Page 9 of Just Like the Brontë Sisters

Chapter 6: Jo Beth

She needed to convince her parents that Skylar should move out of their childhood home, to live in Jo Beth’s swanky ski condo, which was too big and too quiet for just one person. To divide and conquer, Jo Beth visited her mom at the bakery first, in the afternoon when business would be slow.

“How are you going to enforce any rules?” Her mom, Elizabeth, stood behind her bakery counter, nearly done with a day’s work of frosting cupcakes and refilling patrons’ coffee. She looked like she needed a coffee of her own. Jo Beth figured that her mother had started her workday at four a.m., just like always. Elizabeth yawned, but Jo Beth refused to acknowledge the subtle social cue that she should save this conversation for a time when her mother was less exhausted. Because it seemed her mother was always exhausted.

Jo Beth just plowed ahead. “Come on, Mom. If anything, Skylar’s the one who will be enforcing rules toward me.”

“You’re not exactly making a case for yourself here.”

Jo Beth walked around to behind the bakery counter and removed the nearly empty coffee pot from its hot plate. There was just enough coffee left to pour two cups: one for her mom and one for herself. “I’m just saying that Skylar’s not a rebel. I doubt I’ll have to do much to keep her in line.”

“What about curfew?”

“Curfew?” Jo Beth laughed. “Skylar doesn’t ever go out, Mom.” She leaned against the wall, then thought better and fixed her posture. It was time to stand tall. “Actually, that’s one of the reasons I think she should move in with me. Skylar is great in every way and you’ve done a superb job raising her…”

“Thanks,” Elizabeth said sardonically.

“…but she isn't very happy. Maybe I could teach her some social skills, teach her to fit in a little bit better, so she has more of a life outside of skiing and books.”

Elizabeth took a sip of coffee and winced, as if the hot liquid had scalded her tongue. When she spoke, it was with a choked voice. “I don’t know, Jo Beth. I mean, I don’t think it’s books that are a problem. I think it’s you.”

Had she just heard her mother right? Indignation bubbled inside Jo Beth, but she tried not to get steamed. With as much composure as possible, Jo Beth simply asked, “What do you mean?”

“Skylar relies on you for everything. If she moves in with you, nobody else will matter.”

“I won’t let that happen, Mom.”

“How are you going to stop it?”

She thought for a second. “Okay, maybe Sky idolizes me a little too much. But if anything, living together will knock me off that pedestal. I swear, Mom, this will be a healthy thing.”

Elizabeth put down her coffee cup and turned away, toward the sink, so Jo Beth couldn’t see her face. Jo Beth spoke to her back. “Haven’t you always said that your relationship with your parents was ruined after they tried to keep you away from Dad?”

“It’s not the same thing.”

“But it’s close. If you want to her keep her long term, you have to let go of Skylar, at least for right now.”

Elizabeth spun around suddenly, grabbing Jo Beth with both hands, capturing her in a fierce hug. “I can’t lose either of you,” she said.

For a moment, Jo Beth was paralyzed, shocked into silence by this sudden show of desperate affection. Then she let her arms slowly float up and around her mother, returning the hug with an embrace not quite as tight. “You’re not going to, Mom.”

But Jo Beth knew that was a lie.