Glimpse - A Novel Part 16

"He's totally gay, Zel. Highlights, knows acting terms, kinda b.i.t.c.hy, hotter than your average boy? I suppose he could be metro, but my gaydar's pretty good."

"What?" I thought for a moment. "Well, that does sort of make sense. Grandma said she'd never heard of a male Retroact, but if he's gay...I mean, the whole thing's triggered by attraction." Okay, so I maybe pictured Avery and Benjamin wrestling s.h.i.+rtless in the middle of a soccer field, but just for a little bit.

"That must have been some coming out. 'Hey Dad, I'm gay and also have visions of when people are gonna die. Glad we had this talk.'" Claire shook her head. "b.u.mmer."

"I don't know, he seemed pretty pleased with the whole situation. I did not get the sense that he was b.u.mmed at all."

Melody sat up straighter. "Okay, gay or not, he's still a threat to you and The Society. I say we tell Grandma that we want to go home tomorrow." She looked to Claire. "Did Dad call? I bet he would be happy if we came back early."

"Yeah, I talked to him about half an hour ago. He told me like a billion times that he'd do whatever you guys needed him to. He's going to call Avery this afternoon." She gave me a rea.s.suring smile.

"What if he hasn't had enough time to set up the meeting?" I thought of Mom and Mr. Adams at the cabin. I still hadn't decided if I should be the one to tell my dad that Mom was cheating on him with the spirit of Mr. Adams, or wait and let the situation take care of itself. All this Benjamin business was not helping me live in denial. "I don't know if we should deviate from the plan."

"Forget the plan. We have to get out of town." Melody rolled her eyes. "Again."

"Fine, call Dad." There was no stopping Melody when she wanted her way, a personality trait that served her well as a Lookout and made her way more annoying as a little sister. I was just going to have to think on my feet and hope for the best. Because that strategy had worked out so well for me in the past. Ha.

"I'll check the vision Grandma had and see if anything changes too much. Then I'll try and get a glimpse of my own." I turned to Claire. "You better start packing now, your shoes alone are going to take an hour."

She saluted. "I'm on it. Guess I should call my parents and tell them that I'm coming home. Have you seen my phone? I can't find it anywhere."

I lay back on the couch and closed my eyes. "Sorry, I haven't. Just use the cordless after Melody's done with it. Aunt Hazel won't care if you make one phone call."

While Mel and I busied ourselves, Claire got down on her hands and knees and started pulling shoes out from underneath the furniture.

Avery was enjoying his four o'clock bowl of cereal at the kitchen table wearing only his boxer shorts when the phone rang. He chewed quickly and swallowed before answering.

"h.e.l.lo?"

"Hey," Claire whispered.

"Aw, c.r.a.p. Man, I'm not supposed to talk to you. Zellie's grandma is going to kill me."

"You talked to Psychic Granny?"

"Yup. She tricked me by calling on your phone and told me not to talk to you anymore, not to contact Zellie and not to tell Mrs. Adams that she was alive. She's scary." He s.h.i.+vered.

"That Retro-b.i.t.c.h stole my phone!" Claire scoffed. "Well, her plan was a big fail. It's all out in the open now. Look, I thought I'd give you a heads up. Pastor Paul is going to call you shortly and ask you over for a meeting tomorrow. We're coming home early. You can be there, right?"

"Definitely. I'm prepared to do anything to get Zellie back now."

"Cool. That's what I wanted to hear. Okay, I better go-"

"Wait, is Mrs. Wells supposed to be at this meeting too?"

"Yeah, well it's at her house, so I'm guessing she'll be there," Claire said.

"c.r.a.p. Not if she's shacked up with my dead Dad at the family cabin she won't."

"What?"

"Yeah. Just because you guys left doesn't mean that the craziness left with you." Avery shook his head. "You said everything was out in the open, but it doesn't sound like you guys know what everything is."

"Spill. Now."

"Zellie's mom has been living with me since you all left for Portland. I thought it was because Pastor Paul didn't like it that she was so sad about my dad, but it's way worse than that, it's because she's pregnant with his baby."

"Holy tele-freaking-novella."

"And..."

"There's more?" Claire gasped.

"And," Avery began again, "because of our meddling, telling Mrs. Wells about her ability and everything, she and my dad are totally all over each other and lovey dovey and super gross."

"Yuck. So I guess Pastor Paul and Mrs. Wells are, what, gonna get a divorce?"

"Well, I don't know. I tried to threaten the lovebirds into telling my mom and Pastor Paul about the baby last night, but of course they didn't listen to me. I'm visiting Mom this evening, I guess I'll tell her then. You think I should break the news to Pastor Paul when he calls?"

Claire snorted. "I don't think you should have to be dealing with this at all. Stupid grown-ups." She thought for a second. "I know this is going to sound crazy, but why don't you invite Pastor Paul to go with you to visit your mom and then tell them together, that way if-"

"If my mom has another breakdown, you mean, then I can use Pastor Paul as a human s.h.i.+eld."

"You know that is not what I meant. I was only thinking they might be comforting to each other because they're in kinda the same boat. That's all. Your mom is not going to have another breakdown, man. It will be okay."

"If you say so." The call waiting beeped on his phone. "I gotta go, Pastor Paul's calling."

"Okay, see you tomorrow. Try and get Mrs. Wells to the meeting if you can."

"Peace out."

"Peace."

I'd been lying on the couch with my eyes closed for half an hour, hoping to get my own glimpse of our homecoming, but I wasn't getting anything but blips from Grandma's glimpse. I opened my eyes and looked around the empty family room. Melody was making something to eat in the kitchen and Claire was outside talking to her parents on the phone. I was alone. I was relaxed. I was focused. Why wasn't the glimpse thing working? Maybe I was concentrating on the wrong event? So, no homecoming. What else did I want to see?

My eyes snapped shut. Body knows best.

The door to Mrs. Adams room was buzzed open. She didn't turn from the window as the doctor entered the room.

"Good afternoon, Becky. How are you feeling?" The doctor pulled the other of the two chairs in the room over to the window and sat next to her.

She sighed and looked at the doctor, gave her a weak smile. "Okay. I had a good group last night."

The doctor smiled back. "That's what Dr. Plett said." She flipped through the papers on her clipboard. "Since you're doing so well, how would you feel about having a visitor?"

"Who's going to visit me?" Mrs. Adams asked.

"It looks like we had a call this afternoon from..." She flipped through the papers again. "A Paul Wells? Ah, your pastor? He's here to see you now if you're up for it."

Mrs. Adams shrugged, looking disappointed. "That would be fine."

The doctor put a hand on her arm and gave it a gentle squeeze. "Let's go see your visitor then."

My dad set a small bouquet of red carnations on one of the black vinyl couches in the visitors lounge and took off his jacket. He laid it over the back of the couch and sat down, careful not to smush the flowers. The visitors lounge was empty except for one older lady in some dusty rose scrubs at the nurse's station.

The door buzzed and Mrs. Adams stepped into the lounge. She was wearing jeans and a teal t-s.h.i.+rt. She'd changed her clothes.

Dad stood, grabbed the flowers from the couch and thrust them out to her. "Hi Becky, thanks for seeing me. You look good."

She took the flowers from him, a puzzled look on her face. "Thanks." She sniffed at the flowers and then sat down. "Sit, please. It's nice to see a familiar face."

They sat for a moment in awkward silence.

"So, Avery's doing well," my dad finally said. "Grace has been staying with him at your house, didn't know if you knew that?"

She nodded.

He prattled on. "He's been to church...mostly hanging out with Jason Erickson, playing a bit of soccer. He seems to be adjusting to his...situation."

"That's great," Mrs. Adams said. "He could come see me now if he wanted to." She lowered her head. "I'm ready for that, if he wants to."

Dad reached out and patted her knee. "Actually, he wanted to come visit this evening, but, uh, something came up. Do you know when you'll be returning to Rosedell?"

She shook her head. "I'm not sure when I get to come home. Maybe September?" She looked into his eyes. "Can you spare Grace for that long? The girls are gone too aren't they?"

He chuckled. "Yes, I've been a man left to his own devices. The girls are coming home tomorrow though. As far as Grace...I've been doing fine without her. It's something I'll have to get used to."

"Oh." Mrs. Adams looked at the spot on her wrist where a watch would be and then around the room for a clock. "Well, it's been nice to see you-"

"Um, wait Becky, this isn't just a social call." Dad took a deep breath and then blew the air slowly out through his nose. "I have something to tell you, bad news for you, for me too, really." He took another deep breath and then squared his shoulders. "I paid Grace a visit before I came over here. Actually Grace and Mike-"

"That's not funny, Paul." Mrs. Adams stood up and looked around, fl.u.s.tered.

Dad stood and put a hand on her shoulder. "No. It's not not funny and I'm funny and I'm not not kidding." He paused. "I don't know what you remember, or what you believe to be true...about the accident?" kidding." He paused. "I don't know what you remember, or what you believe to be true...about the accident?"

"Are you telling me Mike's not dead?"

"No, he is. Do you remember the thing that Zellie did? And you knew about Grace? That all really happened. We all were a part of it."

She broke from his grasp and started pacing. "Okay. Yeah. I know, I mean I remember kind of. What does this have to do with...more bad news?"

"As it turns out," Dad sat on the edge of the couch, leaning forward and resting his elbows on his knees, "Grace has the ability to communicate with the dead. If you hold hands with her, he's...Mike's standing right there." Dad raked his hands through his hair.

"And they're what, together now?" Her voice rose.

He nodded his head. "Apparently. On the day of the accident they slept together and Grace is pregnant."

Mrs. Adams turned to him, staring, her mouth agape. She plopped down next to him on the couch. "I'm sure they have a room here for you if you'd like."

He cringed. "Do you think there's a support group for men whose wives left them for a ghost?"

"Those are some pretty narrow parameters." They looked at each other. Mrs. Adams burst out laughing. My dad joined in.

After a moment, nearly gasping for air, she managed to say, "Screw them. They freaking deserve each other."

He wiped his eyes. "That's really healthy of you Becky, I was considering vandalism."

"What? The truck? Be my guest. That was always their thing, had nothing to do with me." She exhaled, letting out the last few giggles.

"Avery's driving it now. I suppose I'll let it be." Dad smiled.

"His sixteenth birthday. He got his license?"

Dad patted her knee. "First try."

"Hey, why did you have to come tell me all of this?" Mrs. Adams asked.

"Well, when I talked to Avery this afternoon he told me about Grace and Mike and asked if I would come along with him to tell you. But something like this? It's not Avery's responsibility." Dad shrugged. "So, I went to talk to Grace and Mike and we all decided you'd react better hearing it from me, I guess. Grace didn't want to set you off."

Mrs. Adams snorted. "I bet she didn't." She turned to look at him.

He shook his head. "It's ridiculous, you should have seen them. They were so happy to be together that I don't think they even realized what it was going to do to us, to the kids." He clenched his jaw. "It just makes me furious. I trusted her and she what? Thought of me as good enough? A nice person? That my being a pastor would make me more understanding? Because it doesn't. If anything it's...G.o.dd.a.m.ned embarra.s.sing, that's what it is." He released Mrs. Adams from the tight grip he had on her knee. "Sorry, didn't mean to crush you."

"It's fine. Nice to know that you actually have some b.a.l.l.s, Pastor Paul." She picked up her carnations and stood. "Want to join me for dinner? It's Salisbury steak."

"That would be great." He got up from the couch and grabbed his jacket. "Shall we drown our sorrows in gravy?"

"Amen." Mrs. Adams said.

My eyes shot open and I ran to the bathroom. This time I did barf.

Mom was going to have a baby baby? Great. So, now I didn't have to break the news to my dad that my mom was cheating on him with a ghost, I just had to tell Melody that she wasn't going to be the youngest anymore. I didn't know which was worse.

I wiped my face with a wet washcloth and looked in the mirror. My reflection made me burst into tears, I hadn't been aware of how worn out I looked. I shouldn't look like this; there shouldn't be bags under my eyes and creases in my forehead from worrying and keeping secrets. I was sixteen, not forty-six. I thought about what Dad had said about Avery, it's not his responsibility. Well, it wasn't mine either. Let the grown-ups sort their own messes out, all I wanted to concentrate on was getting my boyfriend back and tomorrow, G.o.d and glimpse willing, I would get my chance.