The Second Heart (4 page)

“I know what you mean. Even though this has
been a guest room for years, it still seems weird sleeping in
James’s room. Part of me feels like he’s going to come in any
second and tell me to get out of his room.”

Just as she said that, Amelia pushed the door
open and stepped into the room. The girls laughed at the timing of
her entrance. “What?”

Meredith began to explain. “We thought you
were James.”

“Come to banish us from his personal space,”
Vi finished with an ominous flourish.

Amelia chuckled politely, not understanding
the nostalgia the girls were feeling. “Well, if James still lived
here, I think we’d have bigger problems.” James was in his thirties
with a seven-year-old daughter.

“Thanks for letting me sleep over, Mrs. C.”
Vi assumed a young, girlish voice as she said the phrase that she’d
uttered countless times in middle and high school.

The girls giggled again as Amelia rolled her
eyes, smiling. “You two get stranger and stranger the more you hang
out together.”

“It’s a wonder either of us can get dates,”
Meredith joked.

“Oh yeah, speaking of dates, where is
Miguelito?” Vi asked, using the nickname affectionately.

Meredith glanced at her mother, remembering
the conversation they’d had earlier. “I’m going out with him
tomorrow.”

Vi persisted, “Yeah, but where is he
today
? That was some pretty heavy stuff this morning. I
thought he’d be racing over here to hold you like the sweet damsel
you are.”

Surprised, Meredith realized that she had no
idea where Miguel was or what he was doing, because she hadn’t
asked. Meredith told them as much.

Amelia shook her head. “You’re not being fair
to that guy, Mere.”

Vi looked back and forth between them with a
questioning lift to her eyebrows. “Uh oh, did I just step in
something?”

Meredith let out an exaggerated sigh of
exasperation. “Mom thinks that since I don’t fawn all over Miguel
and sit by the phone waiting for crumbs of affection then I must
not really like him.”

“Ever the drama queen,” Amelia said dryly.
“I’m just saying that if you don’t like him, then you should stop
stringing him along.”

Vi shifted uncomfortably, sorry that she had
mentioned Miguel. Attempting to relieve the tension, she said,
“Well, you know how we modern career girls are, Mrs. C. Gotta give
those boys a run for their money!”

Meredith sat up with a resigned sigh. “Mom, I
do
like him. I am just trying to figure out how
much
.”

Amelia raised her eyebrows and looked like
she wanted to say more, but instead changed the subject. Turning to
Vi, she said, “I came in here to get your laundry, Miss Violet. So
let’s have it.”

Vi stood and crossed over to the bag on the
dresser. As she unzipped it, they were all treated to a waft of the
smoky smell from the apartment. “Thanks a bunch. Pretty much
everything in here has to be washed.”

“No problem. I’m just glad you girls are
okay.”

With her arms full of the clothing Vi had
packed, Amelia left the room. Briefly, Meredith wondered what sort
of clothes Vi had packed for her. From where she was sitting, all
she could see in the bundle of clothes was Vi’s torn black jeans
and some red lacy panties, which were most definitely not hers.

Once Amelia was out of earshot, Vi turned to
Meredith, looking contrite. “Sorry about bringing Miguel up. I
didn’t realize--”

“Don’t worry about it. I didn’t even know
that Mom had an issue with him until today.” She paused
thoughtfully. “Actually, it’s not even that her issue is with him.
It’s with me being with anyone that she doesn’t think I am fully
invested in.”

“Do you think she has a point?” Vi asked
carefully.

Meredith laughed. “Since when am I in the
business of admitting it when my mother has a point?”

Meredith and Vi hung out in the bedroom
chatting until it was time for dinner. When they heard the buzzer
on the oven, they came out into the hallway just as Rob was leaving
the office. Vi smiled and gave Rob a big hug.

“Uh oh,” he joked. “We better hide the good
silver.”

Playing along, Vi said, “Oh come on, Mr. C. I
haven’t stolen from you for months now.”

Rob laughed and tousled her hair. “How are
you doing, Vi?”

“Pretty good, thanks. Selling hopes and
dreams to starry-eyed teenagers never gets old.” Vi had gotten a
degree in graphic design, and she now worked for the university
creating promotional materials for student recruitment.

“Well that’s good to hear. What do you say we
go eat?” Rob led them through the living room toward the kitchen.
The TV was on as they passed by, and a worried looking newscaster
was discussing the outbreak of fires nationwide. So far there were
three deaths in Phoenix and countless thousands of dollars in
property damage. Police still had no leads.

When they reached the kitchen, Amelia was
just setting the bubbling lasagna on the stovetop.

“Good, you’re all here,” she said, looking up
from the lasagna dish. “Rob, you get everyone water to drink.
Meredith, placemats and napkins. Vi, silverware.”

They all set about their appointed tasks and
were soon dishing themselves up buffet-style from the kitchen.

Sitting down at the table, Rob smelled his
plate of food appreciatively. “This looks great! And my girls back
home, too. This day is shaping up to be just fine.”

Amelia patted him gently on the shoulder as
she moved past him to sit at her place facing the window. “It is
nice to have you girls here tonight.”

“Cut it out, I’m getting misty eyed.”
Meredith fluttered her hand by her face in a show of mock
emotion.

Vi joined in on the joke. “Oh stop it, Mere.
If you cry, then I’ll cry… Oh, now you’ve done it! My mascara’s
running.” She let out an anguished sob and flopped down into the
chair across from Amelia. Then she sat up straight, smiled broadly,
and took a large bite of lasagna. The grin stayed frozen on her
face while her eyes filled with real tears.

“Lasagna a little hot?” Meredith asked
mirthfully.

Vi nodded painfully and grabbed her water
glass, chugging down several mouthfuls of the soothing liquid. They
all laughed and tucked into the food, blowing on their forkfuls of
lasagna to avoid repeating Vi’s mistake.

They all ate companionably in silence for a
few minutes. Then, Amelia said, “So who wants to speculate about
what the hell’s going on?” She gestured toward the window, and they
all turned to look.

The sun had set, casting the city in
darkness. From their vantage point on the hill, they could see
three separate fires burning in different parts of the valley. They
cast up an orange glow that mingled with the halo of light from the
buildings and street lamps.

“I read earlier today that they thought it
might be terrorism,” Meredith suggested. She glanced over at Vi,
who met her gaze. They were both thinking about the conversation
they’d had earlier, when Vi had told Meredith about the
candles.

“Terrorism would make sense, I suppose,” Rob
contributed. “Isn’t the point of terrorism to get people where they
feel safe, like in their homes? That would explain why it’s been so
random, as opposed to high profile targets.”

Amelia nodded thoughtfully, digesting what
Rob had said. “But to what end?” she asked.

“Do we ever know the answer to that question
when this sort of thing happens?” Rob responded. “Hatred is its own
reason.”

“I wonder when the firefighters will ever get
to sleep again,” Meredith commented.

“I hope they all get raises. You girls were
so lucky. What if you’d been asleep?” Amelia reached across the
table and squeezed Meredith’s hand.

Vi turned and looked at Meredith quizzically.
“Why were you up so early today? Usually it takes a marching band
going through your bedroom to get you up before nine.”

“I don’t know,” Meredith answered honestly.
“I was just awake. I really don’t know why.”

They cleared the table and talked about
inconsequential things while Meredith and Vi washed the dishes. Rob
settled in front of the TV with a bowl of ice cream, and Amelia
transferred their freshly washed clothes into the dryer. Once the
chores were complete, they joined Rob in front of the television
and watched the news for a while.

“It’s amazing how long they can talk for how
little they actually know,” Rob remarked.

“It’s like my students!” Amelia joked. Before
retiring, Amelia had been a high school English teacher.

Meredith stood up and stretched. “I’m gonna
go to bed, guys. I’m beat.”

“I’m right there with you.” Vi stood as well,
and they said goodnight.

Meredith went into the laundry room and
pulled their clean clothes out of the dryer, carrying them down the
hall and dumping them into a heap on the guest bed. Vi fished
through it and pulled out her pajamas, which were black silk with
deep purple piping. She flashed Meredith a devious smile and
flounced out of the room to change and brush her teeth in the
bathroom.

Worried, Meredith dug through the pile of
clothes looking for her own PJ’s. Finding the barely-there red silk
negligee that she usually saved only for special occasions,
Meredith groaned. She was going to have to pay Vi back for this
one.

Meredith checked the various pockets of the
overnight bag and found her own toothbrush. She took it and her
nightie to the master bathroom and brushed her teeth and washed her
face. She let her hair down out of the ponytail that she had
absentmindedly shoved it into at some point and raked her fingers
through it.

She glanced around and spotted her mother’s
hairbrush next to the sink. Her mother had owned the hairbrush for
as long as she could remember. It was antique silver and made from
real horsehair. The back of the brush was monogrammed with Amelia’s
grandmother’s initials. Meredith gently ran her fingertip over the
inscription, enjoying the feel of the cool metal under her touch.
She took up the hairbrush and ran it through her hair, which she
then wove into a braid at the nape of her neck.

She browsed through her mother’s closet and
was relieved to find a thick bathrobe, which she happily pulled
over her nightgown.

When she returned to the guest room, Vi was
already in bed with the lights out. In the slice of light that came
in from the hall, Meredith could see that the clothes that had been
on the bed now resided in a tangled mass on the floor. She frowned;
Meredith would have folded them so they didn’t wrinkle. Ignoring
the clothes as best she could, she stepped into the room and closed
the door.

Meredith let the robe slide to the floor, and
then she climbed into bed next to Vi, whispering, “Are you still
awake?”

“I’ve been in here for like, two seconds. Of
course I’m still awake.” Vi rolled over to face Meredith. She
smiled wickedly again. “You look very pretty this evening.”

“Enjoy the moment now, Vi. It’s going to come
back to haunt you,” Meredith promised.

“Ooh, I’m scared now.”

Meredith blew a raspberry at her. As her eyes
adjusted to the dark, she could make out Vi’s delicate features.
Growing up, Meredith had often felt like an oversized brute next to
Vi’s slender and petite frame. Often the tallest in her class,
Meredith hadn’t had the same kind of attention from the boys that
Vi had. She assumed that the boys had all been intimidated by her
stature.

“So today’s been wicked strange, right?” Vi
said after a pause.

Meredith blurted, “Did that stuff with the
candles really happen?”

“Yeah. I still can’t wrap my head around it.
What if I’m remembering it wrong? Things like that don’t happen in
real life.”

They were both quiet for a moment. Then
Meredith asked, “What do you think tomorrow will be like?”

“Damned if I know.”

There was another silence. Then Meredith
spoke again, plaintively. “Vi?”

Quietly, Vi responded, “Yeah, Mere?”

“If you die, can I have your stereo?”
Meredith snorted with laughter as Vi giggled and hit her over the
head with a pillow.

There was a knock on the door and Rob’s voice
came through the wood, “I thought I told you two to go to
sleep.”

The girls giggled some more and Meredith
said, “Yes, Dad,” just as Vi said, “Yes, Mr. C.” They burst into
peals of laughter again. Rob chuckled on the other side of the door
and continued walking down the hall to his bedroom.

Soon the girls calmed down and Meredith gazed
out the window as she lay in bed. There was a soft orange light
filtering in from the streetlamp outside. Faintly, she could hear
emergency sirens blaring once again in the distance. Beside her,
Vi’s breathing became regular as she fell asleep.

Meredith thought about her date with Miguel,
and tried to dissect her feelings about it. She was looking forward
to it, but was she
really
looking forward to it? Her
mother’s warnings were at the forefront of her thoughts, and she
felt annoyed at Amelia for making her second guess her dating
habits. Her regard for Miguel was warm and steady, but it wasn’t an
overwhelming passion, by any means. She was twenty-three, after
all, and she figured her days of rampant teenage ardor were behind
her. Maybe this was what a mature relationship felt like.

She also wondered when school would start up
again, and how the fire on campus would affect classes for the rest
of the semester. She hoped that they wouldn’t have to make up lost
time over the holiday break.

Her mind drifted to different subjects as her
brain wound down for the day, and after a while, she drifted off to
sleep, while fires still burned outside the window.

“Wake
up.”

Meredith felt herself being gently prodded
awake. She opened her eyes, confused because it was still dark
outside. Alarmed, she sat upright in bed. “What is it?”