“As long as I can be,” he says. “But we can work on that later. Right now, we have a candy shop to focus on.” He kisses me one last time and then turns me toward the store just as Aunt Kitty comes into view.
She’s wearing a denim apron with The Market stitched on the front, looking timid and not like herself.
“Hello.” She waves awkwardly and adjusts her apron.
“Hi,” I answer, unsure why she’s dressed like that.
“We’ll give you a second,” Theo says. “I have to show Lamar the apartment upstairs so he and his friend can start working on it.” He winks at me and my heart flutters in my chest as he takes off, full of life, full of love.
Tilly pats me on the shoulder and pulls Rupert out of the room, saying something about unpacking boxes in the storage room, which leaves just me and Aunt Kitty to ourselves.
After a few seconds of silence, Aunt Kitty says, “I, uh, I got a job.”
What?
She got a job?
Like an actual job?
Something that will pay her biweekly, that she has to report to at least forty hours a week? That kind of job?
“What do you mean?”
“I, uh…I thought about the things you said and even though they hurt, I sat with it. I let it sink in and you’re right. I haven’t been a stable role model for you. I haven’t been a provider. I’ve been chasing a fictional reality in the hope of staying away from what is really going on in my life.” She takes a step forward. “Ilost my husband and then my brother all in a short amount of time, and I stepped into a realm where the reality of life didn’t exist. Where I could pretend like the pain all vanished, and I could just focus on things that made me happy. I tried to foster you, help you in your endeavors, and I see that I have fallen short on such things. Rupert and I had a long talk about it.”
Rupert? He was in on this?
How is it possible that the two British men that I thought were murderers at the beginning of summer have turned out to be the two people I needed the most to help me sift through the muddiness of my life?
Continuing, Aunt Kitty says, “I realize that I put pressure on you to provide. I didn’t realize it at the time that I was pressuring you. I thought I was encouraging. But seeing it with your eyes, seeing how I have sporadically helped, I get it.” She sighs and takes another step forward. “I don’t want you to resent me, Renley.”
“I don’t.” I shake my head.
“Please, sweetie, let me finish.” I nod, allowing her to continue. “I want to be someone you look up to, not someone you have to take care of. I don’t want to remind you of your father in the way that he hurt you and embarrassed you. I want to remind you of your father in the way that made you smile. I want you to be proud of me. And I want to be a part of your life for a very long time, until I can no longer hug Marshmallow between my sturdy thighs.”
I snort and cry at the same time as she closes the space between us. Taking my hand in hers, she says, “I’m sorry, Renley. I promise to do better. I know there will be days when I make mistakes and when I annoy you to the point of not wanting to talk to me, but in those instances, just remind me of this moment, where I’ve vowed to be better for you, for us.”
“I will,” I say, my voice choking up.
“Thank you.” She pulls me into a hug and gives me the kind of love that I need in this moment, the parental kind, where I can feel it all the way to my broken and battered soul. “I’m so proud of you, of everything you’ve done.” When she pulls away, she swipes at my tears and says, “Now, don’t let that tuna-mouth bitch win. I will be damned if Marjorie takes this shop away.”
I laugh. “No, we can’t have that, can we?”
“Absolutely not.” She squeezes my hand. “Now, I must be off to my job, but I’m asking about the register system, and it seems as though Karen, at The Market, and I have one very large thing—and I mean extremely large thing—in common.”
“What’s that?”
“Our hatred for Marjorie.” She winks. “We bonded over it during my interview. I was hired on the spot. So anything to make Marjorie’s life a living hell, Karen is in on. She said she would help set you up. It was Rupert’s suggestion to get me to ask. He’s so smart. And have you seen him in those shorts? I just want to squeeze his heinie.”
I wince, because…no.
“Aunt Kitty, I don’t think that’s such a great?—”
“By the end of the year, mark my words, you’re going to be calling him Uncle Rupert.”
Dear God in heaven, I hope not.
She pats my shoulder and then takes off, leaving me alone in the main space of my shop.
