What They Left Behind Page 9

They enjoyed their week with Malcolm and Colleen. One day they had breakfast at the inn they were staying at. Another day they went canoeing together on the lake. Gennie found out they did have casual clothes with them, though Colleen’s most casual clothes were far nicer than anything Gennie wore. One day Colleen invited Gracie and Gennie to a tea party the inn’s owner was hosting outside. It was a girls’ only event. Gennie was a bit anxious because she had to wear a dress, gloves and a hat. Gracie told her not to worry. She let her borrow a brown crocheted cloche hat that once belonged to Gracie’s mother. It smelled funny and it was probably out of style but Gennie didn’t complain. Before the tea, Gennie went into Malcolm and Colleen’s room where Colleen let her pick out whatever dress from her suitcase she liked. Gennie picked out a copper colored chiffon dress because it seemed to match the hat best. When she went into the bathroom to put it on, she had a feeling it was very expensive and was scared to death of ripping the fabric. When Colleen helped her zip it up the rest of the way, it fit more snugly than Gennie was used to and she felt uncomfortable. Colleen also gave her the copper hued nylon gloves that went with the dress. When Gennie looked in the mirror, she looked acceptable, but inside she felt very awkward.

  There was a very long table set up outside, with a linen tablecloth, china and silverware. Gennie thought it looked very nice next to the lake. About fifty ladies of varying ages attended, Gracie and Colleen seemed to know most of them and chit chatted, while Gennie stood silently next to Gracie most of the time.

  When they sat down to tea, one of the ladies sitting directly across from Gracie started asking her questions. Luckily, Gracie answered for her. She told the lady she was a foster child her and Rusty took in. Gennie was relieved because she didn’t want the whole town to know the truth. She and Ben were mostly known as ‘the two kids who went to jail’ among the residents. When the lady asked how long they would be staying with her, Gracie hesitated but finally answered that they could stay as long as they wanted.

  Gracie and Gennie drove back to the cabin in the pickup truck.

  “You did very good today. I was impressed,” Gracie said.

  “I felt weird and uncomfortable,” Gennie replied.

  “I could tell,” Gracie said. “Colleen loves those sorts of things though. All her friends from school attended. I’m sure she was thrilled that you came.”

  “I’m not like them,” Gennie said.

  “I’m not either,” Gracie replied. “Don’t worry about it.”

  Later that night, they had dinner at the cabin. Ben made baked chicken breasts with a parmesan crust and a side of maple-baked beans.

  “You girls better appreciate it,” Rusty said. “We were slaving over a hot stove all day to make this for you.”

  “I’m sure you were,” Gracie said. “Wow, it’s delicious. How did you come up with this Ben?”

  “Um, it just a lot of stuff I threw together that I thought would taste good,” Ben said sheepishly.

  “The baked beans were my idea,” Rusty said. “God knows we have enough of them. I was just going to cook them straight but Ben added a bunch of stuff to them. I didn’t think it would taste good together but it does.”

  “Speaking of good together,” Gracie said, “I have a proposition for both of you.”

  Gennie’s stomach turned sour. Why use a fancy word like ‘proposition’? It must be something bad, she thought.

  “What is it?” Ben asked. Unlike her, he seemed excited.

  “Well…,” Gracie replied, “we love having you here, but obviously, the cabin is much too small for all of us. I feel bad for you kids having to sleep on the floor all the time. You’re getting to the age where you should have space to yourselves. Like I said, we usually live in Vancouver and our place down there is not much bigger than this cabin. We usually stay here until about October and that’s also a problem. Where would you kids go to school?”

  “I’m not planning on going back to school,” Ben said. “I’ll probably find a job soon.”

  “Let’s say you change your mind about that,” Gracie said. “It would be hard for you to go back with our schedule.”

  Gennie looked down at her half eaten dinner plate. So they are getting rid of us, she thought. Tears blurred her vision.

  “So, anyway, I was talking to Malcolm and Colleen about this dilemma. I told them you don’t have a family to go back to and that I wouldn’t dream of giving you up. They said if you wanted, you could live with them in San Francisco. They have a four bedroom home. Two of those rooms are completely empty, so you both could have your own bedrooms if you like. And you would have your own bathroom too. They live in a very nice neighborhood with good schools, so you could have a chance to have friends your own age. Honestly, I think it would be best situation for both of you. What do you think?”

  Ben practically jumped out of his seat. “Yes, we’ll go with them. When are they leaving?”

  “Gennie, do you want to go?” Gracie asked.

  Gennie tried to suppress a sob. “Okay.”

  Gracie put her arm around her. “We’re not trying to get rid of you, if that’s what you’re thinking. We just thought this would be best. If you want to stay, just say so.”

  “No, I can’t leave my brother,” she said.

  Ben frowned when he saw how unhappy she was, but didn’t say anything.

  “If you want to stay, we can build a room for you,” Rusty said. “It shouldn’t be that hard. And we could always leave for Vancouver early so you can go to school there.”

  “No,” Gennie said. “I’ll go to San Francisco.”

  “It’ll be great,” Ben said. “We’ll have a whole new life.”

  Gennie nodded as she wiped away a stray tear. At least one of us will be happy, she thought.

  Chapter 10: August 30