Suicide Notes

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Eighteen

Caleb-

"This is unreal," I said, shaking my head as I re-counted the money Stephanie had delivered this morning. "Twenty thousand dollars! Really? How am I supposed thank people for this?"

Anna smiled and laughed, loosely hugging me around the shoulders. "You accept the gift gratefully; in the spirit it was given. Will there be extra after covering Jessi's funeral expenses?"

I nodded. "My family went very light on the spending for her services. Cremation, urn, paying the church for her two hour service."

"What about the emergency services and medical bills?"

"The ambulance didn't transport, so they didn't charge. And my mom's hospital bill should be mostly covered by insurance. We should only have a co-pay and maybe a small deductible."

"Well, then how about using it to find your mom a small place close to you? You said they didn't want her going back to your dad right now. That could take care of rent and help her get back on her feet again. Will she still be able to continue on with her receptionist job, or will she need to find something new?"

"I'm not sure. The doctor hasn't gotten that far into the picture yet. I mean as long as she's lucid, I don't see why she can't work; but I also don't want to put any kind of undue stress on her either."

"So, what about getting her referred to an assisted living facility for a while? That way she would have twenty-four hour access to a doctor and can work on integrating back in with other people. Her insurance should also help cover those expenses."

"Most of her insurance is taken care of by my dad, though. I don't know how long we can count on him to help. Especially if there is any hint of the fact she might not be coming back to him. I'm going to need to talk to him at some point."

"So, put it off for the rest of this week. That will give you, and her doctor, more time to figure out what is best for her and implement a plan before he can try to mess things up. It's obvious he doesn't care much about what's going on. He hasn't even bothered to try and get hold of you. It shows his lack of sympathy toward her feelings. You heard what he said the day we were there. He knew something was wrong with her, but he let her sit there and get worse. He had to know she was having a mental break, but did nothing to help her; instead, he just left to go and do something he wanted. Honestly, it makes me ill."

I nodded my head. "I know; me, too."

"Worst case scenario, maybe you can have her come stay here for a while. Let her stay in your room and you can sleep on the couch or bunk in one of the other boys' room. I'm sure they'd share with you, under the circumstances."

"Actually, that doesn't work too well for any of us. We are already planning on getting another roommate soon," I replied, glancing over at her. Her eyes widened, clearly surprised with this news.

"Really? Who's moving in? This is the first I've heard about it." She was totally perplexed and I couldn't help but chuckle.

"Well, I'd intended to talk to you about it after graduation, but I guess now is as good a time as any. Anna, I want to ask you to move in with me."

Her mouth dropped open. Clearly she hadn't seen this coming.

Doubt crept into my mind. "If you aren't ready for a step like this, I totally understand."

"No, no. It's okay. I'm a little shocked. You've never asked a girl to live with you before; so, this is a bit out of character for you."

Laughing, I stared at her. "I never met anyone else I wanted to spend the rest of my life with before."