Page 7 of The Tomorrows After You
Chelsea Rhodes had been my best friend in high school and the only person I missed when I left town. Guilt scratched at me for how we’d lost touch over the years. I watched her life progress over social media. She’d invited me to her bridal shower, her wedding, her baby shower, but I’d opted to send expensive gifts instead.
And now here she stood in front of me with a baby on her hip and a toddler in her shopping cart. She looked the same, only older, a bit paler, and very tired.
“Chelsea, you have no idea how glad I am to see you!”I hugged her like a lifeline. The smell of her shampoo brought me back to all the nights we snuck out of our houses and met up to smoke cigarettes and drink cheap beer in the shed of the water tower.“Oh my, is this Amelia?”I put a hand on the toddler’s shoulder.“She’s so big!”
Chelsea laughed nervously.“Um, this is Olivia. Amelia is seven now. She’s in ballet class. And this is Erin.”She rubbed her nose against the baby in her arms.“We’re doing a little girl’s shopping until Amelia gets done.”
A pang of guilt struck me. She had aseven-year-old? How was that possible?
“Wow…” I exasperated. “That’s so—”
“Sorry, honey, this declined.”
I spun around where the red-cheeked woman held out my credit card. I frowned at her.“Can you try it again?”
“I tried it twice already. It says to call the bank.”She offered a timid glance.
I dug through my purse for my debit card and slid it over to her before returning my gaze to Chelsea.
“I’m so glad you’re the first person I ran into. This whole trip has been one headache after another.”
Chelsea pouted at me.“What brings you—”
“Excuse me, sorry, this one declined too.”
I turned around to face her. What was going on?
“That’s… impossible.”I pulled out my phone and swiped to find my banking app.
“Here you go, Edna.”Chelsea handed a fifty-dollar bill to the woman, and I smiled with gratitude.
“I’m sorry, my bank must have frozen the cards. I’ll pay you back, I’ve got cash in the car—”
She waved at me dismissively.“Please, you suppliedallthe booze and nicotine in my teenage years. Bill’s working the night shift tonight; you should come over after dinner to catch up.”
My spirits lifted a beat.“I’d love to. Where are you living?”I asked.
“Oh, same place.”I raised my eyebrows.“Mom and Dad retired to Savannah and sold us the house for a dollar.”
“Oh,”I said, offering a supportive nod.“That’s cool.”She still lived in her two-bedroom childhood home? With three little girls?
She pressed her lips together in a thin smile.“I better get these girls in the car before meltdown o’clock.”
I wasn’t sure what that was but I gave her a hug and thanked her again for picking up my tab.
AsI got back in my car, I scrolled through my email and, sure enough, my accounts were frozen for fraud suspicion. The irony of American National Bank not recognizingGodot, West Virginia.
I had a handful of hundred-dollar bills stashed in my glove compartment. That would have to last until I got a hold of a human being. My fingers perched over the 1-800 number but froze when two voices chattering on the park bench arose a few feet away from me. I leaned toward the open passenger window.
“Is it true the Asher boy is dating Katie Plainbottom? I heard she’s over at his house every night.”
“No, no. She told me in church that she’s trying to help him get back on his feet. She even got her dad to hire him at his auto shop. That girl’s always taking on too much. I don’t knowhowshe can stand to spend so much time with that man. I told her to be careful.”Disdain radiated off the woman who shook her head, out of the corner of my eye.
“I never thought I’d see the day that Riot Asher showed his face back here.”I pulled out my small notebook, scribbling notes down.
Katie Plainbottom.
Her name sounded familiar, and I was fairly certain she was in my grade, but if she was who I thought she was, we never crossed paths.
