Bright Lights of Summer by Lynn Ames

Author:Lynn Ames [Ames, Lynn]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Phoenix Rising Press
Published: 2014-11-07T23:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWELVE

Phoenix, 1944

The next few days and nights went by like a blur. Diz could never remember being hugged and kissed by so many people she didn’t know. Food magically appeared in the kitchen—casseroles, pies, Spam meatloaves—and Diz couldn’t bear to look at any of it.

Frannie stayed by her side throughout, and her touch was the only thing Diz could feel through the numbness.

“She’s over there, in the corner, with the minister and his wife,” Frannie said.

“Hmm?”

“You were keeping an eye out for your mother, right?”

“How did you know that?”

“Because I know you. You’ve been watching her like a hawk.”

“I’m worried about her. She’s okay when people are here, like now, but when the house is empty, she just sits in Daddy’s chair and stares off into space. And every night she cries herself to sleep in her room.”

“I know. I can hear her too.”

“I know you can.” Since the night they learned of her father’s death, Frannie had spent every night in Diz’s bed, not even sneaking out before dawn, holding her, comforting her, and wiping away her tears. They didn’t talk much—after all, what was there to say? Frannie had suffered the same kind of loss, and Diz couldn’t begin to imagine how she had handled losing both of her parents all at once.

“Does the pain ever go away?” Diz asked.

“Honestly?” Frannie shook her head. “I wish I could tell you it did. That feeling of shock, like none of this is real, that goes away after all the attention fades. But then you’re left with this huge, gaping hole in your life where your parents used to be. It’s like a never-ending nightmare of loneliness.”

“I don’t know how you did it, all by yourself, like you did.”

“I didn’t have a choice.”

“I wish I’d known you then.”

Frannie offered a pained smile. “I wish you had too.”

“I would’ve taken care of you, just like you’re taking care of me.” Diz laced their fingers together, squeezed, then let go. “Thank you for being here. It means the world to me.”

“I’m not going to lie. This is hard for me. It reminds me…” Frannie cleared her throat. “Well, that doesn’t matter now. What matters is that I’m here for you, and there’s nowhere else I’d rather be,” Frannie said.

“I haven’t exactly been the life of the party.”

“Diz, no one expects you to be. You just lost your father. Everyone understands—”

“Not really,” Diz interrupted. “But you do. I’m so lucky.”

A shadow crossed Frannie’s face, and Diz asked, “Are you sure you’re okay with all this?”

The shrill ringing of the telephone cut through the din in the parlor and interrupted their conversation. Diz ran to the kitchen to answer it. “Hello?”

“Diz?”

Diz strained to hear through all the noise in the house, and the noise on the other end of the line. “Elsie? Is that you?”

“Yes. Sorry it’s so hard to hear. The phone is in the office right next to the main hangar,” Elsie shouted. “What’s going on there? I just got back from doing a three-day ferry run and my CO gave me a message that I needed to call home right away.

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