Mrs. Everything

After Sarah’s death, the girls open a letter Sarah had written them and stored in her dresser. She explains she had cancer and endured chemotherapy; she hadn’t told them since she didn’t want to worry them. Jo knows she would have turned away their help anyway. She left money to her grandkids and jewelry to Bethie, and signed her name with love. Guests at the funeral shared how much Sarah bragged about her girls and grandkids. She showed love in strange ways, the girls know, but they’ll miss her. Jo comments about how she was a hard kid for Sarah, and now she’s finding out what that is like with Lila.

The girls apologize at the same time. Bethie has grown and doesn’t need Jo’s apologies anymore, but they mend their rift. Bethie offers to pay for Jo to go on her trip she missed out on because of her, but she must go alone. Jo refuses initially, then thinks about it.

Jo runs on the local trail every day, and her friend Nonie Scotto, who has tried many diets and wants to lose weight, enlists her help. Jo leads her through running and exercise routines outside. Soon, others join their group with Jo as their fitness leader. Nonie encourages her to charge people money for the fitness group. Jo gets a job with the recreation department through the school where she substitute teaches to charge for her classes. With the help from her daughters, she puts up flyers and gains more clients. Nonie loses weight, is grateful, and spreads the word about Jo.

Over the next few months, Nonie pushes her to make workout videos. With her athletic daughter Missy’s help, she makes the videos and sells many copies. When she asks Dave for his business input, he doesn’t think the videos will sell beyond local areas, since, though she looks great “for a neighborhood lady,” women don’t want to “look like the mom next door […] they want to look like Suzanne Somers” (374). Disheartened, Jo keeps selling her video locally.

One day Dave calls her down to his basement office, where he tells Jo he wants a divorce. When she asks if there is someone else, he replies, “Nonie Scotto” (376). Jo is sad and overwhelmed, but she is mostly relieved to be free.

Bethie hosts her teenage niece Lila for the summer, helping Jo, who seems fed up with Lila’s attitude. While Kim and Missy are away at college, Lila, who is going through puberty, sighs and barely answers questions. Bethie and Harold try to get Lila talking and excited, but she doesn’t pull out of her funk. Bethie worries she’s depressed after her parents’ divorce or has gone through trauma similar to Bethie’s. Now, Dave and Nonie live together down the street, and Jo and the girls live in a condominium on the other side of town. Jo plans to leave after Lila graduates high school. Still, Lila says everything is fine, between school, her friends, and her family.

Bethie and Harold try not to push her to talk. They enroll her in a summer camp, take her out to movies, the arcade, the lake, and more, but nothing seems to open Lila up.

In August, when she’s about to leave, Lila begs to stay with Bethie and Harold instead of going home; she thinks Jo hates her. Bethie assures her Jo loves her deeply. Lila feels ordinary, especially compared to her sisters—Kim, who is talented in drama and science, and Missy, who was always the best athlete—and her grades aren’t anywhere near as good as her sisters’ grades were. She thinks Jo doesn’t love her like her sisters. Lila promises she will cook and clean, so Bethie can fire their employees, but Bethie promises Jo loves her and will always accept her.

The next morning, Lila is missing. Bethie and Harold search and call the police. Bethie has the idea to go to Blue Hill Farm, where she finds Lila. The old commune has become a restaurant/farm, and Bethie thinks about her past, telling Lila the truth about how Jo sacrifices for those she loves. She explains about Uncle Mel, her rape, pregnancy, and abortion, and how Jo gave up on her trip and her dream of writing to help Bethie, then her family. Bethie says Jo saved her. Lila sees her mother in a new light.

In the years after her divorce, Jo moves into an apartment across town from Dave to keep the family close, though she feels distraught. Kim and Missy are in college, and Jo cosigned their loans when Dave couldn’t. Lila broods, scowls, and seems to enjoy very little; from Girl Scouts to dance lessons, Lila quits everything and states that her dad is nicer, Nonie cooks better, and other comments that make Jo feel like a failure. She sends Lila to a therapist, who believes Lila is working through feelings of abandonment and disappointment.

Though she wants to quit, Jo continues teaching her fitness classes to make money. One day after class, Missy arrives. Jo worries Missy is home from college for horrible reasons, but Missy shows her a fitness DVD from Blockbuster called Get Fit with Nonie, which is a copy of Jo’s fitness DVD’s routine; the fitness video is labeled a Dave Braverman Production (401). Due to Dave and Nonie’s hypocrisy and betrayal, Jo breaks down into laughter until they’re asked to leave the store.

With Bethie’s financial help, Jo sues Dave and Nonie for stealing her fitness routine. Since Nonie and Dave don’t know the routine or modifications like Jo, simply copying her earlier video, Jo wins the case with a large settlement. She buys a beautiful home with a pool, like her family always wanted. She feels better, but not fulfilled with Lila still sulking, so Bethie offers to watch Lila in Georgia again. Bethie also encourages her to take her trip she missed, offering money again. Jo declines but finds Shelley’s address. She drives all the way to Colorado, where Shelley welcomes her by saying she never stopped hoping Jo would return to her.