Chapter 8

In the morning, Emma discovered Kyle sitting on the front porch steps, slouched against a flower trellis. Wordlessly she sat next to him just trying to be there for him. Gently she touched his arm and called to him. "Kyle, it's morning and it's time to wake up. Mom's got breakfast ready and you should come in now."

"Yeah, okay. Give me a minute, huh?"

"I'll be right here by you, Kyle."

As they ate breakfast, Jill went over the plans for the day. "First, at nine o'clock Doctor Samuelson will meet with us to answer any questions you may have about this. Then we need to talk about the funeral and get that set up. Do you know if you mother had an attorney? If so, we should contact him about any instructions she may have indicated were her preferences after her death."

Kyle kept nodding, half heartedly. Sure, he had faced some unexpected challenges before, and handled them well, he thought, but none were anything like this. "Yes, she had a lawyer. His office is on Locust Street, but I don't remember his name. I can take you there if you want."

After meeting with the doctors and receiving a full explanation of what had actually happened to his mother, Kyle understood that her death was not preventable. Each of the doctors with whom he spoke assured him repeatedly that there was absolutely nothing that he, nor anyone else, could have done to prevent it. Later in the morning they met with her attorney who guided them through her wishes and helped them set up a small memorial service for her. Included in that discussion was her desire that Kyle go to live with his aunt until he is of legal age, and that all of her estate would be held in trust for him until that time as well.

Kyle had imagined that the memorial service would be small, quiet and attended by friends and associates of his mother. He was more than a little surprised that many of his own friends and classmates came to pay their respects as well. The parents of his best friend announced that they would host a dinner gathering at their home for any and all, a gesture that just stunned Kyle. It became the change from the somberness of the memorial service to a celebration of friendship and allowed Kyle to make the next step in the grieving process. Emma stayed by his side, as she had been the entire day, and Kyle cheerfully introduced her to his friends and teammates. When he broke the news to them that he would be moving away and would not be a part of their team, some good natured ribbing by some of his friends made Emma blush.

"Gee, Kyle, now maybe there will be some good looking girls left for us to date," one of his friends said.

He then whispered an aside to Emma that Kyle had only dated the prettiest girls in the school, and that once he had dated them, any other guy in town was a letdown to them.

Almost immediately a line of very attractive girls formed in front of Kyle, all wishing that he wouldn't go and all confiding how much they enjoyed their evenings with him. After they had moved out of earshot, another teammate asked, perhaps in a voice that carried a little too well, "Are there any virgins left in town?"

Once again, Emma blushed, but immediately paled when she saw the startled look on her own mother's face.

The next day was spent packing most of Kyle's belongings into cartons to be shipped to his new home. As he progressed beyond his clothing, he stopped to explain the significance of each trophy, ribbon, or memento, and who each of the people were in the various photographs that hung on his walls. It was pretty clear to everyone that the packing would not be complete by nightfall.

"I have the movers scheduled to come tomorrow at noon. Do you think you can be ready for them by then?" Jill asked.

"Yes, I think we can get everything done okay."

"Well, I have a meeting that I must attend tomorrow morning at home. If you think you can handle this with them movers on your own, I will go home tonight and you can come over tomorrow after they are done. Just be sure to lock up the house. Oh, I also have an alarm company coming to install a security system here until you decide what you want to do about the house and stuff. They should be here tomorrow at nine."

"Mother," Emma said, "I think I should stay and help Kyle. It will be hard enough to do what he has to do. I don't think he should have to do it alone."

"I don't think that's necessary, really," Jill replied.

"Mother, I don't want to argue about this. I am going to stay, because he should not have to do this by himself. We'll be fine."

It was the first time that Emma had been so assertive with her mother, about anything. The certainty that the decision was conclusive and the self assurance Emma demonstrated by its delivery surprised Jill more than anything. It simply caught her off guard. "Well, alright, if you feel that strongly. Just be careful driving back. I will see you sometime tomorrow evening then."

Once Jill was on her way home, Kyle suggested that they stop packing for a while. He offered to show Emma around the city while it was still light outside. As they approached his favorite pizza shop, Kyle saw that the cars of several of his friends were in the lot. They made room for them at their table and the conversation immediately changed to one of reminiscing about the many good times that they had enjoyed together. Sitting to Kyle's right, Emma was engaged in a conversation about some football game at which Kyle had kicked three field goals. She really wasn't paying close attention to the other end of the table. One of the guys asked Kyle a question and when Emma turned to look at him, she was startled to see that another girl was standing behind Kyle, rubbing her fingers through his hair and apparently kissing his neck and cheek.

Until that moment, Emma had not felt one bit of jealousy or passiveness toward Kyle. Obviously, she had shared her first love with her best friend, and had considered introducing him to a few other girls that would have enjoyed his company, both in and out of bed. For whatever reason, her adrenalin began flowing at a high rate, her blood pressure was rising rapidly and her face became very flushed. As she stood up quickly from her chair she reached out with her left arm and shoved the other girl away from Kyle.

Of course the other girl screamed in surprise, but Emma was over her like a cat on its prey. "Don't even think about it. I don't know who you are or who you think you are, but whatever you were thinking is not going to happen."