Page 3 of Trust Fall
Cleo kissed him on the top of the head again, then made her way through to see her mom.
As she entered the kitchen, she couldn’t help the smile that spread across her face. Like so many times before, there was her mom, a woman of such slight build, having full command over the very large room.
“Smells good, Mom.” Cleo took in the room, searching for her niece. “Where’s Sophie? Dad said she was through here with you.”
“Hi love, it’s so good to have you home”. Fiona refused to call where she lived anything other than home, regardless of whether they all had lived there before, or not. “She’s playing out the back with her flashlight, even though it’s not nearly dark enough forit. But she insisted on the torch so that she could better spot the stars when theyfinallyappear.” They both smiled warmly at the description of her head-strong niece. “Is Jade with you?” Fiona looked over Cleo’s shoulder for her younger daughter.
Cleo picked up a slice of bell pepper from the chopping board and looked out the window. Her niece was in the yard, flashlight sweeping the bushes, hair tousled and face intent—just as Cleo herself had once been, hunting mysteries in the dark. “No, she texted earlier to say she’d meet me here but wanted me to let you know she’s running a little late,” Cleo took a bite of the pepper. “She shouldn’t be too much longer though,” Cleo blurted, seeing Fiona’s raised eyebrow at having only just been told.
“Well, as she’s not here and you’ve already started to graze, make yourself useful and go set the table. I’ll let Sophie know to come in and get herself cleaned up, and you can let your dad know that he has ten minutes until dinner is ready. That should give him enough time to grumble in peace about delaying watching the match,again.” Fiona rolled her eyes and shook her head slightly with a small smile, while she shooed Cleo out of the kitchen.
Cleo laughed at her mom’s impression of her dad as she made her way over to the table, turning only to get the cutlery and place mats out of the unit beside it. Cleo could hear her dad screaming at the TV again, and her mom yelling through that “the game’s already over, Rob, the Ref can’t hear you!”
Her parents had been together only a few months when they got married. Whenever she’d asked them about the speed of it over the years, they just looked at each other and smiled warmly. Nothing else needed to be said. It gave Cleo hope. Her own love life was, well, not like theirs. Especially since launching her business, Cleo had put all her effort into making sure it was a success, such that her love life was put on the backburner. This was much to the disappointment of her mom.
“Are you going to set the table, or are you just going to stand clutching the cutlery for the evening?” Cleo’s mom asked from the kitchen as she placed the plates in the sink to heat them with warm water. Cleo realized only then that she’d stopped moving. “The cutlery won’t hug you back you know, you need to find a human to do that with.”
Cleo had come out to her parents as gay nearly twenty years ago, and while Fiona had never been anything but supportive, she still said human or person instead of woman. But hey, she’d take it.
She got the table set at record speed. It took less time than usual as Evan wasn’t going to make it to dinner this week because he had to work, so he wouldn’t be annoying her on purpose like he’d done since they were kids. Just as she was letting her dad know when dinner would be ready, her sister arrived.
Jade was a carbon copy of Cleo—tall, red, fiery, wavy hair, queer—just ten years younger. But while Cleo had a slender build and tailored clothes, Jade had a more muscular frame, a byproduct of her job as a Sport Physical Therapist. She also typically wore either a variety of sportswear for work, or androgynous clothing on the weekends. There were also Jade’s tattoos, but Jade made sure they were always covered around their parents. It was one of Cleo’s biggest desires to be there when her sister’s big, dark secret was finally exposed. Literally.
“Hey Peeps!” Jade announced, entering the house. She shut the front door with a bang, dumped her backpack unceremoniously on the floor beside the front door and kicked off her sneakers beside it.
“Jade Foster, you know better than to leave a mess in your mom’s tidy hallway,” Rob said without taking his eyes off the TV. Cleo smiled, it was the same every time her sister arrived, even when she visited Cleo’s house.
“Look, I tucked it into the side, they’re all in a neat little bundle, it’s fine.” Jade came bounding over and sat on the couch beside Cleo, landing with enough force to cause Cleo to slightly lift off her seat. She sharply turned her face towards her sister.
“Do you mind?” Cleo snapped with a smirk.
“Not in the slightest, no” Jade replied with a grin wider than the Cheshire Cat’s.
Cleo loved her sister. Really, she did. But some days were more draining than others—and she could tell today was going to be one of those days. The glint in Jade’s eye meant trouble. Not for Jade. For Cleo.
“Sooo…” Jade dragged out the single syllable and had yet to remove her grin. Cleo’s stomach did an unnerving flip in response. “Has Mom told you about running into Megan yesterday?” The mention of the name alone made Cleo’s stomach churn.
“No. She didn’t.” Cleo replied curtly, then turned toward her sister. “Because unlike you, she knows not to dump things on me Friday night, when the long week’s work stress makes me lash out more at the messenger than at the news.”
With that, Cleo stood up to leave the room to go speak to their mom, and in a unified motion, lifted the throw pillow which she’d been leaning against and threw it playfully at Jade.
“Auntie Cleo, Auntie Jade, did youseeall the bugs in the bushes out in the back yard? There have to bethousands!” Sophie announced as she made her way across the room to sit down beside Jade on the sofa.
“Hey kid, that’s great,” Cleo tried her best to keep a happy face on for Sophie, while she felt her insides start to fall apart at her sister’s news.
When Cleo entered the kitchen again, Fiona had already dried the dishes from the sink and was starting to plate the food.“Will you let your dad and sister know food’s getting dished up?” Fiona asked.
“Why didn’t you tell me about seeing Megan?” Cleo asked softly, unable to hide the sting or hurt that still appeared anytime she had to mention that name out loud.
Fiona stopped mid-movement, a spoonful of rice hovering above the second plate. She took a beat before continuing to serve the food, focusing on the task at hand so as not to lift her head and see the pain in Cleo’s eyes. “I didn’t say anything because I didn’t want to distract you from your work. I knew I’d see you here for dinner tonight, and I figured I’d decide whether to tell you or not when I saw you. Then you seemed in such a good mood when you arrived, I didn’t want to dampen it with news ofherreturn to town.” Fiona sat the first pot down and looked up at Cleo. “I know she did a number on you, love. I didn’t want to be the bearer of bad news and see that look in your eyes again. She’s taken enough from you without adding to it by coming back.”
“What did she say?” Cleo asked quietly. She could feel herself shrinking. She tried to fight it, but her shoulders curled in as she reached to wrap her arms around her body, desperately trying to hold herself together.
“Not that I gave her much chance, but she said she was back for a couple of months. Something to do with work. I just made sure she knew to stay away from you.” Cleo was torn between loving how protective her mom was and hating that she’d given Megan the chance to talk at all.
Her mom’s words lingered in her head, even while she could hear her shouting to the rest of the family that dinner was ready.
A couple of months.
