That morning Jena pulled herself out of the bed as if sunken into it. Her whole body felt fatigued in a way she had never known before. She called Ivy-Mae intentionally sending a message straight to voicemail. Jena knew that it would be at least until after Nate's post-op care was completed before he was moved. She told his mother as much over the phone. Next Jena called Gus. She wanted to have a proper conversation with him as he was the most straightforward out of Nate's parents. She told Gus there had been an incident with a college girl at the house on the night of the party and that she was instructed to stay close to home until further notice, but that she would go back to Colorado when Nate was transferred. Gus reiterated the doctor's findings that Nate was showing no improvements. Gus paused before he warned Jena that Ivy-Mae was scheming in her absence. He had overheard her speaking with Jett about going after Nate's assets because Jena was a bad wife for not being there at the hospital with them. Jena brushed it off, knowing that Ivy-Mae's self-serving temperament was nothing new. Jena, not in the mood to give into Nate's long-standing family drama responded cooly, "Funny how every time she has a complaint about me, her proposed resolution involves lining her own pockets. Nate has insurance that has and will cover everything for the time being. Ivy- Mae is too transparent. Thanks all the same. I have to go handle things here." With that, Jena hung up. She was too busy to waste her day away fretting over foolishness when she had real problems to face.
Seeing Nate at the party had shaken her to her core. In the entire time she had known Nate he ran hot. He constantly cranked up their air conditioner or loosened his collar to relieve himself from his radiating body heat. However, now he was cold to the touch in the hospital. It was as if he were gone completely. She had to block it out or risk breaking down. Ivy-Mae blaming her for Nate's condition or anyone else for that matter was not foreign to Jena. She had been the scapegoat for every mistake or misdeed Nate had carried out since they were dating in high school. It was why they called it off the first time all those years ago. If Nate cheated, Jena was the one yelled at by not only his friends but by his conquests. If Nate had a bad day at work it was always somehow twisted into being her fault. Maybe she didn't smile enough and that's why Nate got high or spent the company payroll. Maybe it was because she was too hefty at one hundred and forty pounds during the last summer getaway and that's why she was harassed in the grocery store by Nate's latest mistress for her not divorcing him or whatever lie Nate had told her to get into her pants. By then it was a part of Jena's life. It was in one ear and out the other. It was the only way she kept her sanity, by ignoring those hellbent people who came for her every moment she sought peace. Jena had been rolling with the punches for so long, that she had become numb to the routine of it.
Wanting to find her sense of normalcy, Jena took a long scolding shower until the hot water ran out. After that, she took her time getting ready before she cataloged what she had in her pantry and refrigerator. She expected to be more reclusive than ever until this whole ordeal blew over if it ever did. The clean-up crew left a champagne bottle in the crisper from their Napa Valley trip. Jena had half a mind to open it. Nate had been saving it for a special occasion that never came to pass. Jena touched it but felt it was too morbid to dive into it considering the state of things. Instead, she went over to Mrs. Flossie's house to get Tiki. Mrs. Flossie was eager to gossip. She pressed Jena a few times to come in for tea, which Jena politely declined saying that Nate was taken ill and that she had to be on her way, but remembered to pay the woman a little extra for her trouble. It was a relief to know Tiki had been spared from all the chaos of the previous few nights. Jena was ready to tuck into home life, Tiki was certainly included.
Once she was sure that Tiki was comfortably settled in his habitat once more, she called Sue. "Hi, sweetie! I miss you." Sue said. Jena was comforted to hear her mother's voice. Jena gave her mother a watered-down version of what had happened since she last saw her, but did ask that Sue stay with her until everything was sorted out. Sue paused for a moment before she responded. "Well Jena, dear, this is just the worst timing. I mean Gage is finally doing well in school and I'm the only one the boys will listen to, now that their dad is about to be on the road again. Plus you know, Thallea, you'd think that she was nine months along with a litter of hippos or something the way she goes on. She does nothing all day but get on Beau about not making enough money." Jena was crestfallen at hearing this. She knew her mother was right. Sue continued, "And, baby, if I'm stuck in the house with the boys and Thallea while Beau is off for weeks at a time working, I don't know what I'll do... Wait, I know, why don't you take Thallea instead? She'd love your big house and you'll be at work during the day. Honestly, it'd be a big help if you were to take her off my hands. I can't stand her, just between you and me."
Jena wasn't much of a fan of Thallea either. Thallea was in her early twenties and far too young for the middle-aged Beau as far as she was concerned. Thallea showed her immaturity often in the few times she had been around for any period. Beau had met her when she was working as a dispatcher for the trucking company he was with, often doing Thallea's work for her so that she would not be fired. Jena had kept her opinion about Thallea to herself because she knew how it had hurt Beau to see Tawny succumb to her drug addiction over time. At first, no one thought twice about Thallea's story of being kicked out when she had turned eighteen from her foster home, however after getting to know Thallea, Jena wanted to hear the other side of the situation there. Jena grasped that her mother needed a break from her adult son's newest partner and understood that Thallea and her nephews were a monumental argument waiting to happen. At that moment, Jena agreed over the phone to take in Thallea when she was ready. Sue thanked her, now freed from the socially imposed contract and unhung up. However, Jena kicked herself at the end of the conversation even though she knew it was for the best to help her brother.
By the time night fell, Thallea was knocking at the door with her bags in tow. Jena believed that with her need to travel to see Nate, Thallea would be useful as a house sitter if nothing else. Beau didn't stay long. He was on his way to the shipping company headquarters in Nevada. Jena asked him what his plans were to which he answered that he was going to take all the work he could so that he and Thallea could afford a place of their own before the baby was born. None of which sounded like it was Beau's idea. Beau hated trucking. It was something he fell into like many of the young men in Meadows Parting. Even Turner had done it for a bit after high school because there was a satellite office in town that recruited kids out of the high school. Beau had quit after he blamed himself for Tawny going downhill as a result of his always being gone. He wanted to get into construction, so he could stay close to home, but with things the way they were, Beau's construction dreams were put on hold. As the conversation became strained, Beau took his leave. Thallea hardly waved goodbye to him from the guestroom. Jena felt bad for Beau as she watched him drive off in their dad's old Chevy.
Jena went inside her house into the bedroom to help Thallea settle in. Thallea though seemed instantly annoyed that Jena was darkening her doorway. "Can I get you anything?" Jena asked trying to be polite. Thallea sitting by the dresser was putting her Marlboro Red smoke-smelling clothes into, when she looked up to answer, "Nope, I'm going to finally get some sleep on a real bed, without a bunch of kids bouncing off the walls. I'm good." Then she stopped what she was doing to question, "Why?" Jena could tell she wanted to have some privacy so she gave her space by ending the conversation with, "Oh, just trying to make you feel comfortable. Feel free to help yourself to anything you need while you're here. I'll leave you to it." Thallea not responding outside of a half smile and a thumbs-up motion went back to what she was doing. Jena decided it was best to set Tiki up in her room while Thallea was staying at the house. She had a feeling that Thallea was not a pleasant person, she simply didn't know how worried she needed to be about that though.
All through that first night, Thallea kept Jena awake as she watched cable on blast in the den and made calls on the house phone in which she could be heard loudly complaining about Beau's sons and Sue. By the time morning had rolled in Jena felt as if she hadn't had a wink of rest over Thallea's inconsiderate behavior. When she went to the kitchen for her usual boba tea and toast, Jena found the kitchen to have been raided in the most sloppy way she had ever seen. There were crumbs everywhere. Thallea left wrappers on the countertops and floor. Various remnants of food were smeared on the table. Jena found extra large toenail clippers on top of the kitchen sink. In the refrigerator, Jena saw that the twelve hundred dollar bottle of champagne Nate had been saving was half-empty and there were fresh cigarette butts stamped out in her garbage disposal. Not wanting to have a negative conversation with Thallea, but unable to ignore what she saw, Jena went to check up on her future niece or nephew's mother to explain some house rules that she never thought would be necessary. To her dismay, she found the door locked to the bedroom by Thallea who dismissed her by saying that she didn't get any sleep and to leave a note. Jena frustrated, got in her car before she said something Thallea would complain to Beau about. Jena didn't want Beau to feel the need to rush back and save his beloved Thallea. She did wonder how her mother and nephews had been tolerating the insufferable woman for as long as they did, though.
It took about a month for Jena to completely give up on Thallea as being anything but an irritating houseguest. One evening upon seeing Jena come home from work, Thallea lamented, "I wish I had some extra cash to use for myself. I don't get everything paid for like you do." The irony of such a backhanded comment made Jena have to swallow her words for a moment. Jena had been fielding every one of Thallea's requests since she arrived. Not to mention that with Nate having separate bank accounts, Jena was unable to access his. Further adding to these troubles was that Nate had never set up an emergency power of attorney, meaning all of the bills he typically paid fell onto her, except the few automated accounts that were assumingly starting to run low, not that Jena had any way of knowing because she wasn't even allowed to be informed of Nate's account balances. This compiled with the fact that Jena was driving long trips to see Nate every weekend, hit her finances hard. Jena was burning through her savings each second that Nate wasn't there. Adding insult to injury, Jena was not secretive about her situation. Only her immediate manager was sympathetic to her plight and gave her extra hours on the clock to help her keep the lights on, not that it was anywhere near enough to cover her mounting expenses.
As for all the years of putting up with the so-called friends of Nate, not one reached out to her to help once. They didn't care if Nate lost everything he owned, as long as it hurt her first. Jena found them all to be a contemptible lot. Even Turner, whom she thought she had no bad blood with would not reach out to Roman or his law firm to help her get a court date to be granted access to Nate's accounts so that she could put aside these issues. Jena had to run the paperwork through the court on her own. The matter was on the bottom of the court's docket it seemed.
Jena didn't want to worry Beau by telling him that Thallea had been draining her wallet since she arrived with her endless list of demands to feel comfortable. Be it Thallea waking her up at all hours of the night wanting to go to the grocery store for specific items despite her having been there earlier and declining said items when asked, asking to go shopping for "maternity clothes" only to go on shopping sprees for designer make-up and salon treatments, to using her car to "check out the town" returning hours later without explanation and never refilling the tank. Thallea had a way of being exceptionally costly on top of being overall vexing. Jena found herself giving speeches she never expected to Thallea to explain that money was tight with Nate, who was the primary breadwinner of their household, being unwell. To Thallea these concerns were of no consequence before she asked for another completely unreasonable thing. Jena taking a second to herself to quell Thallea's instigating nature, said "I'll ask around town to see if anyone is hiring." Then she excused herself to her room for the night, not wanting to deal with Thallea any further or worse fearing she'd slap the woman if forced to suffer her any longer in her exhausted state.
Following through on her typical trip to see Nate, Jena stopped at a midpoint to pick up Gus, who being on a fixed income had trouble getting out to see his infirmed son otherwise. In the long car ride, they made small talk. "How's Beau's girl doing?" Gus asked. Jena not wanting to start venting to her elderly father-in-law danced around the subject of Thalle'as unlikable personality as she answered. "A few days ago she found out she might be having twins. They think they hear two distinct heartbeats on the ultrasound, but it's still early." Gus responded, "Wow, that's different." Jena put on the radio so she wouldn't follow up with how Thallea took the news, by crying that she'd get "gross stretch marks" among other unsavory complaints about how her body would be undesirable for men after having the babies. Thallea made it clear she had no long-term plans in her relationship with Beau. Everyone but Beau seemed to realize Thallea considered him to be no more than a stepping stone. Jena also kept to herself that the reason the Ob-Gyn had trouble hearing the heartbeats on the ultrasound was that Thallea could not be still or quieted during her entire appointment.
Gus trying to fill the void and not talk about Nate's dismal prospects inquired, "You know if they have any baby names picked out?" Jena cringed as she answered, "Thallea says that if they are boys, she wants to name them Tiger-Blood or Ty for short and Midnight. Or if they are girls she wants to name them Cherry-Rae and Pina-Anne." Gus thought for a little before he blurted out, "Aren't those snow cone flavors?" Jena snorted, "Yeah, I think a few of those are." What Jena didn't go into was that she had broken down and lied to one of the subsidiary managers of a franchise that Nate owned with Turner. Telling them Thallea was offered a job by Turner himself and that he expected her to start as soon as possible. Jena rationalized that at worst Turner would be mad at her and Thallea fired, but why would she care because she was shunned from their inner circle from the get-go anyway?
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