I glance at Dinah for…I don’t know what. She just shrugs as if to saydon’t look at me. I twist the cap off and hand it to her.
Adorably, comically, she holds it in two hands and takes an exaggeratedly ginger sip. Makes a face. “Wow. That’s…surprisingly terrible.”
I laugh. “Right? I honestly don’t know why we even drink it.”
“Because we like the buzz, bro-ski,” Dinah answers.
Jolene snorts around a second, less ginger sip. “Bro-ski?”
I sigh. “It’s been her nickname for me for years. It started out as a tongue-in-cheek joke and just sort of stuck.”
Jolene eyes me, now holding the bottle in one hand and keeping the sheet clutched closed with the other. “I’m still hungry.”
I slide her off my lap and stand up. “What do you want? I’ll make you something.”
“Um…grilled cheese?”
“Coming up.” I glance at Dinah. “You good?”
She rolls her eyes at me. “Have you met me?”
I laugh. “Grilled cheese sandwiches all around it is.”
Dinah glances at Jolene. “Have you had one of his grilled cheeses yet?”
Jolene shakes her head. “No. They’re just one of my favorite things to eat. My comfort food, you know?”
Dinah grins. “Well, you’re in luck. My brother can’t cook for shit, all right? He burns water. Meat is usually burnt on the outside and raw in the middle. But, he makes one hell of a mean grilled cheese sandwich.”
“Do you happen to have any tomato soup?” Jolene asks.
I frown thoughtfully. “I don’t know, I’ll check.”
Dinah snorts. “He doesn’t do his own shopping, you know that, right? Bro-ski, here, is toofamousfor that. Claims he’ll get mobbed if he tried, so he sends his poor overworked manager to do all his grocery shopping for him.”
Jolene shrugs. “I mean, we were in a Best Western or something on the super outskirts of freaking Cheyenne, Wyoming and he got mobbed just leaving our room for literally five minutes. So, I can guess that if he were to go Whole Foods or something, he’d probably cause a literal riot.”
Dinah rolls her eyes. “Well, you failed that test,” she says.
“Don’t mind her,” I say from the kitchen, where I’m slathering cream cheese on bread. “She thinks it’s her bound duty to keep me humble by constantly and mercilessly mocking me and trying to get everyone around me to do the same.”
“I’m your big sister,” Dinah says. “It is my duty to keep you from getting too big for your britches.”
Jolene watches the exchange between Dinah and me. “You guys are funny.”
“Only child, huh?” Dinah asks.
Jolene nods. “Yeah.” She glances at me. “Did you call my parents?”
I nod as I put the three sandwiches on the griddle of my range. “I have a neighbor three doors down who rents their house on Airbnb—your parents, your grandma, Macy, and Bethany are there now. They actually got in a couple hours ago, but you were still sleeping so they decided to wait until tomorrow.”
Jolene frowns. “But it was a false alarm.”
“I mean, was it? It was way worse than the last one. You had a fever, where you didn’t last time.”
She doesn’t answer immediately. “It can be a quick visit. Show them all that I’m doing okay, that you and I aren’t…I dunno…a fluke, or whatever, and they can go home.”
I’m unsure how to respond. On one hand, I understand what she’s saying and why, but on the other hand, part of me does want her parents and family close. For her support, and my own. This is all new to me, this aspect of Jolene’s situation. I brought her away from her family, and if something were to happen suddenly and her parents couldn’t be with her when she needs them, I’d never forgive myself. But she also deserves her autonomy. She has a right to make decisions for herself.
