Mary and Halley (sequel to When Mary Met Halley)

fifteen

We made it through the week and late Sunday afternoon found Halley, Paramjeet and me in the garage/Leif's room, attempting to go through the dozen or so boxes of miscellaneous stuff left. There were spiders of the black widow variety involved, and dust, and sad memories. None of which I wanted to deal with but it had to be taken care of and I was tired of thinking about it.

By midafternoon we were mostly done and were finishing a joint. Leif, Joey, Gwen and Ruby had taken the kids to the zoo while Charlotte worked, and it was nice to have grown up time. The cat and crow had graced us with their presence for awhile before going off to cause trouble in the neighborhood.  

"Oh my God, look at poor twelve-year-old me," I lamented, pulling the embarrassing picture out of the one I was going through. "Wow." 

Halley took it, studying it. We were sitting at on the thick purple carpeting, sorting things into stacks around us. "Shut up, you were fine. At least you didn't have braces and super frizzy hair." She looked from the photo of the gawky preteen to me and grinned, biting her lower lip mischievously. "What a glow up, though." She leaned to press her vanilla lips to mine for a few too-short moments. 

Paramjeet was lying in the middle of the huge bed, staring up at the rafters with the last of the joint in her fingers. The big door was open to the driveway, letting in the warmth of the sunny day and some much-needed fresh air. 

"What's up, my friend," I asked her, shaking her foot a little and deftly taking the roach before it could fall onto the bedspread. I sucked one last too-hot hit from it before dabbing it out and added it to the ashtray. The kids weren't allowed in Leif's room so he could have such luxuries.

Paramjeet sighed deeply. "They said I have to go back to New York, to give my testimony."

Damn. I'd known that was something that was going to happen, but I'd been trying not to think about it. "Damn. If you want to drive I'll go with you," I said, feeling terrible because I couldn't fly there to be with her.

She sat up, looking at me almost pityingly. Her long black hair was in a tired braid, her usual vibrancy dull, muted. I wanted to wrap her in blankets and give her hot cocoa and reverse time so she never met that piece of shit. "It's okay, really. I couldn't stand over forty hours in the car anyway, and they need you here."

I couldn't stand the thought of her going and being there alone, or of her going on an airplane. But there was nothing I could do. "They can't do a video chat or come here or something?"

She laughed bitterly, her cheekbones sharper now because she'd lost her appetite in general. "They are not interested in making it easier for me, Mary. They don't like me. They probably wonder what's wrong with me that I didn't see any warnings about the monster I married." She flopped back down. "Half of them think I was involved, you can just tell."

"Fuck them." I didn't know what to say or do. "I'm sorry I can't fly with you," I offered in a small voice. 

Halley squeeze my arm in support, taking out another stack of papers. 

"It doesn't matter," my despondent friend said. She'd made an appointment for the following week with Rosalia, the counselor Sarah had recommended, which would hopefully help a little. "I don't really want to talk about it anymore if you don't mind."

"Okay." I made a sad face at Halley and she made one back. We were quiet for a few minutes, the only sound the radio playing as we shuffled the old papers around.

Suddenly Halley sat up straighter, holding a card. "No way," she exclaimed, bringing my attention off the stack of report cards I was perusing. "No way, Mary! Oh my God. I can't believe you saved it."