. Maybe I let that spill over too much into my private life.”
Abra leaned back a little and gave me a look like, “absolutely.” Great. Well, guess I could count on both of these women to call me on my flaws.
“Are you doing okay?” I asked her finally. “Has he tried to call you?”
Her groan on the other end was so loud I had to pull the phone from my ear. Abra placed her hands on my chest and was tracing the lines of my ribs with her fingers. I twitched and shook my head.
“I’m ticklish,” I whispered.
Katie shrieked. “Kelly! Dammit, can’t you just listen to me? I said he has not called me, but you’re too busy shacking up with your new girlfriend to listen to me!”
“Katie, I was listening. I’m sorry. Look, I’ll be back in a couple of days and I promise we can spend the day however you want. I’ll even watch chick flicks with you and eat ice cream.” That got a giggle out of her.
“You’d eat ice cream? You’d defile your temple? Wow, you must care.” Her tone changed and I breathed a little easier.
I could try to quit fixing things, but it didn’t mean I didn’t want to make her happy. Just like with Abra. It made me happy to see her happy. How was that going to work? Was that even going to be possible?
“Hey, is she nice? Do you really like her?”
I smiled up at Abra, hoping she heard Katie’s questions. She smiled down at me with understanding.
“She is amazing, Katie. You’ll love her. You guys can gang up on me about girl stuff.”
“Is she coming home with you? WAIT! Are you getting married? NO FUCKING WAY! KELLY! You can’t get married without me being there! You promised we would stand up for each other. You promised!”
Katie could go from zero to sixty in the blink of an eye sometimes. I had to remember that. She sounded deranged, but in reality she just got very excited about things easily. In that way, and that way only, she was like our mother.
“Whoa, Sis! We’re not getting married,” I said, then mouthed to Abra ‘yet’, which caused her eyes to bug out. I leaned up and kissed her lips softly.
“Okay. Just remember, you promised! So what are you guys doing in Vegas?”
“We’re going to go see Slash with some friends of Abra’s.”
She squealed into the phone. “Oh! She likes good music! Awesome! It’s about time you stop listening to that old man crap. Go have fun. Text me tomorrow and tell me when you’re coming home. I need you to come rescue me.” She always needed rescuing, and usually set herself up to need it.
I sighed. “Of course, sweetheart. Go to bed. Get some rest. I love you, Katie. Tell Grandma and Grandpa I love them and I’ll be there soon. And remember, don’t go to the house.”
I heard her mumble ‘yeah yeah yeah’ before she hung up. I dropped the phone and my head at the same time.
“Remind me why I got a replacement phone? Not having it was blissful.”
“She really relies on you, huh?”
“Yeah. Since our mother is really too much, and Dad is at work all the time, I try to be there for her. Mother is worse with her than me, always criticizing her and getting on her about her mental health. She treats it like it’s a nuisance to her, like she can’t stand having a daughter with issues. How would that look to her friends?”
“That makes it harder for her to get well then, I bet. I’m glad she has you. I often wished I had a sibling to be there with me through my mom’s stuff. Sometimes just knowing they’ve been through the same things you have is enough to keep you sane. I have Gran, but a sister or a brother would have been nice, I think.”
“Maybe,” I said. “Or maybe it would be one more person relying on you. I don’t mind being there for her, but I worry she’ll never totally be on her own if she doesn’t learn some better coping skills.”
