“Hey girl heyyyyy!” shouted her favorite sister, as she wove her way over to Greta from across the park. “Have I even seen you since my wedding? I don’t think I have! Squee!” She snugged up on Greta, apparently ignoring the stiffness and lack of reciprocation.
She still wasn’t forgiven for betting on her sister like a racehorse, but Greta was sick of fighting. That was just going to wait for another time. She was still mad, though.
“How was … the honeymoon?” That felt like a weird question. It felt like she was just asking how the sex was.
“The sex was amazing,” Ang said. Well, at least they were on the same page. “And yours is too, right?”
“Wait, what? Why do you know about my sex life?” Oh, she regretted coming already, and she hadn’t even gotten a good rhythm going on the swing yet.
“I don’t know details, prude, but of course Jon told Matt he was officially living with you and of course Matt told me and of course I was shocked because my sister Greta is as celibate as a nun.” Ang’s voice got louder and softer as she swung up and down. Accordingly, other parents were moving their children away before things got graphic. “Wait, you are banging, right?”
“Um, yes?” There didn’t seem to be any alternative to just answering. Sorry, she mouthed at a particularly shocked-looking lady trying to maneuver her toddler out of a baby swing.
“Oh, good. Yay! Okay, so tell me what’s happening with Mina. Are you so sad?” Pleased to be on less treacherous ground, Greta kicked off even higher.
“I am very super sad. Which is why I’ve decided to adopt her.”
“Oh. No. Yeah, that’s not—no.” Seriously what was everyone’s problem with this? It wasn’t like any of them had kids. Maybe that was it. They didn’t want her moving on without them.
“It just makes sense, Ang.” She leaned back, legs in the air, and enjoyed the pleasant sensation of wind rushing over her hair, and slightly up her dress.
“It makes zero sense, G.” Angie stopped her swing, and grabbed one of the chains attached to her sister’s to stop her as well. “You are really not qualified to take that on.”
“I’ve been her nanny for years. Obviously I already did take that on.”
“Greta, listen to me. You are a kid. You can’t have a kid.” Angie’s eyes were boring into her uncomfortably.
“I’m not a kid. I’m a grownup,” she protested.
“You say ‘very super’. And ‘grownup’, instead of adult.”
“You say ‘squee’ and ‘yay’! I’m not seeing your point here.” Greta tried to kick off again, but her sister didn’t let go of the chain.
“Sweetheart, I say them ironically. Anyways, have you considered Mina at all in all of this?”
“Of course! She wants to live with me,” Greta said. Angie sighed heavily.
“Kids her age don’t get to make those decisions for a reason. You’re behaving very selfishly, and it’s reactionary. You aren’t considering how important it is for Mina to get to know her mother’s family. To be around people who’ve been bereaved, and understand what she’d dealing with. It really seems like you’re only thinking of how to avoid change. Which is pretty childish.”
Greta would have stomped her foot if she hadn’t been on the swing. This wasn’t fair. This wasn’t what she thought she would hear. It also felt uncomfortably true.
“But Mina needs to be happy and I’m good at that!” she protested. She could convince her sister. And if Ang was on her side, nothing could stop them.
“So are puppies and Amy, and I wouldn’t give either of them a kid either. Being a good time hardly makes you responsible.” Angie was rapidly becoming her least favorite sister. “When was the last time you went to the dentist?” She abruptly asked.
“Oh, who knows? No one goes to the dentist.” Greta was confused.
“Everyone goes to the dentist. And especially children go to the dentist. And it’s going to be like this about everything. You kill plants. You never return library books. You just aren’t a responsible mother, Greta. You will be some day, but today is not that day.” Finally, she let go of the chain.
Ouch. Not a responsible mother. That was a really crummy thing to say to a person.
The worst part about hearing these hard words were that they were generally true. She’d only been at Jon’s a few weeks and she’d already killed one of his plants. She couldn’t show her face at any library in the county. And it was possible that other people did remember to schedule dentist appointments.
Hell, only a few days ago Greta had slept the day away, hung over and trying not to cope with reality while Jon cared for Mina. She hadn’t even asked Amy to keep her longer, or Jon to go get her. She’d merely assumed it would take care of itself.
Which it had.
She supposed that was more a testament to her friends than to her own fortunes. There was no way around this, her sister was right and it absolutely freaking sucked. She closed her eyes for a moment, picturing Mina’s face. Picturing Mina’s life. She sighed.
“Maybe I’m not going to adopt her,” she admitted after a long while.
“Of course you weren’t. I bet you never even called a lawyer, did you.” Damn Angie.
“I was gonna. But I was busy. And I kept forgetting.”
“Well, case in point then. When is she meant to go to Boston?” Ugh, that part she didn’t want a reminder of either. Had she left everything up to the last minute unconsciously on purpose? Maybe somewhere deep down, she’d always known keeping Mina was unrealistic. That the little girl was just the last tie she had to a life where everything got taken care of without her having to do much more than play games and take baths. And that cutting that tie meant her life was about to become a scarily blank canvas.
“Tonight. Today’s her last day at school.”
“Aw, I’m sorry. I know you’re going to miss her.” Angie stopped the swings again, this time to grab her sister in a bear hug.
“Even more now, because I guess maybe she won’t come back to me.” Tears were jumping unbidden to her eyes again. She’d never been a bigger crybaby than she had been since Bob died.
Bob ruined everything.