Emilia Hunt
"This is it then" my Aunt Bobby looked over the place once more and smiled at me.
"I'm still proud of you. But I did want to talk to you about your mother" i could tell by Bobby's eyes that this wasn't the place to talk about it, but I felt like I needed to get one thing off my chest.
"I'm not coming back home, not until she agrees to stop drinking and doing the same manipulative stuff she pulled on Estelle that made us all end up like this" Bobby sat down on my couch, frustrated with all the fighting.
"Baby, it's been eight years. You have to forgive her"
"I love you but I only agreed to having dinner with you because I thought you were going to understand my side of this. She called me once this year and all she could muster up the courage to say was that she wanted to know where the money was. She didn't know that I had left Chicago, she just sobbed and said that I was selfish because she needed her fix" I explained, flaying my hands around out of habit but my Aunt just sat there - too shocked for words.
"I love you too sweetheart and I'm happy that you're okay here. I just thought that maybe you wanted to come back home" I shook my head strongly, refusing to help my mother who never had the heart in her to stand up for me.
"I'm fine here, I'll be okay but I won't come back until she stops what she's doing" she stood up and walked over to me, hugging me tightly.
A knock at my front door seemed to break the moment but I rushed to answer it.
"Can Tony and I stay here for the night. Nobody's home and we're a little scared of the dark" Ginny looked at me, Tony avoided my eyes for a second before entering my house.
"Sure. Come in" I ushered them in from the cold, hoping they hadn't heard anything but Ginny who could not hide much showed me that she heard none of it or that she was good at lying about it.
"Aunt Bobby, this is Ginny and Tony - they're my neighbours. Kids this is my Aunt Bobby" Tony looked at her and then up and down continuously like he had so many questions building up in his mind.
"You're a lady though? Why is your name Bobby?"
"It's short for Roberta" my aunt smiled, touching their heads softly.
"You have pretty earrings" Ginny spoke up next, staring at her ears.
"I paid a fortune for them so I hope they look good"
"I got mine for three dollars at the thrift store, do you like them?" She began showing her ears off while Tony walked over to the couch and began watching TV. Everyone began to sink into their own activities while I walked out onto the porch for a bit, needing a smoke - I pulled one out from my hiding spot and lit it. Watching Nancy and Michael stop at the house and kiss by the car.
"I love you" I could hear her, pushing into him more as they began making out fiercely by the car.
I turned my back to them and kept smoking, hearing laughter from the inside of my house. I slightly peeked inside the window pane of the door and saw my mother playing with me, singing songs to me and chasing me inside and like it all overwhelmed me - the reality sunk in that my aunt was playing with Ginny and adoring her the way I once was.
The sound of Nancy driving off and tooting her horn made me nervous, Michael would walk over here and ignore me to pick up the kids or it would give him reason to pop over.
Tony and Ginny came over.
I'll walk them back over soon.
-E
I heard his phone beep over the fence followed by the sound of their broken gate clicking and mine opening after another ten seconds.
I looked up and he looked at me, his smile fading.
