Read Online Where Petals Fall by Melissa Foster - Free Book Online

of her regression. From the time Sarah was born, Brian had changed her diapers, sung to her, even read to her at all hours of the night when she couldn’t sleep. It was only during her regression that Sarah had fallen out of her father’s good graces. If only Junie could figure out what had sparked the change—what caused her happy daughter to reject those around her? Sarah’s rejection had ignited a negative reaction from Brian. He no longer doted on Sarah. He’d pulled away from their daughter, and Junie knew that it was caused by the way Sarah had pulled away from him. Maybe she would answer the questionnaire, if only to get some answers herself.
    “Ruth.”
    Junie turned at the sound of her father-in-law’s voice and watched Peter Olson embrace her mother.
    He turned to her. “Junie, I’m so sorry.” He pulled Junie close.
    Junie had known Peter all her life. Before Ellen had disappeared, their house had been like a second home to Junie; her parents had been a second family. Her memories of Peter included him arriving late in the evening, clad in a suit and carrying a thick briefcase, or holed up nightly in his office, which she could see from her bedroom window. She had vague memories of him talking about Brian’s life as if it were a given: bright future, Ivy league, scholarship, lawyer. It wasn’t until she was older that she became aware of the discrepancy in how Peter hovered over Brian and nearly ignored Ellen.
    As a little girl, Junie couldn’t understand how Susan—Ellen’s mom—could have divorced Peter and left Brian and the East Coast altogether. She wondered if Susan was mad about how Peter treated Ellen, and she wondered how a mother could leave when her daughter was missing, like she was giving up hope for her daughter’s return. Susan had moved to Washington State to start a new life, and other than on Junie and Brian’s wedding day, Junie had never seen her mother-in-law again. Now, as an adult, she understood that the painful reminders must have been too much to bear. Junie drew her eyebrows together. Come to think of it, Junie found it weird that no one else had left the area—her parents, Peter, the other neighbors. Wouldn’t she have moved, if only to protect her own daughter from a lingering threat?
    Brian shook his father’s hand. Junie bristled at the cold exchange, wondering where their love had gone. After losing a daughter and sister, you’d think they’d want to hold on to each other at all costs, but for all of their adult life, this odd dichotomy of a relationship had existed—they barely spoke, much less exchanged pleasantries or warmth. They saw each other two or three times each year, and one would think that they could muster a hug now and again. Brian had been the smart, athletic one with so much promise that it gleamed from his father’s eyes. The resemblance between Peter and Brian was remarkable—same dark hair and thick eyebrows, same narrow waist and broad shoulders. The coldness between them marred their good looks.

    Junie sat before the grave site, her eyes swollen and red, a mound of crumpled tissues in one hand, her mother’s hand in the other. She stared at her father’s casket, remembering a much different memorial—Ellen’s. She pulled her sweater across her chest, locking out the chill of the brisk morning air. This morning was very similar to the morning of Ellen’s memorial so many years ago. Junie remembered the lines of cars, parents, and children as far as the eye could see, gathered to say goodbye to Ellen’s empty casket.
    This wasn’t Ellen’s memorial, and Junie was no longer a seven-year-old. She was a grown woman, a mother herself, and she couldn’t make any more sense of the death of her father than of the disappearance of her young friend. She turned, recognizing faces of students who had been in her father’s fifth grade science class and other teachers. Deputy Lyle sat just behind Selma and Phil, their faces drawn, Selma’s