“Sounds good to me,” Jorja said, “and I didn’t even flinch when I told her hell no! Not only that, but I thought I heard applause in heaven.”
“You probably did.” Clinton opened the door to the shop. “Y’all go on in the trailer while I just set all of this stuff inside until tomorrow morning. We’ll see what all we have to do to clean it up then.”
“You won’t get an argument out of me and Zoe,” Taryn said. “It’s hot out here, and this baby is sweating. I’m going to lay a quilt out on the floor for her so she can stretch out and get cool.”
“Thanks,” Clinton whispered.
“For what?” Taryn raised an eyebrow.
“For protecting her,” he answered. “Like a mother.”
“Instinct,” Taryn said with a smile. “But let it be known I could do bodily harm to Kaitlin without regret for her not thinking about anyone—people or babies—being close by when she peeled out like that.”
“I’m really, really glad we won’t have to deal with her anymore,” Clinton said and then picked up the bench and disappeared into the shop.
“Me too,” Taryn agreed as she turned around and headed to the trailer behind her two cousins.
You sure made me feel special when you rushed over and checked on me and the baby,she thought.
Taryn was somewhere between asleep and awake when she heard a gentle knock on her bedroom door and then the old familiar squeak as it opened. The nightlight in the hallway reflected from the mirror above her dresser right into her eyes. She sat straight up in bed and threw off her covers.
“What’s wrong? Is it Nana Irene?” she asked.
“No, nothing is wrong, except I can’t sleep,” Jorja said. “What happened with Kaitlin earlier this evening keeps playing through my mind like it’s on a continuous loop.”
Taryn patted the bed, and Jorja stretched out beside her.
“I’ve been living in fear and even denial for years. I thought if I didn’t think about it that, pretty soon, it would all go away, like a forgotten dream, but now I’m angry,” Jorja said.
“What’s going on in here?” Anna Rose peeked into the room. “Are y’all having a slumber party without me?”
“Demons are keeping Jorja awake,” Taryn said. “And she’s finally getting angry. Isn’t that a sign of healing?”
“Yes, it is. There are steps to grieving, and getting a good mad on is one of them, but I’ve got just the solution,” Anna Rose said. “Meet me outside in five minutes.”
“It’s midnight,” Jorja said.
“That just means you don’t have to get dressed, because nobody is going to see us,” Anna Rose told them.
“I’m not going to get drunk,” Jorja declared.
“You might bring a bottle of water, but that’s all you’ll be drinking tonight,” Anna Rose said. “Enough talk. Come on outside, and I guarantee you will be so tired after spending an hour in therapy with me that you won’t have a bit of trouble sleeping.”
Taryn pushed back the covers and got out of bed. “Do I need shoes?”
“Yes, but not flip-flops. Your work shoes will do fine,” Anna Rose answered and then disappeared.
Taryn pulled on a pair of mismatched socks and her athletic shoes. “I wonder what she’s got up her sleeve.”
Jorja hopped up off the bed and headed out of the room. “I don’t know, but I’ll try about anything right now. I’ve figured out why wrath is a sin: it eats into a heart like a cancer. I need to get rid of these horrible feelings, but I don’t know where to start.”
“I think the last step is acceptance, so just know that you are working toward that,” Taryn told her when she stepped outside.
“Have you made it past that step?” Jorja asked.
“Nope, not yet,” Taryn answered honestly and glanced up at Clinton’s apartment. She was glad that everything was dark up there;the trailer’s porch light would have shone right through her faded nightshirt, which barely came to her knees, and revealed the fact that she was not wearing a bra.
“Come on over here,” Anna Rose said from the shadows.
