Chapter 20: Jo Beth

Jo Beth could feel her sister’s resolve from all the way past the equator. Every evening, Skylar would call as soon as she was done with ski practice and then she would voice her opinions, loud and clear.

“If you don’t trust Mitch and Magda, you should leave,” Skylar would tell Jo Beth. “Have your baby at home. Mom and Dad will be around, and I’ll always be there to help with midnight feedings or diaper changes or whatever you need. We’ll raise your baby together.”

Several times Jo Beth said yes; she’d buy her ticket tomorrow and be home by the end of the week. Then she would go to tell Mitch, and he’d look at her with this unassuming twinkle in his eye, rub her belly, and whisper into her ear: I need you. Don’t go. He’d say this before she’d even mentioned leaving, which only confounded her guilt. She’d remember how, weeks ago, he’d hung his head, pale and weak and still doubled over from stomach cramps.

“I drove you to this,” he’d said. “I am so, so sorry that you doubt me, but I promise I will earn your trust. You’ll come to see that for me, there is only you.”

Then Magda apologized, so Jo Beth had two people telling her sorry after she’d made them overdose on laxatives. If Jo Beth was capable of erasing her emotions she wouldn’t have bought their contrition. She wouldn’t have believed a word or a sad smile from either of them. But besides her sister, Magda was the only real female friend Jo Beth had ever had and Mitch was the only man she’d ever loved.

So she stayed.

Things were okay for a while. Sure, half the time Jo Beth was sure that Mitch and Magda had it out for her, but the other half of the time she knew her paranoia simply came from hormones and a lack of meds. Then came the day that Magda and Jo Beth were running an adventure tour and Magda insisted that Jo Beth do the zip line, that it was safe and it would be good for her to get some adrenaline coursing through her veins. Except somehow her zip line wasn’t properly attached. It happened at the beginning of the course and she only fell from six feet, but Jo Beth started bleeding and needed to be rushed to a hospital in Santiago. She didn’t miscarry, but the doctors were gravely concerned. She would need to stay quiet for rest for the remainder of her pregnancy—another four months. That meant staying inside: no exercise, no walks, no fun.

“I will never forgive myself for this,” Magda said. “I can’t imagine—if anything had happened to your baby, my God, it’s like the world would end.” She kept crying and wringing her hands, pacing the floor of Jo Beth’s hospital room. “Once we get you home, I’m going to take such good care of you. I’ll wait on you hand and foot.”

“It’s not necessary, Magda.”

“Yes, it is.”

“You need to run the adventure tours.”

Magda reached into her back jean pocket and pulled out a sheet of folded notebook paper. “No, look—Mitch and I have it all figured out. We’ve created a schedule.”

She showed it to her; the hours when Mitch would be at home and the hours when Magda would be there instead. There were very few times when Jo Beth would be unsupervised, maybe an hour here or there, tops.

“Mitch and I want to take care of you. Please let us.”

What choice did Jo Beth have? The doctors had absolutely ruled out travel, and neither her mother nor Skylar could drop everything, come to Santiago, and tend to her for the next four months. So, she let Magda take her back to her apartment, where there was now a cot set up in the living room. Before the accident, Mitch and Jo Beth had been staying in his student apartment, but the summer term was almost over and then he’d have to move out. Everyone decided it was best for Jo Beth to settle into one place where she wouldn’t have to move around so much.

And she wondered what she’d done in a past life, or in this one, to deserve living such a unique form of hell.

“We’ll never have any privacy,” Jo Beth told Mitch.

“I know, but what can I do?” He ran a hand through his curls and reclined back onto Magda’s couch, which sat opposite the cot now crammed into the tight living space.

“Find us a place where we can live! Once the baby is born, we’ll need it anyway.”

“But I thought you wanted to go back up to Portillo,” he responded.

“I don’t know what I want, but I can tell you what I don’t want, and that’s to be stuck in your ex-girlfriend’s living room for the next four months.”

Mitch nodded his head, his curly locks bouncing ever so slightly, as if they refused to match the solemnness in his eyes. “Okay, I’ll find a place.”

And he did try but somehow, despite his efforts, something always fell through. The potential landlord seemed shady, or the lease was too unreasonable, or it turned out the renters wanted double the original price. This went on for weeks, until it became obvious that there was no escape from the situation, at least not until the baby came. In the meantime, Jo Beth resigned herself to being a prisoner. Any resistance she practiced took place inside her mind.

“Do you want to go over this month’s account activity?” Magda asked Jo Beth. She sat next to her on the cot, handed her some papers, and drew up her knees, which poked out of two matching holes in her jeans. Half an hour ago she’d come home after leading a hike through Cerro De Ramon and Jo Beth envied her pink cheeks and satisfied fatigue, the earned rewards of exertion.

Jo Beth took the pages and tried to make sense of all the columns of numbers. “Does this represent a loss or a gain?” she asked, pointing to one calculation.

“Oh, a gain.” Magda laughed, and Jo Beth was struck with how white her roommate’s teeth looked, how perfectly they contrasted with her brown skin. Did Mitch find that attractive?

“We’re doing great,” Magda continued. “Well, we did great. Remember, last month we advertised in Paste Magazine? That really brought in a lot of business.”

“Did the ad pay for itself?”

“More. But not enough to pay for another ad.”

Mitch came out from the bedroom dressed for work. He’d gotten a job as a bartender and his shift was about to start. “Can’t you front the money for another ad?” he asked them both. Magda’s place was small so there was no point in pretending he hadn’t heard their conversation.

“That’s up to Jo Beth,” Magda said. “She’s the one with money to invest.”

Jo Beth bit her lip and turned her head toward the window. Dusk was falling. How she wished for a walk outside.

“Babe, we’re not even paying rent,” Mitch said. “Don’t you think you could swing more for advertising?”

Mitch and Magda both seemed to think that Jo Beth was rich. Maybe she was, but that didn’t make her Bill Gates. Jo Beth had always believed that her investment-made-wealth could disappear as easily as it had appeared, and spending any of it felt like playing with Monopoly money. Were Mitch and Magda just after her bank account?

“It’s okay, Mitch. Jo Beth has already invested so much. I don’t want her to do anything she doesn’t feel comfortable with, especially with the baby coming.” Magda ran her fingers through the strands of her long dark hair, which was tied back. Jo Beth expected that Magda had started the day with a neat bun, but as the hours passed, tendrils escaped, and now her hair was down as much as it was up.

Did Mitch find that sexy?

“I’m starving,” Magda said. “What about you?”

“I’m trying not to eat too much,” Jo Beth said. “I can’t exercise and I’m scared I’ll get big as a house.”

“Not a chance,” Magda replied, scooting her skinny butt into the kitchen.

Did Mitch just give her a second glance as she skipped by him? When Magda opened the refrigerator, leaned down, and inspected its contents, was he inspecting her contents in turn? Magda shut the refrigerator door and shook her head. “We have no food. How about I run out and pick something up? I’m really hungry for some empanadas.”

“Sounds great.” Mitch reached into his pocket, took out his wallet, and handed her some cash. This was annoying on more than one level. First, Jo Beth had given him that money, but now he got to seem generous by giving it to Magda. Second, Mitch was on his way out and wouldn’t even be eating the food, so why was he deciding what they’d eat? Third, Jo Beth was gaining weight because she was pregnant and eating was the only part of her day that offered variety. She looked forward to dinner all day long, self-control was super hard, and the last thing she needed was more temptation.

But she couldn’t avoid temptation, not unless she could avoid Mitch and Magda as well. Temptation was in their skin and it radiated out. It was a gas that poisoned Jo Beth’s mind, making it futile to resist the dark thoughts that seeped into her brain. Mitch and Magda were sleeping together. Mitch and Magda were only after Jo Beth’s money. Next thing she knew, Mitch and Magda would try to take her baby away.

No, that would never happen. Mitch and Magda would have to kill her first.