Some People Stay

Bridget sat at the kitchen table, staring at the clock on the oven, displaying 6:17. She had been up since two, not being able to sleep after trying to figure out what to do for Amelia. She knew Jonathan should be there at any time. His plane was supposed to land at 5:30, and her house wasn’t too far away from the airport, so it shouldn’t take him long at all to get there.

She had offered to pick him up from the airport, but he had refused, thinking that Bridget would be fast asleep when he arrived, and he didn’t want to wake her up. Little did he know that Bridget had gotten maybe an hour of sleep after getting home from Amelia’s house, staying with her until she fell asleep. She wanted to help her sister, but she just didn’t know how to do that anymore.

She heard a car door shut from outside, and she knew it was Jonathan. She had told him where the extra key to her house was, but there was no use in him using it when she was wide awake and able to open the door for him. She must have surprised him when she opened the door, as he jumped back a little. “Jon,” she smiled at him, wrapping her arms around him before he even got inside the house. It had been way too long since she had last seen him, and she couldn’t be happier that he was there right now.

“Hey Bridge,” he said, letting his suitcase fall from his hand so that he could wrap his arms around her for a good hug. “What are you doing up?” he asked when it finally clicked with him that it was 6:30 in the morning and she was awake.

“I couldn’t sleep,” she told him as she took a step back so that he could get inside the door. “I stayed with Amelia til like midnight when she finally fell asleep. I thought about just staying there with her, but she’s been telling me that she doesn’t want me to do that, that she wants to be alone, so I ended up just coming back home. I slept for a little bit, but I couldn’t stay asleep so I finally just got out of bed,” she explained, playing with her hair, pulling it back into a pony tail before letting it fall onto her shoulders once again.

“Has Amelia been sleeping?” Jonathan asked.

“I think,” Bridget told him, though she couldn’t answer that for sure. “Like I said, she tells me she doesn’t want me to stay. So, I’ve been trying to stay at least until she falls asleep and then I come back here. I don’t really know how much sleep she’s been getting though.”

“I hope she is,” Jonathan said. “Though I could understand why she might not be,” he added.

“I really appreciate you coming here,” Bridget told him once again. She’d been thanking him constantly since he’d agreed to come. “I’m hoping that you can kind of help her in some way. Maybe I’m too close to her or something that she can’t talk to me. I just want her to be okay, you know? I know she’s going through hell right now and I don’t know what to do, and I just want her to be okay.”

Jonathan put an arm around her. “Bridget, you’re doing the best that you can, and I’m sure Amelia knows that and appreciates it. She may not exactly show that right now, but she’s your best friend, you know she’s grateful for what you’re doing.”

“Thanks, Jon,” she smiled up at him. “Here, let me show you where you can put your stuff,” she told him, guiding him up the stairs to one of the spare bedrooms that Bridget had. When her parents had moved away several years ago, they hadn’t wanted to give up their house in Nashville, so they offered it to their daughters. Amelia had just graduated high school at that time and she hadn’t wanted the house, so Bridget had taken it, making it her new home, which she continued to have to this day.

“I still remember the day you told me you and your family were moving to Nashville,” Jonathan said with a small chuckle. “I was devastated. We were what, like thirteen?” he asked, trying to think back and do the math in his head. “I couldn’t understand why you couldn’t just stay up in Winnipeg.”

“You know my parents don’t like staying in one place for very long,” Bridget told him. “I’m surprised they stayed here until Amelia graduated. And, then as soon as that happened they up and left. They’ve moved every year since then. Right now they’re in London,” she told him.

“Did they come back for the funeral?” Jonathan asked.

“For the funeral, yes,” Bridget said, and Jonathan could tell there was a little resentment in her voice, and he waited on her to explain. “Literally for the funeral. They flew in that morning, stayed for the service, and then left to go back to London because they were going on vacation, leaving yesterday. They didn’t even go to the cemetery.”

Jonathan stared at her. “You’re kidding,” he said, though he knew she wasn’t. It sounded like something the Ackermans would do. They never put their kids’ wants and needs before themselves, though Jonathan had hoped that at a time like this that they would for once.

Bridget shook her head. “I wish I was, but no. You’d think they’d want to be there for their daughter who just lost her husband, but nope. They’re more concerned about their freaking cruise they’re going on.”

“I’m sorry,” Jonathan told her.

“It’s okay. I just wish they would be here for Amelia,” she said, sitting down on the bed that Jonathan would be sleeping in. Jonathan sat down next to her, the bed sinking down just a bit.

“They should be here for her. It’s not fair that they’re not,” Jonathan told her. “But, Amelia’s lucky that you’re her sister and best friend and that you’re here for her. She needs you right now.”

“I don’t think I’m enough, though,” Bridget said, and Jonathan could hear her voice crack, and he was fearful that she was going to start crying. He wasn’t good at dealing with crying women, not knowing what to do or say. But, when he saw the single tear streak down her face, he knew he needed to do something.

“Aw, Bridge,” he said, wrapping an arm around her as she buried her face in his chest.

Bridget hadn’t wanted to cry like this, especially with Jonathan there. She knew she needed to be the strong one right now with Amelia, and she should be. It wasn’t like Bridget had just lost her husband. But, not knowing how to help Amelia was killing her. And, when she had heard Amelia at the cemetery say that she didn’t know if she wanted to live anymore, Bridget felt as if someone had stabbed her, it hurt that badly.

“Jon, I’m scared for her,” she told him. She debated telling him what Amelia had told her at the cemetery, and she decided to finally tell him the truth. If he had flown all the way out here, he deserved to know everything, the whole truth. “At the cemetery, she told me she didn’t know if she wanted to live anymore. What if she does something?”

Jonathan tried to digest what Bridget had just told him. “Are you sure she actually meant it? Do you really think she’d go through with anything?” he asked because he personally couldn’t see it. He knew that people would say things they didn’t mean all the time when they were upset. And, after your husband dies, of course you’re going to be upset. “I think she just wants him back. I don’t think she’s actually going to do anything. I know you’re worried, Bridge. And, that’s why I think it’s a good idea to try to get her to seek some counseling. She needs to talk through all of this. And, if she was being serious at the cemetery, then they could help her with that, too.”

“I can’t get her to agree to go,” Bridget told him, moving away from him, noticing she had left tear stains on his shirt, but Jonathan didn’t seem to care about that at the moment. “Maybe you can?” she asked hopefully.

“I can try,” Jonathan told her. “But, like I told you before, I don’t think that I’m going to be able to do anything. I can’t bring David back.”

“I just want you to try,” she told him, trying to stop the tears that were threatening to spill from her eyes once again.

“I’ll try,” Jonathan smiled at her.

“Thank you,” Bridget told him, wrapping him up in a hug once again, grateful that he was going to at least attempt to help her sister because she knew that she couldn’t do this alone.