She smiled. “They shouldn’t be too far off as it is. You see that dress form?” she asked pointing to a mannequin embedded with sizing dials. “I call her Lucy.”
I raised an eyebrow. “A dummy named after Mom, huh. Let me guess, Mom was your first model.”
Kelly smiled proudly. “Yes indeed. Sized it right to her: Course that was a little while back though. I tend to use myself for most of my work now but we aren’t too far off from each other,” she said as she examined herself in the mirror.
I raised an eyebrow as I held up one of her bikinis. “That’s convenient, because you don’t really have much room to work with on some of these.” She looked up at my reflection as I examined the piece of garb.
“Not ashamed of showing off a little skin, I see.” I said.
She smiled. “Hey, you know me. If you got it, flaunt it.”
“Well, Mom’s gonna’ be the one flaunting it so I hope you’re okay with that.”
She shrugged. “If it sells my goods, I have no problem with her showing hers,” she giggled
I couldn’t help but roll my eyes as she laughed.
Her eyes softened as she looked at me in the reflection.
“Thank you for doing this, Jason. It means a lot to me,” she said. “And, even though she won’t say it, it really means a lot to Mom too.”
“You’re welcome,” I said as I hung the clothes back, and then stopped. Something she said was off. “Wait, why do you think it meant a lot to Mom? Isn’t she-”
She shook her head, scolding herself as she turned to face me.
“It’s nothing,” she said. “Forget I said anything.”
“Wait a minute Kelly. Come on. What’s going on?”
She took a deep breath. “I don’t know. It’s weird,” she said. “It’s like… She’s just happier when you’re around.”
“Mom? But she’s always happy.”
Kelly shrugged. “Honestly, Jason, I’m not sure. I mean she appears to be more so around you, but you’re not here most of the time and Dad’s here just a little more than that. I think there’s something going on between the two of them.”
I set down my glass. “You think they’re fighting?”
She shook her head. “I don’t know… Actually that’s not true, I know they are because I can hear the mumbles through the walls, but they never do it in front of me.”
“They seemed fine at dinner. I mean, they were acting like they always do.”
She looked me in the eye. “Even though they say we are adults, they still try to keep things from us. They want to appear composed, I guess. I don’t know what’s going on, but I can always feel this tension in the air. Mainly from Dad, to be honest. He comes home late from work, then goes out, then comes home late again. He always spends the night here, but… I don’t know what it is. I never see them spend any time together anymore unless you’re around.” She shook her head in disbelief. “Seriously, it’s gotta be frustrating for her. I don’t even think they’re having sex anymore. They were noisy as hell after you moved out for college, but nothing for the last year.”
“Thank you, Kelly. I wasn’t expecting to hear about our parents bedside manners, but now I can sleep good tonight.”
She smacked my arm. “Jason, I’m serious. I’m concerned for her.”