Vivienne

Shortly after breaking down in front of Brian a second time about the girl in the hotel, Casey volunteered a cryptic answer to the big man that only made her life hell afterward. “I didn’t kill her, but I was the one that ended her life.”

Brian let go of his girlfriend and stood up, a confused and concerned look on his face. “What does that mean, Casey?  How do you end someone’s life and not kill them?  You weren’t dreaming were you?  Did this Vivienne person make you kill someone?  Fuck the NDA, we need to go to the police?  Don’t just sit there, you started this.”  He showered her with a barrage of questions.

-You are a Moron, Rivers.- Casey thought to herself as she tried to wave off what she’s just said.  It was the comment about the police that caused her to leave the kitchen and dig out clothes. “There is nothing to tell them, Brian!” She screamed at him. “There is seriously nothing to tell the cops, what can I say?  When I say there’s nothing, I mean there’s nothing.  Anything that could have been is gone.  No more.  Erased.”

“How do you erase a person, Casey?!”  Brian responded harshly.

Pulling her blouse over her big chest, Casey marched over to the television and turned it to the news.  “There. That’s how.”  She pointed to the ongoing coverage of the Ocean Lilly in shambles.

“You were there!  I knew you were fucking lying to me again!” Brian also started getting dressed. 

Casey was about to respond when her phone started ringing. “Brian that is my mom.”  She pressed the button opening the line as Brian kept talking, “I can’t believe I fell for your shit again!”

“Well. I can hear that Brian is being his usual self, Casey.” Her mother began. Casey looked at Brian, her chocolate eyes clearly annoyed with the big man. -Here we go with her too, Rivers.- “Hey mom.  Yeah, I guess.  He and I are having a heated debate.”

“Sounds like a fight, Casey darling.”  -If you only knew, mom.- Casey quickly thought. “I meant to call you when I got home, mom. There’s been heaps going on and I just forgot.”

 “Are you coming by this evening, Casey?” Her mother inquired. -Fuck- “I don't know mom, I meant to.”-And now comes her guilt trip, Rivers.- 

“I would hate for you to pull your hair out, darling.” The elder voice started giggling in Casey’s ear.

“Right…I did say that, didn’t I?” Casey pinched the bridge of her nose.

“You mentioned you were hurt?”

“Yes and no, Mom. I thought it was worse than it was.” Casey quickly deflected.

“Come on over and give yourself a bit of a break from Brian.” Her mother added.

 “Just like you took breaks from everyone?” Casey complained..

“We all need breaks from time to time, right my dear?”

“Alright, mom.  I could use the time to think and clear my head.  I will be over in a few minutes.” Casey said goodbye to her mother and finished getting dressed. “Mom’s right, we should take some time and cool off.”

“Or what, I pack my shit, Casey?”  Brian used her line against her again.

-Fuck. Why did I ever say that to him? He’s never going to drop it.- “No. I told you I was sorry for that.”   Casey walked back over to Brian and cupped his cheek softly. “We will work this out, we have for two years, right?”  She didn’t wait for him to answer. “You can stay as long as you want.  I mostly want to stop fighting and talking in circles.”

Angry with herself and Brian, Casey barely registered the cars and trees zipping by on the highway as she pushed the needle on the Italian sports car between eighty and ninety miles an hour.  Heading towards her mother’s house, Casey weaved through traffic hoping to make herself stop thinking about the mess she’d once again made with Brian. -How do I get out of this mess?  Yep you’ve landed yourself right back in it, Rivers.-  She thought and pushed the car to near one hundred and twenty miles per hour, almost missing her mother’s exit.

A few minutes later, Casey pulled into the driveway of her mothers one story beach bungalow.  Putting the Lamborghini into park, she took a moment to admire the simplicity of her mom’s house.  It was blue and tan, with a concrete porch that wrapped around the first half of the home.  Her mother had planted sunflowers in small beds in front of the porch, so that it added a hint of yellow and made the house warm and inviting.  Casey shut off the engine and walked up to the door, ringing the doorbell.

“Since when do you ring the bell?”  Her mother opened the door and invited her daughter inside.

“I grabbed the mail on the way inside Ms. Jennifer Rivers.”  Casey chuckled and handed her mom the few items. “I ring the bell because it’s not really home mom.”

“It’s my home so it’s your home. Quit being silly.”  She pointed to Casey’s pocket. “You still have the key, right?”

“Yes.”  Casey muttered while thinking about the home she’d grown up in. “Mom, I haven’t even put furniture in the room you gave me.”  She shrugged. “I always think of home as the house on the lake, and dad.”

Jennifer walked into the kitchen and returned in short order with a tray with two cups and various teas. “I loved that place too, Casey.”  She pointed to the packets and walked over to the fireplace, tossing another small log on the cozy fire that kept the living room warm. “I am sorry that I left your father, You have never been alright with it.”  Her mother sat beside Casey and made herself a cup of herbal mint tea. “Sometimes things just don’t work out, dear.”

Quickly scanning the room the two occupied, Casey felt her mothers presence all throughout.  Walls were painted a soft tan, with various ocean themed pictures and decorative wooden sculptures depicting mermaids, starfish and other cute sea creatures. Her mother made the stone fireplace the center of attention for the space and had arranged the white leather sofa and loveseat so that they would absorb the warmth and relaxation a fire would provide.  A few bookshelves and bookcases were placed to show off the vast expanse of works that she’d collected, Casey giving a brief smile noticing the titles that were sectioned off. “I can’t believe that you put my favorite books on a shelf by themselves, Mom.”

“You have read them all at least three times.”  Jennifer walked over and grabbed one thick book and brought it back for Casey. “The Count of Monte Cristo.  You read this one more than the others.”  She pointed to the small fingerprints on the leather binding. “I rebound this for you in middle school when you had broken the spine after reading it so much.”  Her mother smiled and took a sip of her tea, “You can see your fingerprints in the leather.”  The older woman winked.

“I do like all of the windows here, they seem to let sun in from all sides.”  Casey mentioned, mirroring her mother in sipping tea. “Is that a rope chair?”  Casey pointed to a pile of netting attached to a heavy hook near one of the windows.

“I got it in Kitty Hawk a few weeks ago.  They sold all sorts of things there, you might like going down there with me one weekend.”  Jennifer ran over to the chair and jumped in it, making it swing gently.

“Who’s the kid here?” Casey laughed.

 “This isn’t the first time you have been here, Casey.”  Her mother hopped out of the swing and made her way back to the sofa. “You seemed a bit grumpy when you came in, quickly changed to the lake house and your father, then to the windows?”  Jennifer took one more sip of tea and placed the small cup back on the tray before settling back against the sofa. “I haven’t seen you scatterbrained in years, what’s going on?” 

Casey wanted to tell her mother everything and just burst into tears and let the events of the past few days empty out on the sofa, then forget about the drama. “I guess the pressure of graduation creeping up in May.”  She paused to drink more tea, pushing the problems of the last few days back. “I only have one class before I am done, I thought I told you.”  Casey moved to the other side of the couch and pulled her knees up. “Just SCUBA left.”

Raising one of her finely plucked eyebrows, Casey’s mom shook her head, “That is certainly part of it, but I get the feeling there is more to this.  I doubt that you and Brian would be in .. a heated debate..”  Her mother chuckled, “...over your SCUBA class, Casey.”

Casey pursed her lips, because she knew the answer she gave wouldn’t work on her mother. “No.  You are right.  There is more.”  She paused, “I started a new job a few nights ago.  I work for a doctor now, as her… personal assistant.  Brian doesn’t like it because I have to spend more time away from him.”

Jennifer leaned up and finished her tea, then looked to Casey who just shook her head. “Alright, tea won’t solve this.”  Her mom packed up the tray and headed back to the kitchen. “Well, come on.”

“Where are we going?”  Casey flopped her feet on the floor and begrudgingly stood.

“That was the biggest load of crap I have ever heard, girl.  It just means you aren’t ready to talk yet.”  She wiggled her eyebrows and her brown eyes widened, “So, we just do something to take your mind off everything.”

Casey followed her mother into the kitchen, “That would be great, mom.”

Trailing her mother to the kitchen, Casey found it easy to see their similarities.  Jennifer had the same long auburn hair with the added addition of violet streaked to hide her gray, the same shape and color eyes and her build was almost identical with one physical exception, Jennifer didn’t have the bust that Casey possessed.

Casey stood at the entry of the small hallway sized kitchen and leaned on the door frame that hid a pocket door. “What’s the plan, mom?” She asked and folded her arms.

“You know me, I don’t have a plan.”  Jennifer replied and pulled out a package of ground beef from the refrigerator.

Snickering lightly to herself, Casey nodded and knew her mother well enough to know what the older woman said was fact.  Like a butterfly, Jennifer embraced the essence of the little fluttering insects she adored.  Floating from place to place, never keeping to a direct path and randomly changing her mind and life course on little more than a whim.  Casey knew that this was especially true when it came to her mother and the attitude the older lady had when it came to relationships.  Bisexual and open, when Jennifer met someone it seldom lasted more than a week before she flittered off to another new lover and new experience.

Once Jennifer had gotten pregnant at twenty-two, everything changed.  Priorities shifted and she’d married Casey’s father to raise their daughter in an open and loving home.  The couple never seemed to have the same problems that other couples did and constantly showered each other in love and devotion, which in turn passed into Casey.  So it came as a complete shock to Casey when her mother filed for divorce the day Casey had been accepted to college five years before, and returned to her butterfly ways.

“Casey.”  Her mother raised her voice to get her daughter’s attention.

Snapping back to reality, Casey blinked and pinched her nose. “Sorry, mom.  I was just thinking.”

“Deep in thought, apparently.” Jennifer paused, “I have to check on something in the studio, can you watch this for a few minutes?”

“Yeah, sure, mom.”  Casey muttered and walked over to the skillet.

If there was any drawback to her mother, Casey considered it the fact the older woman was an artist.  Obsessed to the point of ignoring everything else, Jennifer threw all she was into her art and it took many forms.  Tattoos that spanned both arms in vibrant flowers and the small one that Casey had on her right shoulder, all came from her mom’s intensity.  Every time it was something new, Jennifer mastered it and moved on.  Pottery, sculpting, charcoal, glass blowing, painting and even digital art had been a few of the things Casey recalled losing her mother for days at a time, hunkered in her studio.

“The artist’s flaw, mom.”  Casey whispered to herself. “Art above anything else.”  Casey tossed a pinch of salt, shook some pepper and sprinkled some onion powder in the pan before spotting the homemade taco seasoning.

Her mother entered the kitchen once more, smiling. “Casey.”  She pulled her daughter into a tight hug. “I only follow my passions, I am not ruled by them.”

“Say’s the woman with paint all over her hands.” Casey giggled and slowly backed out of the hug.

“Oh, baby girl.”  Jennifer’s eyes slowly filled with tears, “You are the best sculpture I have had the honor to shape.  I loved every minute.”

Casey started to cry about the same time as her mother, “No fair mom.”  Casey cleared her tears with the collar of her blouse, “You were in that studio so much, I felt like I didn’t have a mom.”

“Not true, Casey.”  Jennifer took over with the skillet, “I was with you every step of the way, until you started closing your door as a teenager.”  She pointed to her studio as reference, “The door was always open.  You knew where I was and I always stopped when you came in.”

Anger swelling up once more Casey blurted out, “Liar!  You never paid attention once you were in your fucking studio, Dad even told me you lost all reality in there!”

Jennifer turned off the burner and moved the taco meat off to cool. “Come on.”  

“I am not going anywhere.” Casey leaned back and folded her arms once more, “Fuck that, I am not going to your hiding place.”

“Fine.  Stand there all you want and be mad over something that never happened in the past.”  Her mother turned and headed back into the studio, “This little session has nothing to do with me, Casey.  You are still grumpy and mad.”

Casey waited about two minutes before she caved in and trudged her way to the back of her mothers home and into her mothers sacred room.  A seat in the back for her body art, a small artist kiln by the window, carpentry tools on a peg board, paintings both complete and incomplete scattered all over.  Little glass butterflies even hung from the ceiling that sparkled perfectly in the sunlight, creating the illusion that they were flying all over the room.

Casey spotted a couple new additions, “A 3-D Printer and weed, mom?”

Jennifer, who was already getting high, let out a plume of smoke. “Hey, don’t judge.  Best thing this crappy state ever did was make it legal to get stoned.” Waving Casey over Jennifer pointed to the bowl she was using and a small cartridge. “You pick.”

“Mom!  I can’t get high with you, what if I get tested?  I am on a swim team.”  Casey shook her head disapprovingly.

“You graduate in May.  You have what, maybe three swim meets left?” She pushed the items closer. “Trust me, you will forget your problems for a few hours and relax.”

“Your solution is to get me stoned?  Some mother.”  Casey followed suit and took a heavy hit from the packed bowl, holding it until she got lightheaded before letting out her own smoke.

Jennifer giggled a moment, “You are an adult, Rivers.  I am done being an example for you.”  She took another hit and looked down at her ringing phone. “I don’t want to talk to you right now, April.”  She clicked the ringer to silence and looked up to her daughter. “What?”

Casey picked up her mothers phone and looked at the screen. “Twelve calls, all from different people.”

“What can I say, dear?”  Jennifer started to giggle uncontrollably, “Casey’s mom has got it going on.”

Casey squinted her eyes, shook her head slowly and let out a disbelieving groan. “Jesus, Mom.  That…was..just no, mom…that was bad.”

The remainder of the day passed a quick haze for Casey.  She remembered laughing with her mother, eating a huge messy pile of nachos and waking up on the sofa in her mother’s lap after a cozy and relaxing nap.  

“Thanks, Mom.”  Casey yawned and sat up, gathering her things. “You were right and I needed that.”

Standing up, Jennifer took a moment to give her daughter a kiss on the forehead. “Anytime, dear.  I love you.”  She cupped her daughter's chin, “I am always here, Casey.”

Picking up the keys to the Lamborghini last, Casey nodded and smiled. “I know, mom.  Sorry about that mess earlier.”

Her mother waved and headed once more into her studio, “Lock the door behind you, and use that key I gave you.”