Roommates

Chapter 17

In the parking lot, Jeff's daughter, Renée, handed Evangeline a cigarette and lit it for her. The smoke that she inhaled burned her lungs in a familiar, comforting way. The buzz of nicotine warmed her body as she stood under a post lamp with Jeff, his wife, and their oldest daughter. She was the one Jeff had told Evangeline about.

"It's really nice to meet you," Evangeline said sincerely. Despite what had unfolded moments ago with Aurora, she was truly honored to meet Jeff's child. He never failed to compare Evangeline in the highest regard to Renée. Just like he said, they were very similar.

Renée smiled and leaned against Jeff's old truck. "My old man never stops talking about you. Did you really have an art museum exhibit, like he told me?"

Evangeline nodded. "It was a small room. Don't let him fool you, it was not a big deal."

"That's a huge deal." Renée coughed as the humid air tickled her arid throat. She was living in Arizona the last time Jeff had mentioned her, and Seattle's wet climate contrasted violently for the traveller. "He showed me some of your work from the night the exhibit opened. What was your motivation behind those floral paintings?"

"I just really enjoyed gardening with my mother when I was young. We would plant all of the native wild flowers to help the pollinators," she said. Black and white memories ran through her mind like scenes from an old movie she had seen. "My mom and I would watch the birds and bees fly around the garden while we painted together." Her tone spoke fondly, but she truly felt nothing inside. How could she? Thinking too much about her memories with Claire would make her cry, and while she already felt the waterworks building up, she couldn't afford the mess of emotions. She couldn't allow herself to care about anything right now.

Jeff interjected, passing a half-dead cigarette to his wife. "I never did meet your mom, Eve. What a lady she must be to have a kid as great as you. Was she there that night?"

Evangeline shook her head gently. "She was not around at the time."

"That's alright," Renée said nonchalantly, picking up on Evangeline's discomfort, "this guy didn't show up to my AA softball game last week— missed my first home run." She nudged Jeff playfully. "I don't know if I'll ever let you off the hook for that one, Pops. You could've made the 27 hour drive to see it."

With a light laugh, Evangeline listened to their banter. She wondered what life would be like with her parents still alive. For starters, her mother would have kept teaching her to paint and her father would have made sure she stayed in college. They would've made her an incredible person. Without them, she had to make the most of herself. According to Jeff, she was doing a pretty good job at it.

Taking deep puffs of her cigarette repeatedly, she listened to the details of Renée's latest AA softball game. She learned about the league and Renée talked about the season. Her team was undefeated!

The flow from Evangeline's absent mother to Renée's life was welcome. Evangeline truly wanted to know more about the woman Jeff believed she was so much like. It also got her off the hot seat for the rest of the night.

Caught up in her own mind, Evangeline did her best to keep up with the conversation, but it soon flowed into a new triggering discussion.

Renée talked about being a recovering alcoholic so casually, like it was nothing out of the ordinary. She was six years clean, tomorrow. Unlike Renée, Evangeline was very silent about her road to addiction recovery. She could never bring herself to go to a narcotics anonymous meeting. Even though joining an A/NA softball team sounded so fun.

Jeff didn't know the extent of Evangeline's addiction, but he was aware of the surface of it. She had come to work high too many times to count, and she was actually almost fired for it when she was 19. On top of that, Jeff had been the one to pick her up from the jail when she was arrested a few years ago. Despite seeing her at her lowest, Jeff never stopped praising Evangeline. He always reminded her that she had so much more potential, and she believed him. He was the father-figure she never had. Jeff knew more about her than most people did, yet he never weaponized her past against her. How did Evangeline ever let Chloe make her believe that Jeff would use her history to betray her?