Under My Enemy's Roof - Under Him

“I miss her, too, you know.”

“Huh?” I asked, looking up quizzically.

“Simone. She was my friend, you know.”

“I-I didn't, she never mentioned you.”

“We met a few years ago.”

I had never even considered that Simone had a life after I left. Of course, she had. She married Rick, who died in Afghanistan, had Jess, ran a really thriving art studio. The idea that she didn't have a friend or two I didn't know about was just silly.

“How did you meet her?”

“She was a professor at my school, teaching a class by invitation of the Art Department. I knew her mostly by reputation before that. I was on my way to the dance studio when I passed the soundproof rooms that the musicians and artists could book to practice and work, and there she was. I was lost watching her paint. It was like the brush was an extension of her hand.”

“Did she notice you?”

“Yup. Your sister invited me right in and let me watch as she worked her magic.”

“It was, wasn't it, like magic, I mean.”

“Absolutely! Anyhoo, we were fast friends after that, even though I was just a kid.”

“Simone always believed in treating everyone with respect. Goes a long way to explaining why Jessica is how she is.”

“Amazing?”

“Exactly.”

I knew that I wasn't the only one who was grieving the loss of Simone, but I never really thought about it. Not deeply. I really hadn't thought that Jessica would understand, but of course, she did. I had also never imagined that Simone would mean anything to Becky. How wrong could one person be?

“It still hurts even now,” Becky said.

“There's no timeline on grieving,” I said, trying to be helpful.

“No, I guess not.”

“Everything dies,” I said.

“Peter Steele?”

“Yeah, you like Type O Negative?”

“I'm more of an opera girl, but yeah, of course. My dad had all their records. Was something of a Goth in his youth apparently.”

I realized then just how little I knew about Becky. The real her, not just the persona she portrayed. Not in a bad way, I was actually having a lot of fun discovering new things about her. Particularly things we had in common.

“You need to be there for Jessica, it is what Simone would have wanted.”

“You're right.”

“Of course, I am.”

Her smile wasn't one of victory over a thwarted enemy. It has more the feeling of 'of course silly.' And I had been. Very silly indeed.Chapter Fifteen - DeanI was never really the kind to take holidays, generally of the opinion that holidays were for people who didn't like their work and I was one of those happy few who had managed to find and embrace their true vocation. Even when I would go somewhere, usually hot or snowy, on family vacations, I would take a computer with me and spend maybe two or three days, swimming or snowboarding or whatever fun activity we were supposed to do before I was back designing video-games from scratch on my laptop.

Even then, Simone would cover for me. She would try to coax me out to the slopes or into the pool, actually helping me to enjoy myself as much as it was possible to do and averting our parents' wrath for not going with the program. Though to be fair, Mom was by far the more authoritarian of the two, Dad mostly preferring to sip scotch at poolside — probably to try and quell the stress headache Mom had given him on the way there.

Old habits die hard, but they will eventually stop moving of you hit them hard enough.

I had promised myself that I would dedicate every weekend to Jessica, starting on Friday afternoon. I had asked what she wanted to do, and she had said she wanted to learn how to cook. I didn't ask but guessed that it may have had something to do with Becky's influence.

“I don't know how to cook, not well anyway,” I had pointed out to her, knowing full well that the quarantine wouldn’t allow a teacher to be brought in.

“There's a daddy-daughter master chef lesson online.”

“Now, you’re talkin'!”

With my laptop on the counter and Jessica standing on a stool, we had both gotten a crash course in the culinary arts, my little genius of a niece out-pacing me once again. I made a mental note to see about getting her art and music lessons when the quarantine was over.

On the upside, the activity helped shake me even further out of the funk caused by my break down. It was a few days later, and I was already starting to feel better.

I hadn't really thought about Becky most of the day that Friday. I was so excited about spending time with Jessica I had sort of rushed through work, trying to get it done. And because we didn't need her for nanny duties, she had spent most of the day in the parlor on her own.