Page 4 of Say Something
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“Want to talk about it?” Melissa asked once we’d said goodnight to mom and dad and retired to our shared childhood bedroom. There were plenty of rooms in the house, but Melissa and I had always shared a room, even when we grew out of it. She had a house on the other side of town, but she insisted on spending my first night back in Oak River with me. She was truly the best sister. The better sister.
Younger than me by one year, Melissa had followed in our father’s footsteps and gone to college for journalism. Our family had owned the local newspaper for generations, and she was currently a staff reporter. I was sure that when Dad eventually retired, she would take his place as Editor in Chief. She would have earned it, too, having started out on the bottom rung of the ladder as a clerk, running errands for anyone who needed anything. She’d fallen in love with the hustle and bustle of the newsroom back then—as much as Oak Ridge hustled and bustled—and I wasn’t surprised when she’d chosen it for her career.
“I was just surprised to hear his name,” I told her the partial truth. Sure, I hadn’t heard Danny’s name spoken aloud since our divorce proceedings, but it wasn’t his name that shocked me. It was the fact that he washere,in Oak River. He’d wanted to get out of here as badly as I had, more so even. He had his sights set on big things, like coaching college football somewhere amazing.
We’d had so many dreams back then…our whole lives ahead of us.
“Surprised he’s back?”
“Yeah,” I admitted, burrowing further under the covers of my old twin bed.
“I heard he’s coaching at the high school.”
I loved my sister...I missed her...but I really wished she’d stop talking. It was hard enough for me to stop thinking about Danny on a good day, never mind after having this bomb dropped on me. What were the chances he and I would both end up back home at the same time? Some would have said it was fate bringing us back together…kismet. I didn’t know about all that. I thought it was simply a coincidence. Not even a purely random coincidence since this was where our families were.
“That’s nice,” I responded, knowing I wouldn’t get away with not acknowledging her.
“Is it?” she asked.
“Sure,” I said, and I meant it. I didn’t wish any harm on Danny. Quite the opposite. I just wasn’t ready to bump into him around town. I thought I’d have a few more years before running into him,if ever.It took a long time (and a lot of therapy) to bring me back to the land of the living, and that was in a world where Danny no longer existed. Now we existed again in the same place, and I wasn’t quite sure how I felt about that.
“I also hear he’s still single.”
I let out a sigh. Having a journalist for a sister wasso much fun. Maybe if I ignored her now, she’d think I was asleep and shut up.
“He’s renovating his uncle’s old place.”
Maybe not.
“Melissa!”
“What?”
“Can we please go to sleep? I had a long drive today. I’m tired. And I don’t want to talk about my ex-husband.”
Now it was her turn to sigh. “Whatever. We’ll talk tomorrow when you’re less cranky.” Her bed creaked as she turned over; just like it had when we were kids; it brought me an odd sense of peace as the blankets rustled and then quieted.
“Not likely,” I muttered under my breath, not quite ready to let her have the final word.
“Oh, it’s happening, sister. I’ve given you years of peace and quiet. Time’s up.”
I rolled onto my back again and stared up at the ceiling. Melissa wouldn’t relent. I knew that. I’d be facing the music sooner or later. Might as well have been sooner.
My family had given me space after the divorce. Mostly because I’d stopped speaking to them long before then, and they’d gotten tired of being ignored or hung up on. After weeks of their calls being sent to voicemail, emails unreturned, and knocks unanswered…they finally stopped trying. Not that I could blame them. They knew I was alive, I’d sent out the bare minimum, “I’m okay” texts, and I was sure Danny updated them before we divorced. So there was really nothing left for my family to do but wait. I guess they’d had faith that I’d come around.
Eventually I made contact and apologized for distancing myself, but it took a while for things to get back to normal…or to a new normal, rather. And even so, our relationship was still long distance. They forgave me, because that’s what family did. They forgave you for your moments of weakness and selfishness and helped you move forward. That’s what I was supposed to be doing here in Oak River. Moving forward.
But now a big piece of my past was back, and I didn’t know how to handle that.
“I can’t believe you guys get to work on a farm all summer,” I said, taking in the wide open space that was Danny and Dean’s Uncle Pete’s farm. It never ceased to amaze me that there was property like this just outside the suburban streets of Oak River.
“It’s not all it’s cracked up to be,” Dean whined. “Farm work is tough.”
I had no doubt about that. The massive barn housed several horses and there were also chickens. Uncle Pete had some crops, too. Corn and wheat. I didn’t know what went into running a farm, but if their uncle needed the help of his nephews and my brothers, I imagined it was a lot of work.
“We should go to the river and go swimming after this,” Danny suggested. I watched a drop of sweat fall from his brow to his bare chest, then run all the way down until it was absorbed by his pants.
