“Thanks for that save back there.”
“No problem, Bryan.” I nervously pick at a non-existent piece of fuzz on my shorts.
“Okay, then I guess I’ll see you Monday.” His words are rushed and I can tell he’s just trying to avoid the conversation, but I can’t let him get away that easily. Not this time.
“Wait, Bryan. We need to talk.” He opens his mouth to speak, but I hold up my hand to stop him. “Please, just let me finish.” He nods and I try to gather my thoughts.
“There’s so much that I need to say to you, so much that I need to explain.” I pause as my emotions start to get the best of me. “I miss you,” I add quietly.
I’m afraid to look at him. I’m afraid to find what his eyes will reveal about his feelings, so instead of looking at his reaction, I let my stare fall to the ground.
Needless to say, I’m startled when I feel his hand cup my cheek. I lean into his touch and peek up at him. “I miss you too.” His whisper can barely be heard over Emmie knocking on the window to get his attention.
He turns to her and holds up one finger, letting her know that he’ll just be another minute.
Looking back at me, he surprises me when he says, “You’re right. We do need to talk. Can I call you tomorrow night?”
All weekend plans with Mom and Evan fade into the background. “Of course you can.”
His face lights up briefly, but he quickly recovers. “If you still have the same number, I’ll call you after Emmie goes to bed. I don’t want her to get all confused. Okay?” When he clarifies the purpose behind our call, my heart hurts more than a little.
I quickly regain my composure, though. “Yeah, that sounds perfect. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”
Reminding myself that I need to take baby steps and that I need to be patient, helps me grasp onto the fleeting sense of hope that I had when he brushed his thumb lightly across my cheek.
I watch him get into his car and pull out of the parking lot. With a new-found sense of hope, I walk back to the main building of camp and gather my things to go home.
As the evening sun paints the sky a beautiful mix of orange and red, I recall the words that my dad wrote for me nineteen years ago. We’ve loved each other with everything we had. Now, all I need to do is be patient to see if we can get there again.
15
As promised, Mom and Evan are at the house waiting for me when I get home. I made sure they got an extra copy of the key when I moved in. You know, just in case.
There’s a car in the driveway that I don’t recognize. It’s a white Subaru and from the looks of it, it can’t be more than a few years old. I’ve never seen it here before, so when I walk in the door, I call out, “Mom? Evan? Who’s with you guys?” As I round the corner of the hallway that leads into the living room, I quickly shield my eyes as Mom readjusts her shirt and Evan his khaki cargo shorts.
“Oh my God! You two were totally making out!” I peer at them through my fingers.
“Stop it! We were not, Melanie!” Mom’s defensive tone does nothing but make her sound guiltier.
“So that means I can look now?” I spread my fingers into wider slits over my eyes as if I’m watching a scary movie.
That’s essentially what I just walked in on.
“Yes, you can look. Stop it already!” I drop my hand at Mom’s last words, but as she walks toward me something looks off. Recognizing what it is, I laugh.
“Um, Mom? If you weren’t doing anything, can you explain how,” I point at the buttons on her shirt as I count, “three of your buttons are still undone? Or did you just forget to do those this morning?” I put my hand on my hip and pop it to the side.
She quickly turns around to fix the uneven buttons and Evan chuckles softly at being caught red-handed. “It’s good to see you, Melanie. How’s camp working out?”
“It’s great, Evan. I really can’t thank you enough for telling your friend about me. I love it there.” I drop my backpack to the floor and flop on the couch. “The only real pain in the butt is having to walk there and back. It’s not bad, but two miles each way, especially after playing soccer all day with the kids is killer.” I toe my sneakers off and stretch out my legs in front of me. After flexing my toes back and forth a few times, my legs feel a little better.
“So whose car is that out front?” A rather conspiratorial look passes between the two of them, but neither of them says anything right away. “What gives, guys? Spill it already.”
“Well, now that you’re off-campus, we thought it would be nice for you to have your own car,” Mom explains with excitement tingeing her words.
“We?” Another confused look passes between the three of us before Evan speaks up.
“Well, I was the one who actually suggested it. I didn’t like the idea of you walking to and from campus.” Evan scruffs his hand over his face. He seems like he’s searching for the right words. “I would … I mean, your mom would be too worried. So I made the suggestion and we found you a car.”
Once I wrap my head around it, I jump up and clap my hands excitedly. Throwing my arms around Evan’s neck, which I have to get on my tippy-toes to do, I plant a loud kiss on his cheek. “Thank you, thank you, thank you! This is so cool.”
Mom joins us in our little group hug and hands me the keys. “Let’s take it for a spin.”
The three of us spend the next fifteen minutes driving around town and through the campus. Mom’s been here a few times so she kind of knows the lay of the land, but Evan’s never seen more than the parking lot for my old suite. Of course, he’s most interested in the athletic fields.
As we pull back into the driveway, Mom suggests that we eat dinner at “the cute little Italian place across the street.” I’ve avoided going to Bella’s in the month or so since we’ve moved in because it holds too many memories for me. I know Bella will remember me, and I just don’t know if I can deal with having to explain to her what happened. I haven’t seen Bryan’s car parked there since that day he saw me weeding the front flowerbed. I can’t imagine that he gave her the run-down on everything so I’m pretty sure she’ll grill me the second she sees me.
I’m formulating my response to say we should go somewhere else, when Evan chimes in as he rubs a hand over his stomach. “I could definitely go for home-cooked meal with my two favorite girls.” Wrapping his strong arms around me and Mom, he kisses the top of her head. Okay, fine. I guess I’ll have to give in. There’s no denying someone who’s that sweet.
Later that night, we’re sitting at a table that Bryan and I sat at once. This time around, the candles don’t have that same warm glow. The music seems off and the food, while still delicious, doesn’t have the same yum factor that it did when I was eating it from Bryan’s fork. It makes me sad to realize that the magic held within Bella’s came mostly from the magic I felt with Bryan. It just makes me miss him even more.
After we’ve all devoured our lasagna, Bella walks over to our table. I guess I was lucky to have avoided her all night.
Standing to my side, she places her hand on my shoulder and squeezes gently. “Melanie? I thought that was you. Bellisima.” She leans down and kisses my cheek. “You look beautiful. How are you?” Bella rambles on while Mom and Evan smile kindly at her.
I cup my hand over hers at my shoulder. “Mom, Evan, this is Bella, the owner.” The both shake her hand as they tell her how wonderful everything was.
“Oh, thank you, thank you. We’ve been a little short staffed, so I’m sorry if you had to wait.” Bella’s hands twist nervously at the thought that her service was sub-par.