eyes. Aunt Jan can always tell what’s going on with me. She and I are too much alike to hide my feelings from her.
“It’s so good to be home and to see you,” I tell them, but it sounds fake. It feels fake. I am glad to see them, but I don’t want to be here.
I spot my suitcase rounding the corner of the conveyer belt and lug it off. Mom hooks her arm in mine and we stroll to the exit. “Merrick said you needed to relax and unwind, so he booked the three of us spa treatments for tomorrow morning. Wasn’t that nice?”
I clench my teeth and smile. “Sure was.”
Aunt Jan scrunches her brows, silently questioning. I shake my head, not wanting to discuss anything right now, especially in front of my mom. She’ll become the protective mother hen, and you’ll become enemy number one if she knows I’m home because you suck at relationships and won’t communicate with me. If she knows you think I’m crazy because I believe in ghosts.
I can’t believe this is what’s come between us. After
everything
we’ve been through, it’s a ghost that’s tearing us apart?
Irrational
really is the right word for it.
“Do you need to call Merrick and let him know you got in safely?” Mom asks, starting the car and pulling out of the parking space in the airport lot.
“I will in a bit.” I’ll let you stew and wonder if I’m going to call at all. Maybe I’m punishing you. Maybe I just can’t hear your voice right now. Maybe I’m being stubborn. I don’t care.
“I ran into Shannon at the supermarket last night and let her know you’d be home. She said she’d call you.” Mom looks at me in the backseat through the rearview mirror, then gives Aunt Jan a concerned look.
“Your mom’s worried,” Aunt Jan says.
Mom clucks her tongue and flips on her turn signal. “I’m not worried.”
“Shannon said you two don’t talk anymore.” Aunt Jan shrugs, always the one to be blunt.
“I’m just worried that you’ve cut all ties to your old life,” Mom says, smiling like it’ll make her message come across better. “You’re so caught up with your new life now, and it hasn’t been that long. What if something happens? Who will you have?”
“Other than us,” Aunt Jan says. “You’ll always have us.”
“I know I will.” I scoot closer to the window, hoping to hide from Mom’s prying eyes in the mirror. “I’ll call Shannon and see if she wants to get a drink tonight.” That’s all I’m willing to discuss on this topic. It hits a little too close to home, and my nerves are way too raw to deal with Mom’s and Aunt Jan’s feelings on the subject.
It seems I’m the only one who isn’t seeing the end coming near. I’m the only naïve one blinded by love.
*
“Are you sure you don’t hate me?” Shannon runs her finger around the rim of her strawberry margarita collecting sugar, then sticks it in her mouth.
“No, I don’t hate you. It’s just hard when you say you don’t understand how I can be so wrapped up in Merrick and his life.” I break a tortilla chip in half and drop it on the small plate in front of me. I have zero appetite.
“Well, I don’t. I get that you love him, but it all happened so fast. You didn’t take the project manager job he offered, and the next thing I know, you’re down there and you don’t come back. You don’t talk to me about it. I don’t know how the hell it happened. I’m your best friend, and you pretty much cut me out of your life.”
“I didn’t cut you out of my life. You came down for the opening celebration.” The memory of walking in on you with Riley and Jesse flashes in my mind. How you and I watched. How she knows we did.
I grab my sangria and take a deep drink from the straw, averting my eyes from Shannon.
“But you disappeared that weekend. Merrick said you went to his dad’s house, and the next thing I know, you call me from there and you’re upset but you won’t tell me what’s going on. What am I supposed to do,
“It’s so good to be home and to see you,” I tell them, but it sounds fake. It feels fake. I am glad to see them, but I don’t want to be here.
I spot my suitcase rounding the corner of the conveyer belt and lug it off. Mom hooks her arm in mine and we stroll to the exit. “Merrick said you needed to relax and unwind, so he booked the three of us spa treatments for tomorrow morning. Wasn’t that nice?”
I clench my teeth and smile. “Sure was.”
Aunt Jan scrunches her brows, silently questioning. I shake my head, not wanting to discuss anything right now, especially in front of my mom. She’ll become the protective mother hen, and you’ll become enemy number one if she knows I’m home because you suck at relationships and won’t communicate with me. If she knows you think I’m crazy because I believe in ghosts.
I can’t believe this is what’s come between us. After
everything
we’ve been through, it’s a ghost that’s tearing us apart?
Irrational
really is the right word for it.
“Do you need to call Merrick and let him know you got in safely?” Mom asks, starting the car and pulling out of the parking space in the airport lot.
“I will in a bit.” I’ll let you stew and wonder if I’m going to call at all. Maybe I’m punishing you. Maybe I just can’t hear your voice right now. Maybe I’m being stubborn. I don’t care.
“I ran into Shannon at the supermarket last night and let her know you’d be home. She said she’d call you.” Mom looks at me in the backseat through the rearview mirror, then gives Aunt Jan a concerned look.
“Your mom’s worried,” Aunt Jan says.
Mom clucks her tongue and flips on her turn signal. “I’m not worried.”
“Shannon said you two don’t talk anymore.” Aunt Jan shrugs, always the one to be blunt.
“I’m just worried that you’ve cut all ties to your old life,” Mom says, smiling like it’ll make her message come across better. “You’re so caught up with your new life now, and it hasn’t been that long. What if something happens? Who will you have?”
“Other than us,” Aunt Jan says. “You’ll always have us.”
“I know I will.” I scoot closer to the window, hoping to hide from Mom’s prying eyes in the mirror. “I’ll call Shannon and see if she wants to get a drink tonight.” That’s all I’m willing to discuss on this topic. It hits a little too close to home, and my nerves are way too raw to deal with Mom’s and Aunt Jan’s feelings on the subject.
It seems I’m the only one who isn’t seeing the end coming near. I’m the only naïve one blinded by love.
*
“Are you sure you don’t hate me?” Shannon runs her finger around the rim of her strawberry margarita collecting sugar, then sticks it in her mouth.
“No, I don’t hate you. It’s just hard when you say you don’t understand how I can be so wrapped up in Merrick and his life.” I break a tortilla chip in half and drop it on the small plate in front of me. I have zero appetite.
“Well, I don’t. I get that you love him, but it all happened so fast. You didn’t take the project manager job he offered, and the next thing I know, you’re down there and you don’t come back. You don’t talk to me about it. I don’t know how the hell it happened. I’m your best friend, and you pretty much cut me out of your life.”
“I didn’t cut you out of my life. You came down for the opening celebration.” The memory of walking in on you with Riley and Jesse flashes in my mind. How you and I watched. How she knows we did.
I grab my sangria and take a deep drink from the straw, averting my eyes from Shannon.
“But you disappeared that weekend. Merrick said you went to his dad’s house, and the next thing I know, you call me from there and you’re upset but you won’t tell me what’s going on. What am I supposed to do,
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