Chapter 8: Her Mother's Daughter

Her Mother's Daughter

Chapter One

"Mom's not back," I said and it wasn't a question.

My dad just frowned at me and he looked like he hadn't slept all night. The last two nights, I should say, since Mom had left Saturday afternoon and it was Monday morning now. He'd called everyone, but the only one who had seen her was Stacy and that had been at a dance club downtown, sometime before midnight. Stacy had Mom's purse though and she was going to bring it by on her way to work.

"Yeah, so just, stay close to the phone, okay?" Dad looked at me closely. "I really need you, Amy."

"I know," I nodded. "I'm okay, we're fine."

"Okay, um ... I'll call later, alright?" Dad was stressing and I was staying home from school because someone had to watch Jilly and be here when JJ got home. In case Mom came home.

"Okay Dad," I agreed. "She's gonna come back."

"Yeah, I know," he said, trying to sound optimistic, but it was tough. The police wouldn't even take a missing persons report for 72 hours.

"You're going to be late," I told him, giving Daddy a kiss on the cheek and that was the first one I'd given him in a long time, he almost looked surprised by it.

"You know I love you, right?" he said, his soft brown eyes looking into mine and I nodded.

"Yeah, I love you too, Daddy."

"Okay." He took a breath. "I just have to wrap some work up and ... A couple days, that's all. I'll take some time off and..."

"I know," I said because we'd already talked about this.

He just needed to work a couple days and then he could take a week off or so, and straighten all this out, or at least arrange for a real babysitter. My grades weren't that hot to begin with and missing even a few days of school, well, he didn't like it.

"Okay, I'm gonna be late." He smiled weakly and kissed my cheek, surprising me and I gave him a real smile then.

He wasn't that bad of a guy, I realized. I mean didn't hate him, even though I thought I did sometimes. It was just, I don't know, Dad was always working or spending his time with my brother. He just never talked to me anymore, not like he used to. But now that Mom was gone, he did. Daddy had talked to me a lot, about him and mom and what was going on with our family. It was serious talk, adult talk, and he'd made me feel important for the first time in my life, like I wasn't a kid anymore and I liked it.

I sorta almost wished Mom would stay gone, just so Dad would keep talking to me like that.

We needed her back though, I knew that. Jilly had cried all night, waking up like four times and looking for her mommy. She'd ended up sleeping with me in my bed and that was okay. I liked Jilly. JJ was a total brat, of course, he'd decided since Mom wasn't around he could whatever he wanted. That was my dad's fault for never laying down the law with the boy. Every time I told him to do something, or more often to stop doing something, JJ would just tell me I wasn't his mom and ignore me.

A couple times I felt ready to beat the little dork up, but Dad had promised to talk to him and he was almost acting a little better.

I gotDaddy off to work anyway, and JJ made his bus on time, which was sort of a miracle and only because the bus was running late thank God, or I woulda been stuck with him all day. Jilly wasn't going to her preschool, of course, and so after I fed her and then got her cleaned up she was happy to color for awhile. Every now and then she'd look up though, like if a car drove by or whatever, expecting mommy to come through the door and when it didn't happen she'd be unhappy. All I could do was keep my baby sister close and try to keep her busy.

I had my own problems anyway though, cause the phone rang just after a few minutes after eight. I had it on the first ring in case it was mom.

"Hey, Amy ... What are you doin?" Greg asked and I could hear him grinning through the phone.

"I'm cleaning the kitchen, what are you doing?" I frowned.

"I waited for you, but you didn't show," he said, meaning my ride to school. "What's the deal, you sick or something?"

"No," I sighed. "My mom kinda disappeared so I have to watch Jilly."

"Disappeared?" Greg laughed like that was funny. He was such an ass.

"Yeah, I dunno," I said. "She might call though, so I gotta hang up."

"Wait, hold on..."

"What?" I asked impatiently.

"So you're like home all alone there?"

"Noooo ... Jilly's here, remember?"

"Well, yeah, but she don't count." Greg laughed. "I'm gonna come over."

"What? No way!"

"Yeah way," he told me. "I'm at the Seven-Eleven right now. I'll be there in three minutes."

"Greg, no. If you come here and we get caught, I'm gonna be dead!"

"Who's gonna catch you?" he asked. "Nobody! So I'm coming. I'll help you babysit and stuff."

"And stuff?" I rolled my eyes and just then the doorbell was ringing.

"Mommy!" Jilly was already up and I chased her.

"I gotta go," I said. "Don't come over! I mean it!"

I hung up the phone as Jilly tried to open the front door, but it was locked anyway. I looked out the window and saw Stacy.

"It's not Mommy, honey," I said, picking up my little sister and then opening the door.

"Amy ... Hey. Hi Jilly." Stacy smiled, a little sheepishly because she'd been the last one to see my mom and that had been at a club downtown.

"Aunt Stacy!" Jilly got happy though, practically jumping out of my arms as Stacy stepped inside.

"Hi," I said and then answered the woman's unspoken question. "No, not a word."

"Shoot." She looked unhappy at that. "Well, I have her purse anyway. Did you fill out a missing persons thing?"

"Uh, tonight I think?" I took the purse, shifting Jilly cause she was heavy for being so little. "They said we have to wait three days."

"If they need me, you know, for information or whatever, just call me alright?" Stacy said. "And if you need anything else, anything at all, I'll do whatever I can for you guys."

"Yeah, okay." I nodded. "Thanks, Stacy."

"Give me a kiss, munchkin." Stacy smiled at Jilly and she gave my sister a wet smack on the lips. "I gotta run, I'm late. Stupid Mondays. Just ... Call me, okay? If you hear something?"

"Yeah, I will," I promised, holding up the purse. "Thanks."

"Where's Mommy?" Jilly asked me, looking at the purse cause she knew it belonged to our mom and that wasn't something Mommy would leave behind.

"I don't know, Jilly," I said. "But she's gotta be close right? Mommy needs her purse, doesn't she?"

"Yeah," Jilly agreed.

"Come on, you can watch some Blue's Clues ... You like Blue?" I asked knowing she did and she had a whole DVD full of the cartoon dog.

"Nemo!" Jilly said and didn't have to wonder why she picked that.

"You want Finding Nemo?" I asked and my sister nodded her pretty blonde head seriously.

"Okay."

I made Greg wait at the back door for ten minutes while I set up the movie and got Jilly comfortable in front of the television. At least he had the sense not to park in the driveway in case my mom did come back, or my dad, if he happened to get off work unexpectedly. I'd have been in so much trouble it wouldn't have been funny. They didn't even know I had a boyfriend, except Mom had found my birth control pills, so they probably figured I did.

I dropped Mom's purse on the counter and opened the door. Greg was happy, of course, he thought it was some kind of holiday, me and him all alone in the house. Like National Sex Day or something. He brushed some unruly brown hair back from his hazel eyes, giving me his best rogue smile. He liked to think he resembled Indiana Jones. He was cute, but such a bonehead usually, like coming over to my house when I specifically told him not to.

"You can't stay," I said. "My mom could come home like any second."

"And maybe she won't." He grinned. "Come on. Shit. I didn't see you all weekend. I heard you got busted at the mall."

"What?" I figured that would get out and I felt myself getting hot all over.

"That true? Oh man! What were you doing?" he asked, coming in and closing the door behind him.

"Nothing," I said. "I don't wanna talk about it, okay?"

"You were stealing something?"

"I said I don't wanna talk about it." I turned away from him. "I gotta clean up."

"Yeah, okay. That's pretty cool though," he chuckled. "Like my girlfriend's a criminal."

"Shut up!" I frowned. "I'm not gonna be your girlfriend if you're gonna be an asshole."

"Aw, come on, Amy," he said, trying to hug me. "I'm sorry, I was just funnin' with you."

"My mom's missing, okay?" I said, shrugging out of his arms and grabbing dirty dishes off the kitchen table. "I'm not like in a great mood right now."

"That's why I'm here!" He put his arms around me again and I felt his chest against my back, his mouth close to my left ear.

"Why? To bug me?" I asked sarcastically and I wished I'd put on some real clothes. I just had a big sleepy-T and a pair of cut-off shorts on.

"No! I'm gonna cheer you up!" His hands were on my tummy, rubbing me gently, but tightly too. Definitely. I squirmed a little, but Greg wasn't letting go.

"Stop," I warned him.

"Come on ... It's cool..." he whispered and I tilted my head in annoyance as he licked my ear.

"Stop it! God! What's wrong with you?" I asked, almost dropping the cereal bowls I held.

"Nothings wrong with me," he said and I knew he was getting unhappy. "What's wrong with you? Every time I wanna get close you..."

"I don't wanna get close right now, okay?" I sighed.

" ... just pushin me away," he continued. "I love you, Amy."

"Oh God." I pulled free of him finally. "Don't say that stuff, alright?"

"Why not?" Greg asked, watching me put the dishes in the sink. "It's true."

"I don't love you, okay?"

"Huh? Amy! How come?" He blinked at me like this was a complete surprise to him.

"Cause I don't!" I laughed. "I'm fifteen, okay? I'm not gonna love anybody."

"Shit." He frowned at me. "You got another boyfriend, huh?"

"What? No!" I shook my head. "I'm just not into it right now, okay? Jilly's in the other room, right? I'm not gonna fool around."

"Fine, whatever then," he shrugged. "Just be that way."

"Greg..." I sighed.

"No, it's cool. You don't like me. Fine." He was leaving. "I'll see ya round. I don't need no criminal for a girlfriend anyway."

"Aw, fuck you!" I stared at him.

"Yeah!" He stuck his tongue out with a grin. "You did, remember?"

He left then, which was a good thing too or I might have tried to stab him with a fork or something. What a jerk! All those guys were like that too, you know? Like teenage boys, all they ever wanted was sex all the time. It didn't matter what was going on, so long as they could make out and get their hard little dicks played with. Fuck him! I didn't need Greg anyway and I could get a boyfriend, a real one too, that knew how a girl feels inside and not just outside. An older guy like my dad, cause he'd been really cool the last couple days. Like I saw a side of the man I'd never seen before, you know? Mom was lucky to have him probably, and wherever she was and whoever she was with, I hope she missed her husband badly.

Those were kind of weird thoughts to have and I wondered where they came from while I cleaned the kitchen. I mean, Mom probably wasn't really with another guy, was she? I didn't know, but maybe. If she was at a club Saturday night, she wasn't there for bible study. Especially if she'd gone there with Stacy because that woman didn't try to hide what she was at all - a total slut. Maybe it isn't nice to say, but I knew what was going on and anyone who had like five or six different guys in her bed in a month, what other word was there? Whore maybe, I dunno. Stacy liked to brag too, when she thought it was just her and Mom talking, but I'd overheard her before. Stacy acted like a teenage boy in a 30 year old woman's body and I'd never really trusted her. She just seemed sorta ... Fake. Or something.

And thinking about my dad, well not really him specifically, but a guy like my dad ... That would be a pretty good boyfriend maybe. So long as I got some attention. Daddy had given me a lot since Saturday afternoon and he hadn't gone off about the shoplifting. I'd said I was sorry and wouldn't do it again and that was all he needed. Of course, he'd been sorta busy worrying about other things too, but I really did get to see some real fatherhood from him. He listened and talked to me and that was just cool. He loved my mom, that's obvious, and he blamed himself and wondered what he'd done wrong and all that. I felt sorry for him. If Mom was fucking around on my dad, I hoped she'd get like six diseases and die, I swear, cause he was suffering and I loved my dad a lot more than I loved her.

But after thinking that, I felt bad because maybe my mom wasn't off cheating. She might be in trouble. Kidnapped by some pervert and locked in a basement, you know? Or in the trunk of a car and driven halfway across the country by now. All the bad thoughts, all those stupid movies I'd seen and the stories I'd heard, they were all scaring me then and I was crying a little, thinking I shouldn't ever think anything bad about my mom because I did love her.

The last time I'd seen her she'd slapped me and that made me really sad.

"Ahhhh..." I giggled ten minutes after I'd started cleaning my mom and dad's bedroom.

I opened the nightstand on Mom's side of the bed and there were my birth control pills, and my thong too, right there. I popped two of the pills right away cause that's what they said to do if you missed a day, but if you missed more than a day you had to take one and like wait a week or something. I forget. So I took two pills and I was back where I should be, except now I didn't have a boyfriend. Still, better safe than sorry and if I went off the pill, then I'd have to wait like a full cycle to go back on and yada yada ya ... Birth control was a pain in the butt.

I wondered if Daddy knew my pills were there and if I could take them back, or if I should just leave them. I took them back after a minute of thinking about it and if he asked, well, I'd deal with it. I didn't really think my dad would want to get too involved with it anyway, just because he's a man and all the girl stuff had been left up to my mother to explain to me, which was normal, I suppose. Daddy would explain the birds and bees to JJ when he got older and probably buy the boy a box of condoms for his sixteenth birthday. Isn't that what daddies do? I was giggling to myself and feeling happy for the first time since Greg had left.

I cleaned all the bedrooms and it wasn't a big deal. I hated cleaning, as a general rule. I mean, I liked having a clean house, and I really didn't mind helping out, but the nagging! That was the thing. If my mom just didn't nag and bitch so much, I'd probably help her a lot more than I did. But she acted like it was all her and nobody else ever did anything but make messes. I hated that and if she said to do something and you waited five minutes, oh man! She was gonna go crazy, especially lately. Her temper had been wicked the last week or so and I had no idea why. Nobody else seemed any different, just Mom.