Tabbs

Chapter 6

Tabbs threw down her recently discovered document on the coffee table before her sister as if it were the winning hand at a poker game. "Gen! Take a look at this!"

Her sister, eyes red from dust exposure, didn't look at the document or her sister. Instead, she plucked a bargain size bottle of ibuprofen off the table top, tapped a couple in her hand and tossed them back with the dregs of her water bottle.

Tabbs looked from the document to her sister and back again, an ever growing amount of anticipation causing her heart to pound loud enough she could hear it in her ears. Gen gave a long look at the document, not picking it up for a better look, but looking at it exactly where it lay on the coffee table.

"Edwina's will." Gen said eventually, her monotoned voice clipping the end of the sentience.

"Yeah I found it-" Tabbs paused, considered, "I found it in the attic. With a bunch of other scattered documents. I think Helen must have been looking for it before you got in this morning."

Gen puckered her lip, gave a single nod, then pulled out her phone from her pocket. "Was thinking of ordering pizza. Have a particular topping you want?"

Tabbs blinked. "Gen. This will states that you and I are owed an inheritance of twenty-thousand-dollars!" She stretched the numbers out to the verbal equivalent of a mile.

To Tabbs' utter horror, her sister didn't even so much flinch at the declaration of their legally binding inheritance. An inheritance that Tabbs knew wouldn't only change her life for the better, but her sister's too. But Gen only rubbed under her nose passively as she flicked through her phone. "Was thinking maybe a pepperoni with extra cheese."

Tabbs scoffed and placed her hands on the little table. "Did you hear me, Gen? Twenty-Thousand-freaking-dollars. It says so in black and white, our names listed specifically with Helen as executor of the estate. It says," Tabbs shoved a finger forcefully into the paper. "'Upon Edwina Porter's passing, Helen Ellis is to organize and execute the distribution of funds to the trusties.'" She looked up to her sister from beneath her eyebrows. "I think Helen was trying to get rid of the extra copies of her will so you and I would never know about our inheritance."

Gen pulled a wallet from her back pocket and peeled off a credit card. "I just went ahead and ordered us two larges. Been a long day."

Tabbs raised a hand and slapped the wallet from her sister's hand and watched as it tumbled limply to the floor, the force of the fall popping open the drivers license flap. She ripped her eyes away from the wallet and back towards her sister's heated glare. Gen's cool, grayish-blue eyes suddenly seemed several shades redder.

"I've seen the will, Tabby," Gen stated, unblinking. "I found the hiding spot she left for me too. The box of old jewelry in the hallway safe. Like the attic, I too found the hall closet disheveled but the bolted safe still intact. Evidently, Helen didn't know the combination."

Tabbs felt her dry throat contract in a swallow. "Then you know that we need to do something about this. We need to-"

"Do what?" her sister snapped. Tabbs reflexively took a step back, her heart leaping into her throat. "You want to, what Tabby, march over to Helen and Duke's trailer? Slap them in the face with that document and demand your money from them? How well do you think that would go exactly?"

Tabbs opened her mouth, then closed it again.

Her sister stood, crossing her arms over her chest. "Besides, do you really want to join the rest of this family in picking over the bones of a dead woman? A woman you supposedly loved?"

Tabbs' hands balled into fists at her side. "Don't you compare me to the rest of this fucking trash fire family, Gen." She pointed a finger at her sister's chest. "And don't you dare question how much I loved her," her voice broke with the final words.

Gen stared back, her chest heaving with breath, then finally sat back down. She plucked her water bottle, untwisted the cap, then replaced it without a sip. "I'm sorry, Tabby. That was wrong of me. I'm just-" She raked her thumb and forefinger across her eyebrows and sighed. "There's just no point in fighting Helen on this. Believe me."

Tabbs slouched down onto the foot of the fireplace, both hands raking though the uneven ends of her unwashed hair. "Why is it that all she does is take from us?"

Gen ran a fingernail along one of the grooves in the top of her bottle. "I don't know, Tabby," she said in the form of a sigh.

There was plenty left to say, but nothing that hadn't already been said between them a thousand times before. Somewhere along the way the sisters had just accepted that Helen was Helen. That there was no changing, no reasoning. That you either did things her way or, well, that was it. You just did what she said and said your thanks when it was over. It was nothing new, and the fact that it was an ample sum of money didn't change anything. The fact was, Helen did what she wanted, and it was their job to comply. The role of a daughter to a mother.

Tabbs felt a presence suddenly next to her. She hadn't even realized her eyes were buried in her hands till she unveiled them and looked to find her sister at her side smiling meekly back at her. She rubbed Tabbs' back gently with her palm before pulling her in for a gentle hug. "I'm sorry, Tabby," she said after a time. "I haven't been a very good sister to you during this."

Tabbs laid her chin on her sister's shoulder. "You know it's not your job to have it together all the time. You lost a Grammy too. You deserve to be upset." She pulled her sister tighter to her. She could feel her sister's cheek grow hot against her neck just before a soft wet tickle of tears.

"I love you, Gen."

There was stifled sob. "I love you too, Tabby."