Jessie & Elizabeth (abandoned)

11. An Honest Woman [Part 1]

The doorbell rang. I heard Elizabeth's office door open, her heels clicking on the tiles in the hallway, hurrying to get to her guests.

"Alright, put your homework away," I said, as multiple voices echoed through the hall, saying their greetings. Ari immediately jumped up from the living room table, shoving her notebook into her backpack, while Manon took her time to wrap up her sentence and read it over once more.

"Are grandma and grandpa here?" Camille asked, dropping her crayon, which she had been using to draw stick-like figures she told me were me and her together.

"Go and look," I said. I hadn't finished, or all of them were off, Ari at the front, running and then sliding around the corner on her socks like a surfer. The gaggle of cheers confirmed what I'd already expected: the dinner party was here, ready to gobble down on the delicious three-course meal miss Schneider had been preparing all afternoon. Time for me to disappear to my room.

Summer break was over, and all three of the kids were going to school now: Manon to fourth grade, Ari to first, and Camille to a special pre-k program. That left me with four days a week on which I had nothing to do for hours and hours, and it was incredibly boring. Honestly, I had no idea what to do with myself most of the time. I almost felt bad for still getting paid so much. I'd started to help miss Schneider with the housework and shopping, only she didn't think I did anything right, so if I folded the laundry, she'd actually do it over herself. When I'd told Elizabeth of my uselessness, she'd scowled and told me to get a hobby.

I believed she'd started to regret that because — with her permission — I'd laid out a small vegetable garden that, admittedly, had begun to grow with every week, though the yard was big enough for it not to matter. The kids were fascinated by it, especially Camille, who'd exploded with excitement when the first spinach stalks had popped up from the dark soil. Still, we were nearing October, so there wasn't that much gardening to do.

I smiled at Camille's drawing and put all the crayons away in the cabinet, then picked up my phone and headed for the hallway. I'd hoped they'd moved on to the dining room by now, but they were still lingering at the entrance, slowly inching further into the house. Mrs. Miller's auburn hair shone as brightly as the necklace resting on her chest, Mr. Miller was crouched before the kids, and there were two men and a woman I hadn't met before, looking just as polished and posh as the older couple did. Elizabeth was in one of her icy moods, glaring at the woman's fur-lined coat as she hung it on the rack.

I slipped past the company, up the stairs, hoping they'd ignore me—

"Jessie, where are you going?"

I paused. Elizabeth stood at the base, looking up at me, one hand on the banister, her brown eyes sparkling in the light of the chandelier. The rest had finally disappeared.

Oh no. Had I forgotten to do something? "Err, to my room."

She inclined her head. "Come. Join us." When I stayed frozen, staring down at her, wondering why the hell I was suddenly invited to a fancy dinner party, she added: "Please."

It was the 'please' that worried me. I didn't think I'd ever heard her use it before, outside of business conversations, and my stomach twisted. Something was wrong. Very wrong. The question was: did I cause it, or someone else? Maybe it wasn't a good idea to give in. I really didn't want to be sitting with these people anyway.

Elizabeth was holding her breath, something twitching near the corner of her glossy lips — it wasn't annoyance, though, nor was it anger. No. It was like... but no, I must've been mistaken... could she possibly be scared I'd say no? Without realizing it, I took a few steps back down, and she visibly let out a breath, the tension around her mouth dissolving. "Sure," I said, "though I'm not really dressed for the occasion."