brother gave me a sideways glance. “He’s easy for you to talk to. You’re his favorite.”
“What?”
“Yeah...you didn’t know?”
“I’m not his favorite. He loves all of his children equally.”
“Well now, that might be true. But he’s not as easy as you think he is. Not with me. When all of you guys left for college, it was bad. I received everything that was meant for all of you. The good and the bad. Mostly the bad,” Denny laughed. “Every time one of you messed up, or made a bad decision, I caught hell. All of the lessons you missed, I got them. So unfair.”
“You’re exaggerating.” I grabbed a pillow and threw it at my little brother.
“Oh yeah, I caught hell for you more than anybody!” Denny laughed a bit. “Jasmine this, Jasmine that. Jasmine broke up with Darren, and now her grades are bad. Jasmine moved clear across the country to California. Who does she know there? Where will she stay? How will she pay her rent? Denny, no, you can’t go out with your friends. We have to figure out what we’re going to do about Jasmine.”
“Shut up!” I laughed.
“I’m serious. You’re responsible for my lack of a decent social life. They sheltered me from your mistakes.”
“You’re exaggerating.”
“You always were the rebel,” said Denny, “which is why the rest of them don’t think you can handle the Grove. It’s why they give you such a hard time. They’re jealous of you. Wish they could be rebels, too.”
I was laughing hard at this point. “You think so?”
“I know so!” said Denny. “It’s true because I wanted to be like you, too. I admire you, Jazzy. You follow your dreams. Even if things don’t work out for you, at least you give it a try.”
“Oh, Dennison Talbot. You are a sweetheart.” I grabbed my little brother’s face in my hands and kissed his forehead.
“I’m serious. It’s why I joined the Royal Bahamas. I’m making a bold move to do what I want to do.”
“I’m happy that you’re doing what makes you happy, Denny.” I smiled. “When do you ship out?”
“Few weeks.” He walked over to his computer desk, pulled out a blue velvet box and handed it to me.
I opened the box and was astonished to find a beautiful diamond ring inside.
“Why, Dennison Talbot! I don’t know what to say.” I covered my chest with my hand.
“Shut up!” He snatched the ring. “It’s for Sage.”
“Of course it is. You’ve only dated her since the sixth grade.”
“I want you to hold on to it for me. And if I come back—”
I raised an eyebrow at his choice of words. “If you come back?” I asked.
“I mean, when I come back I’m going to ask her to marry me. You’re the only one that I trust with this.” He handed the ring back to me.
“I feel so honored.”
“No, seriously, I don’t want anyone else to know.”
“I won’t tell a soul. I promise.” I gave my little brother the biggest hug. He was growing up right before my eyes. I stuffed the velvet box into the pocket of my skirt and gave Denny a warm smile as I walked toward the door. “I love you, big head.”
“I love you back.”
I left his room and headed down the hall to my own private space. My room hadn’t changed much. With two comfortable canopy beds, two chests of drawers and an old white pine desk in the corner of the room, it was the place I’d shared with my younger sister, Whitney. Things were just as we’d left them when I went away to Spelman, and she went away to college in Texas. Old-school posters of Caribbean artist Elephant Man still adorned my side of the wall, reminding me of my high school party days. My brother Nate and I would sneak off to the neighboring islands without my parents’ knowledge. We’d make up the excuse that we were spending the night with friends. We were clever and kept our sister Whitney as our watchperson.
Whitney had never been one to attend parties—or to sneak away, for that matter. She was the practical, levelheaded one of the Talbot bunch, always the peacemaker, always finding the good in everyone. Perfect attributes for a kindergarten teacher. Through Whitney, my mother was able to live her teaching dreams vicariously. And for that reason, she had clearly become my mother’s favorite. I was probably my mother’s least favorite of the bunch, having disappointed her on more than enough occasions. She was a worrier, and I’d caused her the most angst. She was convinced that I’d thrown away my education when I went traipsing across the country to pursue an acting career.
“Do you know how many people have rushed to Hollywood, looking to become famous?” she’d asked me. “You have a good education, from a good school, and yet you choose to squander it.”
I never changed my course. I still moved to California. However, my mother’s words stuck with me. She probably thought I didn’t listen to her, but the truth was I listened to everything my parents taught me. Kept all their instruction tucked away for safekeeping and pulled things out as I needed it.
I stuck Denny’s velvet box beneath my mattress, sat on my bed and glanced over at Whitney’s side of the room. Her stupid teddy bear Georgie relaxed atop her pillow—his place for most of her life. She couldn’t sleep without him. I missed Whitney. I missed Alyson, too. As young girls, we were all much closer—having shared so many intimate secrets growing up. Alyson was my first best friend, my accomplice on many of my sneaky endeavors. I’d been close with both my sisters.
I removed the embellished sandals from my feet and changed into a pair of exercise pants and a tank top. I turned on my music playlist on my iPhone, rolled my mat onto the hardwood floor and immediately began to stretch my limbs. As I worked out the kinks in my body, thoughts of Jackson Conner entered my head, unannounced. Unwarranted thoughts danced about without permission. Despite his arrogance, the man was so sexy. I smiled at the thought of him wanting to see me to the ferry. That was cute. Actually it was quite gentlemanlike, I thought. It was surprising that a man like him would care at all. He seemed so pompous.
I got into the downward-dog position, stretched my body across my mat. Yoga was a practice that I’d studied and developed as a significant part of my lifestyle. My parents didn’t understand yoga.
“We’re Baptists,” my mother reminded me when I tried to explain what all the stretching and candle-lighting was about, “and we don’t practice any other religions in this house!”
It was a lost cause trying to explain to them that yoga was not a religion. So I simply exercised behind closed doors, and very quietly. But I made a mental note that, as much as I loved my childhood home, I needed my own place very soon.
Jackson
I could see the flames in the distance and hear the sirens
