The gallery (2013)

chapter 2 part 4

Monday night she was glad to be able to go straight home. Trevor had called her at work to say he was picking up the kids and would meet her at home. He’d decided not to go to the bar.

She complimented him on the smell permeating the apartment and checked the mail sitting on the counter. Putting most of it aside to get rid of later, she stopped at a handwritten address. The return label was familiar.

“I was tempted to open that one. It’s your family, right?”

Jenna looked up at Trevor, holding it between her fingers. “Yeah. My aunt.”

“I didn’t forget your birthday, did I?” He smiled, teasing.

“I’m not sure they even know when it is anymore.”

“So open it. I’m curious.”

Jenna took a deep breath. She was curious, too, but she wasn’t sure she wanted to open it. It had been … a long time since she’d heard from anyone in her family other than Karla. Her favorite cousin still kept up with her. Otherwise, she had no idea what was going on with anyone. And they apparently didn’t care about what was going on with her. What did they want?

Trevor came up to her side. She looked at him. Then took another breath and opened the lavendar envelope. An invitation. To her parents’ 30th wedding anniversary party. She let Trevor read over her shoulder, then put it back on the counter, moving away from it.

Finding the kids playing in their rooms, she gave them hugs and asked about their days. Aaron asked about hers. Then she went to change clothes. Sliding out of her button-up shirt, she looked over at the opening door.

Trevor closed it behind him. “Are you going?”

“No.” She pulled a sweatshirt over her head. Trevor’s sweatshirt, but she had adopted it.

“Maybe you should, Jen. You haven’t seen them in…”

“I’m not interested.” Changing from her dress pants to old jeans, she slid her feet into her slippers. “They never were. Why should I be?”

“You got invited. Maybe it’s an attempt at peace?”

“My aunt invited me, not my parents. They probably don’t even know she did.”

Trevor stopped her from avoiding him by wrapping his arms around her from behind and pressing his head against hers. “They should know their grandchildren, Jen. The kids deserve to know their family.”

She turned in his arms. “They know their family. Aunt Nina, Joan, Denise and her family. They have them. Why should I subject them to people who haven’t even bothered to come see Anna since she was born? No. I’m not going. I won’t crawl back there like I did something wrong, because I didn’t. If they’re interested, they can come see us.”

“I think you’ll be sorry, Jen. If you keep avoiding them. If you don’t confront them. I don’t want you to do it for them. I want you to do it for you.”

“And have to see them glare at you the way they did at Daniel? Watch them ignore my children because I wasn’t married when they were conceived? Because I’m not married now?” She shook her head, pulling away. “No. It just doesn’t matter to me, anymore.”

And she kept trying to tell herself that it didn’t. The card asked for an R.S.V.P., with a phone number. She didn’t think so. Jenna wasn’t about to call that number that she had forgotten long ago.

But Trevor didn’t give up. It became annoying and by Thursday, she finally snapped at him that it was her family and her business. Then she regretted it. The comment was beyond stupid. It was heartless, and just wrong. He was her family. She’d told him that more often than she could count. And she’d just pushed him out of hers.

He stopped mentioning it after that. He also went back to working at the bar every night. Nothing she could say made up for it. It was impossible to take back.

So she agreed to go, if he would go with her. Jenna would go, for Trevor’s sake, just to include him, to tell him she was listening, taking his advice – that his advice mattered to her. But she didn’t respond to say that they would be there. It would give her the opportunity to back out again at the last minute, if she decided. If Trevor got pulled into work, Jenna wouldn’t go, either. She wouldn’t go without him.