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Gem was twenty-seven years old when her grandpa died. She hadn’t expected the call, no one really does. But despite his age her grandfather had been in good shape. He was never sick and always active. Whenever Gem thought of her grandfather, it was of him driving a tractor, or tending to his fields.
That call wasn’t supposed to come for years now, not when she was stepping out of surgery at work.
It was gentle, in his sleep, there was no suffering when he went. Now she lived in a world where her grandfather was dead. Worse, still, is that she had to bring her brother into that reality. Their parents didn’t have time to go sort through all of grandpa’s things, it’d be up to the two of them. She couldn’t do it alone, couldn’t go through his things and think about how he’d never use them again… all by herself. She needed her brother there too, needed him to hold her hand and cry with her. She couldn’t be the only one to meet the neighbors that loved him so much. The ones he’d talk about when they called.
When was the last time she’d called her grandpa? What’d she say to him? Did she remember to tell him she loved him?
It was too late now, she needed to breathe. She needed to tell Scar.
He found out a couple days later. Gem didn’t want to jump him while he was at work and Scar had an extremely busy work schedule. He was always in a meeting or drawing up some blueprints, or pitching ideas for his marketing team. Her brother worked for an advertising team set on making things bigger and brighter, flashier. He was always busy with some new launch.
She shouldn’t even be bothering him now. His company had been talking about doing outreach missions. He’d been swamped with directives to make their brand marketable to smaller communities outside the city. This news could really mess up all the work he’d put in recently.
But this was something she felt he should know about regardless. The longer she put it off the more upsetting it would be when she told him.
She showed up at his apartment with a box of cookies. He’d immediately been suspicious of her sudden arrival at his door. She supposed he had the right to be, it’d been a while since she’d randomly dropped by. Besides, she wasn’t just dropping by, she did have bad news to share and a favor to ask.
“Scar,” she started gently easing her way into the conversation. She was about to derail is whole life, she couldn’t rush into that.
“Gem? “ he looked at her with confusion immediately letting her into his apartment without hesitation. Her usual cherry tone seemed dull, his suspicions could wait until he knew what was bothering her.
She came inside and immediately started rummaging around in his kitchen stepping over the mess of his things. She was going to make tea, it was tradition. It would immediately tip him off that something was wrong, but she didn’t care. “Where’s Jellie? “ she asked rummaging through his cabinets looking for a kettle.
“Oh yknow, she’s hiding” he shrugged looking at the box of cookies she’d set on the counter. “You brought birds nest cookies? But my favorite is peanut butter. “
“Well I like the ones with jam Scar, and they’re my cookies” she ignored his complaints grabbing some mugs. She still had her own mug here. It made her smile, looking at its pretty sunflower pattern. When she’d first started working at the hospital she’d stayed here a lot. He lived close by in case anything ever happened and it was easier for her to crash at his place when she was doing clinicals.
“Scar do you want the Star Wars mug or the Indiana Jones mug? “
Scar takes a minute to ponder it over “Indiana Jones I suppose, that old life day mug is really more for decoration then anything. It’s hard to drink out of without spilling coffee everywhere. “ she scoffs at him. Why not just turn it into a flower pot then? Why waste space on his shelf.
“Fair enough “ she shrugs placing a bag of tea into the cups she’d pulled down and pouring the water.
“How’s work at the hospital? “ he was searching, trying to see if she was there because it’d been a hard day. Trying to see if she’d seen anyone die, held a parent as they cried over their baby that would never get to grow. She’d been here many times over the years to breathe. Usually she’d be in her scrubs though. He had an extra set of clothes for her so she could change once she’d stop crying.
She was tough, working in the medical field wasn’t easy. She’d known what she was getting herself into when she’d decided to be a nurse, it didn’t make the reality any less difficult.
“It’s not so bad, I’ve been working more in urgent care recently then the ER. Much nicer than the nursery. “ she never wanted to work in the nursery again.
“No troublesome cases?” the worry in his voice was clear.
“Nope, not particularly. “ she picked up the mugs and turned to face him. Everything was steeped, she’d already added honey and milk. It was time to stop stalling.
“Actually, there is a reason I’m here. “
“Mhm, “ he looks at her with a knowing glance “you don’t say, swinging by out of the blue for tea and cookies? A perfectly normal thing for you to do on a Tuesday night. “
She rolled her eyes at him but was patient. “Scar…” she looked him in the eyes and gently took his hand. It was time for them to go home. Maybe not home, home, but to where they spent their summers when they were kids. She needed him to come with her, to free them both from the monotony of their sterile lives.
She led him over to the couch to sit down. He wasn’t using his cane and she didn’t want the grief to make him lose his balance. It’d certainly thrown her for a loop and she didn’t have issues with her joints locking up.
“Gem what’s wrong. “ his eyes were soft and filled with worry. She wanted to cry all over again, she couldn’t do this, damn their parents for telling her first. She was the younger sibling , it wasn’t her responsibility to tell her big brother this terrible news. But if it wasn’t her who would?
“I got a call at work, mom and dad called to let me know that grandpa… “ she goes quiet, the words are hard to say, getting trapped in her throat.
She eats a cookie, it’s dry and crumbly. She doesn’t have enough saliva to help break it down when she swallows. Scar seems to understand without her needing to further explain. He pulls her into a hug and she buries her face in his shoulder. He’s crying too, she can feel the wet tears on her back as he holds her.
They sit there for a while on his couch, long enough for their tea to go cold. It didn’t matter, they weren’t really going to drink it anyways. Jellie poked her head out of the bedroom where she was hiding and began to rub herself along their legs. She was purring loudly, clearly trying to cheer the two up. She was a sweet cat, she had no idea it wouldn’t work.
“Scar,” Gem pulled away from her brother wiping away tears with her fists. She had other plans today, and these would be harder. “I want you to quit your job. “
He shakes his head blinking at her face still wet with grief. “I’m sorry? “
“I want you to quit your job” she repeats “just for a little while. I want to go back to the valley, clear out the house, fix it up. “ See the life their grandfather lived, see his grave.
“Gem I can’t just quit my job and move to the middle of nowhere. “
“Why not? You wouldn’t be doing it alone, you’d have me there, and we both have money saved up. It’d just be for a little while, maybe a year at most. “ he had to say yes to her. He didn’t need to stay for the entire project, she was sure it’d be a daunting task. From what her parents said, it’d be run down when they got there and old buildings took forever to repair. But if he would just start with her. Then it’d be okay.
“Gem, I’m 31 years old with several severe medical conditions. I have a good job and a decent life. I can’t just uproot that to go bury our grandfather in the middle of nowhere. “
“But there’s a clinic there! And I’m a nurse! Nobody knows your medical history better than me! Not even our parents! “ it was true, even when they were younger, she seemed to always know more than they did about what was ailing her brother. It’s one of the reasons she became a nurse. If anything ever happened she’d be there, she’d be there and she’d know how to help him. He could take care of himself, she knew this. He was her big brother after all, he looked after her just as much as she cared for him. But there was always a pet of her that worried, that needed to know what was going on in case something happened. What if he hit his head? Who would tell them what he needed if lost his voice? Yes, her brother could take of himself but she needed to be capable for when he couldn’t.
“Gem.. “
“Please” she begged grabbing his hand tight in her own “When was the last time you had a day off, like properly? All we do is work Scar, I’m always at the hospital and you’re always working on some project. It’s a free house, it was left for us, don’t we owe to ourselves to check it out first? “
He didn’t seem convinced by her pleas. Scar sat back letting the weight of her words hang over them. The whole idea was crazy, he couldn’t just leave everything he’d worked so hard for. It was scary after all, what if something went wrong? He couldn’t just afford to throw his whole life away.
Part of him wanted to go, wanted to hear her out. He was tired, he didn’t like the daily ins and outs of his job, and all the stress that came with it. He was always chasing a deadline, always running late to a meeting. He knew this wasn’t just about some house, she wanted to get away, to reconnect with him and their family. Or at least to feel like a piece of it hadn’t just withered away into the unknown of the universe.
“What if I can’t come back after we leave, I have a lot to take care of here, I’ve got Jellie to look after, plus with all of my issues-“ she cuts off his ramblings.
“Scar! You’re not going to be there alone, you’ll have me. Nothing is going to happen to you. Besides country air is supposed to help with people’s health isn’t? Not make it worse, that’s why there was that big migration boom to California remember? Tuberculosis “ he rolled his eyes at her. “Gem I’m serious. “
“And so am I!” she retorted “I’m completely serious Scar, I’m not saying we have to go there forever, but... Just come and help me look at everything. Help me settle into town while I fix it up. “
He sighs fidgeting with his hands, there really was no arguing with her was there? She’d go without him if he continued to deny her, and then where would he be?
Without his sister he guessed. She’d leave without him and he’d be in the city all alone with just his cat.
“Fine..” he sighed breaking her gaze, he was reluctant but he’d go along with it. “but not for long okay, I’ll go and help you get settled and then I’m coming back home, okay? “
She was grinning at him from ear to ear “Deal! “ she exclaimed loudly holding out her hand before tackling him in a big hug.
Gem was overcome with a sense of relief as she hugged her brother. All of the stress and grief she’d been under seemed to ease now that he’d agreed. It wasn’t a permanent victory, he wasn’t planning on staying for long, but it’d be enough for now. His hesitancy was understandable given everything.
“Just think of it as another one of our secret projects we’d dream up when we were kids”
He laughs at her insistence “I’m already going Gem, you can stop trying to sell me on this insane idea of yours.”
“To bad” she shoved his shoulder lightly with her hand. “We both know I’ll be doing most of the work anyways. You’ll be too busy chasing chickens and making friends. “
“Riiight, sure I will. “ Truth be told he was a little excited. This wasn’t something he really wanted but he was going to spend some time with his sister.
Proper quality time with few distractions from their busy everyday lives. She’d made several good points in her arguments and he hated to admit it. It’d been forever since he’d had any proper time off to enjoy himself. To slow down and enjoy the world around him.
They would be okay, they’d be sad for a while, but eventually they’d be fine. He’d go with her and help her pack up some things. They’d enjoy the country side together, get some fresh air and all would be well. Then the he’d return to their lives.
Work would understand, it was a personal tragedy and he couldn’t leave Gem on her own. Yes, she was an adult; but she was still his baby sister.
He sat back on the couch with a sigh “When do we leave? “
“In about a month?” that seemed like enough time to wrap up any loose ends. He nodded in agreement accepting her terms. Jellie took the chance to climb into his lap reassuring him that he was making the right decision.
“Hey Gem? “ he gave her a side eye picking up a cookie from the table.
“Yes Scar?”
“Next time bring peanut butter cookies.” She laughed shaking her head at him before agreeing. No more stale jam cookies, she could work with that.
It wasn’t the perfect agreement, there were bound to be more conversations about it. But Gem didn’t care, for now she had won.
She was going to back to Hermit Valley and taking Scar with her. It’d be a lot of work and they’d need a lot of patience. But maybe they’d both be better for it.
At least she hoped so.
“Can I stay over tonight? “ she looked hopefully at her brother.
“Of course Gem, you don’t even have to ask. “ she smiled to herself eating a cookie everything was going to be just fine.