“She’d probably try to run you over with her car,” I said.
Shelly didn’t react. “I know.”
“And you’re still offering?”
“Yes.”
Something stung the back of my eyes hearing that. “I think I’ll let the lawyers do the honors.”
Shelly started to take another step toward me, and I could tell that if I let her take that one, she’d take another, and another, and she wouldn’t stop until she was right in front of me. And then she’d push me into a choice I could never make. It was one thing to let her hug me when I was breaking apart and crying on the floor, but when I was standing and feeling...not brave, exactly, but not weak anymore either. It would be something very different.
“Shelly, don’t.” She halted mid-step. “Please don’t.”
Her teeth dug into her lower lip before she nodded. “I know.”
She did know; we both did. Whatever she did for me now couldn’t undo what she’d done. Dance dresses and holding me while I cried and letting her shoulder press into mine while I relived one of the worst things that had ever happened to me, those were good things. But we were tainted by a past and present that I couldn’t forget. At least, not while I was still living it every other weekend. Not while she silently read my dad’s notes and reported to his lawyers.
I couldn’t.
“Can I...?” She pointed past me to her bedroom. “I need to show you something, and I promise that will be it, okay?” She barely waited for my wary nod before crossing the room. I heard the closet opening, and a moment later she was back and holding a bag that was nearly as big as she was.
A packed bag.
I frowned.
“I’m leaving.” Shelly grunted under the weight of the bag and I felt the reverberation in the floor when she dropped it. “I don’t want to live like this anymore. I don’t want to be this person, not for myself and not for you either.”
I kept frowning, but only because I was afraid of the expression my face would make if I stopped. “When?” I glanced at the bag.
“I bought the bag the day after you told me about Guy. I’ve been packing slowly ever since so your dad won’t notice.”
My heart started beating faster when I processed what she was saying. “Why didn’t you leave then?”
“Because of today,” she said in the softest voice. “I wasn’t going to leave you to go through this alone. I know you think you’re tough and you don’t need anyone, but I think that’s because you’ve never really had anyone. And you should, Jo. You deserve to have so many people. People better than me.”
The stinging behind my eyes intensified, and my frown began to tremble. I don’t know if I would have been able to stop her if she’d tried to hug me then, but she didn’t. Instead, she reached into her pocket and pulled out a folded piece of paper.
“I already know how this is going to go, which is why I’m sending an email to your dad’s lawyers the second I walk out this door. I can’t do much, but unless they want me going to your mom’s lawyers first thing in the morning, they’ll do what I want.”
I stiffened when she came toward me, but she stopped an arm’s length away and offered me the folded piece of paper.
“That’s Mrs. Cho’s new number. It took me a while to track her down since her old number was from a phone that your mom was paying for, but there’s only so many Korean churches in this city, and when I told my mom I was leaving your dad, she helped me look.”
I took the paper with a shaky hand, and Shelly drew back, shoving both hands into her back pockets.
“Anyway, she hasn’t found a new job yet, and once I’m gone, your dad is going to need somebody to be here with you. I know it’s not perfect, but...”
I opened the paper and saw Mrs. Cho’s number. And Shelly’s beneath it.
Shelly hurried to add, “My number’s only so you can call me if the lawyers try to get out of the rest. I don’t think they will, but they are lawyers, so... Oh, and I just called Mrs. Cho and she’s on her way over, so you won’t have to be alone or go back to your mom’s right away unless you want to. She’s really excited to see you again.”
The words and numbers started to blur the longer I looked at them.
“So, um, yeah. I guess that’s it. I don’t entirely know if that bag is going to fit through the door, but thank God the elevator is fixed, right?” She tried to laugh, but it was forced.
Still staring at the paper, I sensed Shelly moving, groaning as she picked up her heavy bag and shuffled toward the door with it. I heard the hinge squeak as she opened the door, and the sound of fabric scratching as she forced the bag into the hall.
“I hope good things for you, Jolene. Better things than you can possibly imagine.”
