Tornado

On the way back to my restaurant, I cried a little bit. Amy was the spitting image of her brother. I could see in her eyes, though, that there was a war being fought in her mind. It was the same think I saw in my mother’s eyes after my father died. Before I had gone, Lisa gave me a bit of a rundown of what to expect when talking to Amy and she was on point about everything.

The bus pulled up to the bus stop and I got off, practically running back to the restaurant. I was so excited to see it. Three trucks were in the parking lot, all working on the walls. Three of them were done and I marveled at how quickly they were getting it done. Lisa was chatting with one of the workers, going over the blueprints with him.

“So which wall are we looking at first?” I asked after Lisa introduced me to the workers.

The foreman, Levi, led me to the very back wall.

“We left some spaces for your plumbing,” he explained, pointing at to the bits of wall that didn’t look finished. “Your plumber will know to seal everything up. When are they coming in?”

“Tomorrow,” I answered, a little frazzled when I realized how quick everything was coming together.

We finished a walk around and gave them the thumbs up to continue. Lisa and I stood in the parking lot, still keeping an eye on all of them, though.

“So how did meeting the sister go?” she asked and I told her.

“She’s a wonderful young lady,” I finished and Lisa smiled.

“She sounds like it.”

“Which reminds me, how did the talk with your dad go?”

Lisa sighed. “Good and bad. He apologized for how he acted when I came out to him and my mom. He wanted to tell me that he still loves me and wants to be part of our lives. He had gotten a small bracelet for Jennifer, too.”

“What about your mom?” I asked quietly and she glared at the ground.

“She’s furious with him. She already disowned me but he refuses to.”

I pulled her into a hug and she cried a little.

“I’m sorry,” I said. “But at least your father is back with you.”

She nodded, wiping her tears away. “I’ve offered to reserve a table for our grand opening. Is Amy still going to paint the walls?”

“Yes ma’am. I’ll probably bring her here this weekend. Ryder said she leaves next Tuesday. He wants me to spend a lot of time with her,” I added nervously.

“Is that a bad thing?” she asked and I sighed.

“I honestly don’t know. I mean, I don’t know the last thing about interacting with-”

“I love you, June, but stop right there.” I stared at her slightly harsh tone. “You can’t keep looking at Amy as a bipolar schizophrenic. If you do that, you’ll never get to know her. Mentally ill people all want just one thing: to be treated like everyone else. So, treat her just like you treat Jennifer’s niece, okay?”

I nodded and hugged her. “Thanks for helping me with this.”

“You’re my best friend, June.”

-

I didn’t hear from Ryder for two days. I wasn’t too concerned; he needed to spend time with Amy and, from what I understood, Amy was going to be talking one on one with Zachary. I was doing my dishes, singing off key with my Pandora radio, when my phone rang.

“Hello, Mr. Vance,” I said cheerfully, turning the water off so I could hear.

“Hi, Juniper!” Amy’s voice said and I smiled.

“Well, hello, Amy. What’s up?”

“Ryder wanted me to call you and ask if we can come over tomorrow.”

“Of course you can! Why didn’t he call me himself, though?”

She giggled nervously. “He’s in the shower,” she whispered and I smiled at the innocence in her voice.

“What time will you be here?”

“Probably around 9. Don’t cook anything!” she added and I laughed.

“I won’t. I’ll see you guys then.”

“Bye!”

I laughed again as I hung up. As soon as the call ended, my Pandora radio picked back up and I went back to cleaning my dishes.

-

At 8:50, I did a final walk through of my apartment to make sure it was clean. At 9 promptly, my doorbell rang and I opened the door. Amy was looking bubbly and bouncing on her feet. Behind her, Ryder looked as if he hadn’t had a good night’s sleep in a week.

“Come on in,” I said, stepping to the side.

“We brought donuts!” Amy proclaimed and Ryder smiled as he put the box on the counter.

I clicked my tongue. “You must be a psychic. I love donuts.”

She giggled and held out a piece of paper. “I made this for you! I used the new kit you gave me!”

I smiled and looked at it. My jaw dropped. It was a simple eye. It was a close up, though, and every detail was perfect. She had gotten the shade of my ice blue eyes absolutely perfect and she had my eye shadow a smoky black. I looked up to see her a little nervous.

I grinned and hugged her. “I love it. The first chance I get, I’m getting a frame for this!”

She giggled again. “Do you have a bathroom I can use?” she asked and I nodded. “Could… could you show me?”

I was confused for a second but quickly nodded. “You okay?” I whispered, closing the door behind us.

She was blushing. “It… it just started this morning,” she whispered back. “Mom said to ask you since she can’t show me.” I pulled a pad out from under my sink and quickly explained how it worked. “Don’t tell Ryder, please.”

“I won’t,” I promised. “Take as much time as you need.”

I walked back out. Ryder was munching on a donut and staring out my window.

“Did you show her how to do it?” he asked and laughed at the surprise on my face. “I’m not stupid.”

I laughed and put my head on his shoulder. “She doesn’t want you to know so keep it on the DL.”

“Will do.”

“So what brought you guys here today?”

He sighed heavily. “I’m exhausted, Juniper,” he said so quietly I could barely hear him. He kept his eyes on the bathroom door, pulling me as far from it as possible. “She has night terrors some nights and it takes a while to recover. Then, the other nights, I can barely see her chest move. I get so worried she’s done something to herself while I’m sleeping.”

His eyes were so said and held his hand, not wanting to kiss him in case she came out.

“How about we do this: I’ll take Amy out on a girl’s day. You stay here and sleep.”

“Are you sure?”

I smiled gently and put my hand on his cheek. “I’m positive.”

It was obvious he wanted to kiss me but the toilet flushed and we hurried over to the donut box.

“So, Miss Amy,” I said, handing her a donut, “do you want to spend a day away from your brother?”

“With you?” she asked, looking incredibly nervous suddenly.

Ryder knelt in front of her. “Don’t you worry at all about Juniper. She’s the sweetest woman on this planet. I promise. Besides, don’t you want to get away from your stinky old brother?”

She laughed. “What would we be doing?”

I shrugged. “The usual: get our nails done, have a fancy lunch, maybe even see a movie.”

“I’ve never had my nails done before.”

I smiled. “Well, here’s your chance to change that answer.”

She looked back at Ryder. “You sure it’s okay?”

He held out his pinky. “I pinky promise,” he whispered. “You remember what I said about pinky promises?”

“You never, ever break them,” she said promptly and he nodded.

“And have I broken one yet?”

She shook her head and looped her pinky around his. They kissed their hands and he stood back up straight. I went back to my room to change and, under the pretense that he had to use the restroom, he passed me a pill bottle.

“Just in case,” he muttered.

I kissed his fingers. “Don’t worry about us,” I whispered. “Get some sleep.” I walked out. “Are you ready?”

Amy grinned and raced out of the apartment. I waved back to Ryder.

“So, what do you want to do first?” I asked when we got in my car.

“Nails,” she said immediately.

“All right! Let’s do this!”

-

I found the least crowded salon and we went in. I wrote down our names to get both mani and pedicures.

“Pick a color,” I told her, walking her over to the rack.

“There are so many,” she breathed.

“I know. It’s always so hard for me to choose.”

I finally decided on a dark green with glitter and she chose hot pink. While we waited, I explained how everything would work.

“They massage your feet?” she asked with wide eyes.

I nodded. “It feels a-mazing.”

They called us over to start on our feet and did our hands at the same time. Everything was going great until two people started working on her at the same time. Her eyes got wide.

“Wait,” I said to the person closest to me and he stared at me. “How about you just wait for-”

“Get away from me!” she screamed suddenly and I swore.

I jumped out of the massage chair and pushed the stunned workers out of the way. Amy’s eyes were wild and she was crying at the same time. I held her to me as she kept kicking at the woman trying to put the drying spray on her toes. With a jerk of my head they all backed off. Amy kept hitting my arms but I held tight.

“Let me go!” she yelled. “You lied to me! You bitch! You lied to me!”

My heart broke as my throat swelled with tears. It took her nearly ten minutes to calm down long enough for me to force one of the pills in her throat.

She tried to spit it out.

“I hate this medicine!” she hissed. “How dare he give it to you!? Who do you think you are, you slut!?”

Lisa had warned me that this would happen but it still hurt me. Just fifteen minutes ago, this girl was an innocent, happy teenager. Now she was thrashing in the chair, screaming profanities, and beating up on me. I had to say one thing: she was strong.

The workers looked scared and I prayed they hadn’t called the cops.

Suddenly, she went limp in my arms. I leaned her back against the chair and briefly explained what happened. She was out like a light and I handed them my card, my hands shaking. They opened the door for me as I carried her to my car. I could tell they were perfectly happy to get rid of me.

I didn’t go to the apartment, though. I took her to a park nearby. Carrying her again, I went to a picnic table. The park was deserted and I sat her up so she was leaning against the table. About ten minutes later, she woke again.

She rubbed her eyes. “Where am I?” she mumbled.

“You’re at a park,” I answered.

She looked at her nails and I was glad to see the paint had already dried. “Did I pass out while getting them done?”

“Sort of,” I said and tears welled in her eyes.

“I scared you, didn’t I?” she whimpered.

I shook my head quickly, holding her hands. “No, baby. You didn’t scare me one bit. Never think you could scare me.”

She sniffled. “I ruined our girl’s day.”

“Nah,” I said. “We still have time for lunch if you’d like. We can find a café somewhere that’s not as busy. Would you like that?”

She nodded and held out her hand. “Can I have another pill, please?” she whispered in response.

“Are you sure? You said you didn’t like them.”

She nodded again and I passed her one. When it was down and she smiled, I put my arm around her to walk her back to the car.

-

When we got back to the apartment, Ryder was awake and looking much better. He was watching TV and grinned when we walked in. That was, until he saw Amy’s face.

“Go ahead and sleep in my bed,” I told her quietly. “It’s straight down the hall.” She nodded and I knelt in front of her, making her look at me. “I had a super fun time today.”

“You did?” I nodded and she hugged me tightly. “Can we do it again?”

“Of course we can! Just let me know when you want to, okay?”

She smiled, wiping a few tears away, then went into my room. Ryder’s eyes were wide as I stood back up. I put my purse on the countertop and, once I heard my bedroom door close, I let out a long sigh and rubbed my eyes.

“Did she have an episode?” he whispered and I nodded. “Are you okay?”

“It was terrifying, Ryder,” I breathed and he hugged me.

“If you don’t want to be around her anymore-” he began.

I stared at him. “It doesn’t change anything I feel about her,” I told him. “I still want to be her friend.”

“She was so excited on the way here,” he said and I put my head on his chest, breathing in his deodorant. “Was she embarrassed?”

“Yeah. It took a while to make sure she understood I didn’t think any different about her.”

“You seem tired.”

“I’ll sleep when you guys head out.”

He kissed me and I stood on my tiptoes, wishing I could kiss him forever.

“Let’s watch a movie while she rests,” I said, pulling him to the couch.