The Devil You Know

Chapter 40: Jade's Birthday

It was jades birthday today, Tess and I, who were living together now, had decided to drop by at Naomi's, where Jade has now moved in, grandma wouldn't let her stay with pop an either would I. We both kinda just left after Tommy left, it wasn't the same without him.

Tess held my hand the whole drive there, I thought about Tommy and Ma every day. We drove down to the house I wondered how she was holding up, I knew Jade wasn't telling me some stuff, and Naomi wouldn't tell me either. We pulled into the driveway and got out of the car, Tess kissed me sweetly before we stepped to the door and she knocked.

We waited a bit, Tess held the bag with Jades gift, some new, high quality blue sparring gloves that Frank ordered. The door opened and Joel stood there in batman pajamas, a granola bar hanging out of his mouth.

"Ahhhh brother" he smiled hugging me and letting us inside, he hugged Tess too an closed the door behind us. "JADE COME LOOK WHO IT IS" there were thumps upstairs an then she came running down the stairs, she turned to see me with a huge smile on her face and she ran and jumped on me, wrapping her legs around my waist. I laughed and hugged her tightly. Naomi walked down the stairs, smiling and shaking her head.

"Stop running down the stairs Jade you're gonna break your neck" she slurred a little bit, she was half drunk, I knew she ha a little problem with it, but something was different this time, she was worried about something.

She walked to us stumbling a little, Joel gave her a look but when Jade got off me to hug Tess, I pulled Naomi in, she smelled like whiskey, but she seemed sad.

"This is for you, from me and Brendan" she smiled and handed her the bag, she looked up at me with bright eyes and dug into the bag, taking out the gloves and staring at them in awe, then she looked at me and Tess, pulling us both into a tight hug.

"THANK YOU THANK YOU" I looked around, it was odd that I hadn't seen Grandma.

"Did he-"

"No." She cut me off, she didn't even want to hear his name. I sighed; wondering why he wouldn't even call her for her birthday... He must be really angry at us. Joel came up from the kitchen, wrapping his arm around Jade and she leaned her head into his chest, Joel was tall, and Naomi and Jade only reached his chest.

"Where's grandma?" I asked with a smile, to tell the truth I missed her. Their faces straightened and Naomi walked away into the kitchen, Jade followed her and Joel had a frown on his face, something was wrong.

"Grandma... She's not doing to well" Joel whispered, looking at the floor "she's in the hospital, she's real sick... Don't know if.." He trailed off and I stood there shocked, I pulled  him into a hug and I could almost feel the sadness in him.

"I... I'm so sorry" he pulled away and shook his head.

"It was gonna happen some day, you know? No matter when it happened we would never be ready." Tess went to check on the girls.

"How's uh, how's Jade?" I asked, we sat on the couch together and he handed me a beer.

"She's doin a lot better since she moved in, but she won't talk about Tommy, and if Naomi ever bring him up she'll get mad" I understood that, Jade wasn't the type to forgive family betrayal.

"So... Forgive me for asking... But... What are you and Naomi doing.. If-"

"The army" he cut me off. "We talked about it, there's nothing left for us here anymore, Jades going to college" I smiled, she always told me she wasn't going to, I'm glad she realized it was good for her "so, Naomi and I are enlisting, it's good for us, we need to straighten out... And...were doing it for dad too" I nodded, but I wondered if it would end well. We walked to the kitchen where Jade and Naomi were laughing an preparing dinner now, Tess was helping when she could, the girls really liked her and I was so glad.

"So you're going to college, hmm?" I asked Jade, wrapping my arms around her, she looked at me, smiling, like she was proud of herself.

"Yeah! I can't believe I even graduated" I wondered if Naomi told her about her plan, and how Jade felt about it if she did "journalism!" She smiled and I hugged her again. I couldn't believe it! She was going to do so good, Jade always loved English.

Tess and I stayed for the rest of the night, and Jade looked like she genuinely enjoyed her birthday, which was great, all her other birthdays usually ended badly, but this time it was great. I could tell she was sad about grandma but Jade knew that was apart of life, she took good care of them, and Jade loved her to the moon and back.