Liz Wood - The Single Life

“In my way?”

“Yes. It’ll all go to Chrissie’s room.”

“Chrissie’s room?”

“Yes. Chrissie’s room,” Helen said, pulling off her ski cap. Her long blond hair clung to her face. She brushed it away as a hint of a smile started to show. It faded quickly in response to Lauren’s puzzled expression.

“Oh my God! She didn’t tell you? She said she would. I wouldn’t have come otherwise. Oh my God! She said it would be all right. She said you wouldn’t mind. Oh my God! She said—”

“Wouldn’t mind about what? I’m afraid you’ve lost me completely here. What’s going on?” Lauren shook her head in confusion.

“Chrissie said you agreed. I wouldn’t have come otherwise. She said she talked to you—”

“Talked to me about what?”

“She said it was okay—”

“Helen—”

Something in Lauren’s voice must have finally broken through. Helen stopped rambling. She took a deep breath. “I guess she didn’t tell you.”

“No. But you could. I would like that.”

“I don’t have any place to stay. My roommate and my boyfriend—well, he’s not my boyfriend, really. My roommate and a guy, a guy I know, well they, um, they…” Her arms flailed around helplessly. “Well, anyway, he may be moving in. And, um, there isn’t enough room for the three of us, so I had to leave. I’ve tried campus housing and the Internet, but there’s nothing. Not until September. Chrissie said I could stay here until then. She said you wouldn’t mind, Lauren. I wouldn’t have come otherwise. Really, I wouldn’t—”

Lauren held up her hand, signaling Helen to stop. She’d had enough of the hysterical ranting for one day, especially since she still didn’t understand what was going on.

“Didn’t they give you any notice?”

“Notice? Oh you mean about the apartment? No, the lease is in my name.”

“Then why are you leaving?”

Lauren didn’t know why she was asking. Helen may have been a child prodigy. She might be brushing shoulders with Nobel Prize winners. She might even be a future prize-winner herself. But she had very little idea how to deal with the real world.

“It’s easier for one person to leave than for two.”

“And they wanted you to leave straight away?”

“No, but it was kind of awkward. They—”

Lauren held up her hand again. She didn’t want to hear any more details. “So Chrissie told you that you could use her room?”

“Yes. Until I find something else. I’ll pay you, of course. Chrissie said you, um, needed the money. With the divorce and everything.”

So that’s why Chrissie hadn’t bothered to tell her! She was interfering in her mother’s life! She thought she had found the perfect solution for everyone. Never mind that Lauren wasn’t interested in sharing her house again!

She liked living alone. Well, not really. The house was so big, empty and gloomy now. Still, she was getting used to it, and she really didn’t want to share her life and her habits with a roommate. She didn’t need an outsider observing her emotions, invading her space and interrupting her routine. She hadn’t liked group living arrangements when she was younger and she wasn’t about to try again. Home was for family, not for strangers who walked in off the street.

But, Lauren suddenly remembered, she didn’t have a family, not one that lived here anyway. And Helen wasn’t a stranger. Lauren had known her for almost ten years, ever since the girls were freshmen in college. Lauren had warmed to Helen then, despite her rather odd behavior. Chrissie knew this. She also knew her mother would never chase her best friend away, no matter how much she wanted to.

“Okay, Helen,” Lauren said. “You can stay.”

“I can stay?”

“Yes. In Chrissie’s room,” Lauren said, resigned to the fact that even with continents and oceans separating them, her daughter was formidable.

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