Lurlene McDaniel - Goodbye Doesnt Mean Forever

People dont get what they deservegood or bad. Life isnt always so logical, Mrs. Austin, Melissas mother, said.

The rain falling on the just and unjust? Jory asked.

Yes, but regardless, we still have one very real thing going for us. We have hope, and I think thats what separates us from the rest of creation. We get to hold on to hope hope for things not seen.

Jory was moved by Mrs. Austins faith, and she wondered if shed ever feel that way herself. Would she ever come to accept gracefully what she couldnt understand or change?

RL 4, IL age 10 and up

GOODBYE DOESN T MEAN FOREVER
A Bantam Book / August 1989

The Starfire logo is a registered trademark of Bantam Books, a division of Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group, Inc. Registered in U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and elsewhere.

All rights reserved.
Copyright1989 by Lurlene McDaniel.
Cover art copyright1989 by Karen Kolada.
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ISBN 0-553-28007-4
eBook ISBN 978-0-307-77623-5

Published simultaneously in the United States and Canada

Bantam Books are published by Bantam Books, a division of Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group, Inc. Its trademark, consisting of the words Bantam Books and the portrayal of a rooster, is Registered in U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and in other countries. Marca Registrada. Bantam Books, 1540 Broadway, New York, New York 10036.

v3.1_r1

For Rochelle

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

H EBREWS 11:1 (KJV)

Jory Delaney, you cant be serious! What do you mean you dont want to go to Europe with your father and me next month?

Mother, please, give me a break. School starts at the end of August. You wont be back by then and I cant miss the start of my senior year. Besides, I dont feel like exploring ruins and visiting a bunch of moldy castles. Jory faced her mother across the glass-topped table on their patio next to the pool. Her breakfast lay cold and untouched, and butter melted in a crystal dish in the rapidly warming Florida morning.

Well, thats the silliest thing Ive ever heard. Mrs. Delaney tossed her pink linen napkin onto the colored flagstones and pushed her chair backward, making it screech. You have the opportunity of a lifetime here, and youre throwing it away. Missing your first week of school cant be that big a deal.

Well, it is to me.

Mrs. Delaney dismissed Jorys words with a flip of her hand. Your father and I work very hard. This is the first non-working vacation weve planned in years and you dont want to go. That is such an insult.

Jory gritted her teeth, biting back the hot words she longed to throw at her elegant blond mother. Sure, mother, she thought sarcastically. Just a cozy little family threesome. After all the years theyd shuttled off on their real estate deals, leaving Jory under the care of some anonymous housekeeper, now they wanted her to drop everything and take off with them.

You and Daddy go to Europe, Mother. Ill be perfectly happy to stay here and start school on time. And Im sure Mrs. Garcia will see to it that I dont starve to death. She emphasized her retort with a toss of auburn curls.

Well, dont worry. We will. Mrs. Delaney said coolly.

Fine. Then its settled.

Silence hung between mother and daughter. The bright blue water of the pool sparkled with the sun. On the far side of the patio a sprinkler spun, tossing water over boxwood and summer flowers. Jory, your refusal really burns me up. You wont be but a week late in starting school if you come with us. Whats a week compared to a monthlong tour of Europe?

It wasnt over. I told you, Jory said with an exasperated sigh. Europe and old castles and quaint cottages arent my idea of a good time.

And just what is? Going to public high school with a bunch of riffraff? Honestly, Jory, wed send you to Tampas best private school if youd say the word. And Briarwood School for Young Women doesnt start classes until after Labor Day, so that would you give you plenty of time to get home before school begins if thats whats stopping you from coming.

The word is no, Mother. I like Lincoln High. She stabbed a strawberry from a selection of fresh fruit arranged on a crystal platter. She didnt want her mother to dredge up that old argument about Jorys choice of public over private school.

Your father and I have worked very hard for all this. Mrs. Delaney gestured around the patio and yard, which were carefully secluded behind an eight-foot security fence. Money is security, Jorynot a curse. You certainly have enjoyed its benefits so far. A new convertible, the latest fashions, a home in the most exclusive area of Tampa

Unable to stand her mothers count-your-blessings-speech one more time, Jory jumped up. Im going for a swim. She tugged at the French-cut leg of the green suit that hugged her body like a latex glove.

Its that Austin girl, isnt it? Her mothers accusatory tone caused Jory to stop short. Ever since she came down with cancer last year, thats all youve been concerned about.

Jory suddenly became calm and said, Melissa Austin is my best friend and has been since the fifth grade. And yes, Im concerned about her. Even though her leukemia is in remission, she isnt cured. Shes the bravest person Ive ever known. Jory wanted to say more. She wanted to remind her mother that it was Melissa who opened her home to Jory over the years when her own parents had been too busy earning money to be available. In some ways, Jory even thought of Mrs. Austin as her second mother.

Mrs. Delaney arched one perfectly shaped eyebrow and tapped long manicured red fingernails against the glass tabletop. Loyalty is an admirable quality, she said, but theres more at stake here than old friends and returning to high school on time, isnt there? Face it, Jory, you arent exactly headed toward scholastic immortality in your schoolwork. Have you followed up on any of those college applications your father wanted you to?

No.

And why not? Most of your friends have already finished their applications and you havent even started. Once you graduate next June, just what do you plan to do with yourself?

Jory tipped her chin, her green eyes as cool and hard as her mothers diamond rings. Maybe Ill run off with the gardener and get married.

Thats not funny, Jory. You have moneylots of it in a trust fund. Youre seventeen and without purpose or direction. If you wont choose a college and you refuse to go to Europe this summer, what are you going to do? We wont have you sitting around when theres so much at stake in your future.

Jory was so angry she was shaking, but she knew that she couldnt speak rationally. Her mother rose in one fluid motion, her floor-length silk lounging robe billowing around her. That was an unnecessary and tacky comment about marrying the gardener. Use some discretion. Dont make people gossip. We have an image to maintain in Tampa, you know.