“A pretty thing is a china ornament, a crystal bowl. Not a house packed with furniture and stuff. That’s hoarding, Gina! It’s a psychological problem.”
Gina’s eyes flashed with fury. “I am not a hoarder, I don’t buy rubbish! I only ever buy quality, first and foremost.”
“You’ve bought a ridiculous amount of ‘quality.’” Flick used her fingers as air quotes. “I don’t understand any of this. Help me.”
Flick took Gina’s hand in hers and sighed when Gina didn’t respond with anything other than a stony look. “Gin, you’ve always been the model of propriety. You’ve done everything perfectly, all your life. You were the prettiest, most together mother, the person everyone ran to for help, or tea, or a chat. This...collecting...isn’t like you. Asking me to keep secrets isn’t like you. I don’t understand.”
“You don’t need to understand. You just need to help me. Think of it as a little payback for the fact that I took you to your first spa treatment, helped you with your homework, picked you and your friends up from a party at three in the morning, and told your father that you were home by eleven.” Gina covered her eyes with her hand and Flick could see that her fingers were trembling. “I can’t believe that I said that, that I’m throwing that in your face.” A tear tumbled down her cheek. “It hurts too much to explain why I’ve done what I’ve done. Can’t you just accept that?”
Gina placed both hands over her face and Flick closed her eyes when her aunt’s shoulders shook from the effort it took to keep her sobs under control. Gina seldom cried, and it was her fault for making the tears flow.
Nice, Flick.
Flick sat next to her aunt and wrapped her arms around her thin frame. “Okay, I’ll stop hassling you. Let’s try and find a way out of this. You need money, and fast.”
“Pippa doesn’t know that I’m broke, that I can’t pay for my medical care. Shecan’tknow.”
“You should tell her, Gin. Apart from the fact that she knows that something is going on, she’s going to be hurt and furious and very upset that you turned to me and not her.”
Gina pushed her away and Flick noticed that her tears were drying up. After a long silence, Gina spoke again, her voice not as strident as before. “I was such a crazy perfectionist, so incredibly anal. My house was never messy, I always looked good, and my children beautifully behaved. I created gorgeous meals and hosted sublime dinner parties. I researched sexual techniques and I mastered them. Dammit, I even let him try —”
Flick put her fingers in her ears. “Lalalalala.”
“I did everything right! Yet he still left me!”
Flick frowned. “It wasn’t like Roger wanted to have that heart attack, Gina.” Unlike her Mom, Gina's husband Roger, Mercy's ex-Mayor, had been full of life.
“He left me. That night he had his heart attack? He had moved out that afternoon. He left me.”
Oh no, Gina.What was she supposed to say in response to that bomb? That she was sorry, that she couldn’t believe it? Except that she could believe it… in hindsight, she could understand Roger’s desire to get out of his marriage to Gina. Her jovial uncle hadn’t wanted a perfect wife, he’d just wanted a partner. It was a bitch living with perfection.
“You need money. And quickly,” Flick said, pacing the area next to her bed. “Stocks? Shares? Money under the bed?”
Gina shook her head. “I was going to re-mortgage the house and was in the process of doing that when I had the accident.”
Pippa would freak right out of her little accountant shoes. Her childhood home was fully paid for and was Gina’s last asset, apart from junk-filled rooms. Junk...I only buy quality, Gina had said.Like the Beretta shotgun Kai drooled over. If she could sell that, and quickly, even if for a fraction of its value, Gina would have some breathing room.
Flick nibbled the skin on the inside of her mouth before making the suggestion. “There’s an old gun in one of the rooms, a shotgun. My friend Kai said that it’s very valuable.”
“Speaking of that young man, who does he think he is, telling me what to do? If I hear that he’s said a word about this, I’ll sue him for defamation of character.”
“It’s not defamation if it’s true,” Flick replied wearily, trying to hold onto her patience. “Thegun, Gina. Do you remember it?”
Gina looked like she was going to rant again but Flick scowled at her and she settled down. “Silver engraving on the stock?”
“Yep.”
“I bought it at an estate sale, years ago. It was in an old tallboy cupboard. Guns aren’t my thing.”
Flick considered arguing, reminding Gina that she and Kai had seen a couple of guns at the house, but backed down. Gina’s 'thing' seemed to be to collect as much as she could as fast as she could.
“Can I sell it on your behalf?” Flick demanded.
“The shotgun?”
“No, the stuffed elephant!” Frustrated, Flick resorted to sarcasm.
“I don’t remember a stuffed elephant. There is a head of a hippopotamus somewhere, who I call Hugo.”