She sighs and lowers herself to sit on the footbridge. Why had she never sent the ring back? It isn’t like she needs it anymore. Chewing on her lower lip, she picks at a splinter sticking up from the wood. Keeping the ring had been—what? A reminder of the mistake so she doesn’t make it again? A sign that she isn’t as over Calum as she hoped she would be six years after she put an end to the relationship.
No, of course not. Calum is over half a decade in the past, and that’s where he will stay once he signs the papers.
A scorching breeze skims across the surface of the large pond, sending ripples to splash against the bottom of the footbridge. Rett watches a small patch of algae as it floats toward her.
Tugging her cell phone from her back pocket, she stares at theNo Serviceon the screen. She’ll have to go into the next town later to check her messages. Maybe Austin has called. She hopes he has; she wants to talk to him, gain some semblance of control oversomething, and what better than to immerse herself in her relationship again?
Rett closes her eyes and thinks back to the day she met Austin. Bright, pleasantly warm, the perfect weather for dawdling in the local botanical garden. She and Manny had met up for their weekly lunch date and found a spot to soak up the sunshine. Manny was the one who pointed out the young man who kept sneaking glances in their direction. Who he was looking at, neither of them knew, but it became clear when, ten minutes later, he ambled over and told Rett she was beautiful. Her cheeks had burned while she tucked a lock of hair behind her ear and thanked him with stuttering words. It was Manny who took the initiative—she had told Austin that Rett was free that Wednesday night.
The first date turned led to a second to ten. Before Rett knew it, six months had gone by and she was moving in with Austin.Her calls to her parents filled with stories of her relationship, of all that she and Austin had seen and done. No one brought up Calum. All her mother and father hoped for was that Austin treated her right.
And he does. He always has.
He hadn’t even questioned Rett’s abrupt and unexpected visit to her hometown. He only smiled, kissed her gently, and told her to have fun planning the wedding with her mother.
Rett swallows against the bitterness rising in the back of her throat. She’s keeping something so monumental from him. She is forcing Manny and her girlfriend Allison to keep the secret that Rett had ever been married before. She’s demanding that no one speak of her ex-husband as if he never existed.
For the past five years, she’s played doting girlfriend to an equally doting boyfriend. The relationship has had its difficulties, but unlike with Calum, she doesn’t run. Rett makes sure they fight to fix the problems. To do their best to be happy with each other. To make the relationship work, no matter what. The thought of losing someone so important to her—again—is petrifying.
She can’t deal with that pain again.
A bird cries out in a tree, one last call before nightfall, and Rett carefully climbs to her feet. Children chase fireflies in yards as she passes, and she smiles to herself with each shriek of laughter. Her old neighbors wave and say “Good evenin’, Miss Loretta” and she says “Good evenin’, Miss Hattie. Good evenin’, Mister John.”
Her mother gives her a sharp look when Rett enters the house just before dinnertime. Rett’s lips curve up in the corners, and she sits on the couch beside Eliza. To her surprise, her dismay, her mother rises to her feet and takes the fifteen steps toward the kitchen. Rett frowns.
“Mama?” She pads after her mother, bare feet scraping against the thin carpet. “Mama, did I do something wrong?”
“No, Loretta.”
Loretta. Rett is only everLorettato her parents when she is in trouble. Looking at her mother, Rett knows. She is in trouble, even if Eliza doesn’t say as much. Rett has made plenty of mistakes—mistakes she can’t take back—but never once has her mother given her a look filled with so much disappointment. Sadness. Anger.
Rett blinks back the burning in her eyes.
“I’m sorry, Mama.”
“Nothin’ to apologize for,” Eliza says shortly; she doesn’t look away from the bag of popcorn she places in the microwave. “You did what you thought was right.”
“But you’re mad at me.”
“I ain’t mad! I’m…” She sighs, hands clenching around the edge of the counter, as the microwave hums in the background. “I’mupset, Retta, that you never came home more’n twice because of it. Because you couldn’t grow up and put it all behind you. You didn’t wanna risk Calum being here when you visited, and your daddy and I were the ones punished for it.”
“I never—”
“I know you never meant to, but guess what. Youdid. That’s exactly what happened. We pretended that Calum never happened, and we were still punished for your actions.”
Rett’s mouth opens, but nothing comes out. Eliza stares for a moment then turns her head, pulling the popcorn from the microwave. Rett closes her eyes when her mother walks past her as if she isn’t there. The television comes to life, and the sounds of an old Western pours from the speakers. Eliza’s nimble finger taps the button on the remote once, twice, then stops. It’s time for her game shows.
Rett stands in the kitchen another beat then heads to the front door. Arguing with her mother is the last thing she wants to do, though she knows they’ll have to revisit the conversation at some point. If not before Rett leaves for Columbus once more, then the near future.
She ignores the flat expression on Eliza’s face as she pushes open the screen door. Without bothering with her shoes, she steps out onto the porch. The crickets fall silent then bursts back into song within a second.
The world oozes by, beautiful in its laziness, while the sun continues its descent. Neighbors sit on their own porches or make their evening treks. The children have begun trickling into their homes; the air fills with the calls of goodnight and promises of tag tomorrow. Rett breathes in the scent of summer night, Mrs. Kessler’s rose bushes, and the faint traces of lavender coming from behind her. A frog croaks somewhere to her left, and grass rustles as it hops along,ribbiting all the way. Stars speckle the sky—not as many as she knows she is coming.
There are always stars to be seen in the Oak Creek night sky.
Footsteps shuffle closer, and Rett sighs as her father ambles up the sidewalk. He slows, frowning, then lowers himself to sit beside his daughter with a low groan.
“Gettin’ too old for this,” he huffs before clasping his hands together on his thighs. “So what’s got you sitting out here by your lonesome?”
