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But there she is in the open doorway, a big smile on her face. Ricci runs over to hug her.
“You’re back!” Ricci squeals.
“Oh, just here for a little visit,” she says, looking at me over the top of Ricci’s head as she rubs her back. “To say hi to Bella and pick up some things.”
“Well,” my dad says, sounding a little nervous. “Come on in. We’ve got pizza on the way. You want something to drink?”
He heads to the kitchen. Opens the refrigerator door. Pulls out a beer.
“I’m going to my room for a bit,” I say, gritting my teeth. “Change the sheets and straighten up.”
I grab some sheets out of the hall closet on my way, slam the door a little too hard.
In the bedroom, I yank Ricci’s sheets off the bottom bunk.
“You want some help?”
I turn around.
Vanessa is in the doorway, nervously wringing her hands.
“Sure,” I say. “Whatever.”
She grabs a fitted sheet from the pile on the floor and holds it up.
“This is a double,” she says.
“Dad made a mistake when he bought them,” I say. “We just tuck them under.”
“That sounds like your dad,” she says lightly. “Here, let me help.”
She starts sliding the sheet onto Ricci’s bed. Together, we tuck it under on all sides and start on the pillows.
“I just wanted to say, Bella,” Vanessa says, flicking out a pillowcase, “that I’m really sorry I missed all the signs. I should have been better. I should have been more cognizant. More present.”
“Actually,” I say, “you were pretty present. I mean, I didn’t really give you a chance, but you tried. I just rejected it.”
She kind of laughs. “You are fifteen. That’s to be expected. I seem to recall rejecting my parents quite a bit. I mean, I’m not your parent, but…well, you know what I mean.”
She’s silent for a minute.
“You seem good,” she says after a while, pulling the blanket off the top bunk and folding it. She places it on my desk chair, moving a pile of dirty clothes to the one in the corner.
“Yeah, I guess.” I’m trying to concentrate on the sheet I’m unfolding and not the fact that there are beer bottles on the kitchen counter and my dad is out there drinking.
I feel jittery thinking about them.
We finish putting the sheets on the top bunk, me climbing up and stretching them around the corners. I’d like to just liedown and bury myself in this bed and not go out in the other room. Maybe I’ll have to be like that girl in group who pours her parents’ booze down the drain at night, though my dad never seemed that bad. He’s not likethat.
Still, couldn’t he have not had any here? At least when I’m staying with him?
“Earth to Bella,” Vanessa says. “That’s the doorbell. I think the pizza’s here.”
But from the front room, I hear a familiar voice bellow, “Ricci! My girl!”
I freeze. Why is Hoyt here? It’s my first night back with Dad. It should just be…family.
“Bella, come on out and say hello to Hoyt!” My dad’s voice is positively merry.
