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“Can I see it?” Emma says.
“Just a minute, sweetheart. Mama needs to look at this beautiful creature that wants to marry your sister for a few more minutes.”
Emma looks at me and laughs. I smile back before my eyes zero in on a spot on the wall right above her head, the place where the bullet hole used to be—long patched over, I’m sure.
“That’s a man, not a boy,” she says. “Good for you.”
“Thank you…?”
“He’s gorgeous, Mel. Check him out, Emma.”
She hands my sister the phone and interrogates me some more about James, school, and my life. I tell her I’ve been working as an assistant to one of the top realtors in the city and have a job waiting for me when I complete my classes and get my license in the spring. She acts as though no time has passed, and it’s totally normal that I’ve just shown up here after more than three years. She seems happy about it, even.
In a way, it’s comforting; it puts me at ease. But there’s a part of me that needs her to acknowledge that something’s wrong. Something in the back of my mind starts to itch, and I feel the dead girl picking at the wound.
Emma starts taking pictures with my phone as my mom goes on and on, and my eyes begin wandering again.
My room is the same, but that might be the only thing.
“Mel? Are you listening?”
“Yeah, it’s just…” I take it all in—the dishwasher, the new refrigerator, the dining room table, even the braces. A new flat-screen TV plays MTV in the background; they must have a satellite dish now, too. “This place looks nice.”
“Thank you,” she says.
“Can’t say I never did anything for this family now, can you?” I scoff.
“It’s been three years. Do you really want to do this, Mel?”
Maybe, but not right now. This isn’t what I came here for.
“No,” I tell her.
“I asked how long you were staying,” she says. “Because my company has our annual holiday party tonight, but Emma is performing in The Nutcracker at school tomorrow. We could all go to dinner afterward, too. Wait until you see downtown, Mel. It’s like an actual city now.”
“Yeah,” Emma says. “It’s really cool. And they set up a Christmas market with an ice skating rink. I’ve been three times already.”
“Yeah, maybe,” I say. “But what company? Do you mean the café?”
“No,” she says. “They shut down not long after you left. The building was bought out and converted into condos.”
An uncomfortable feeling settles in my gut. I don’t ask who bought it; I don’t think I’d want to know the answer.
“I work as an administrative assistant at an insurance company,” she says. “It’s nice. We have medical and dental now.”
“That’s good to have,” I say indifferently. “Um, is there coffee?”
“Help yourself,” she says, gesturing at the coffee maker, which is also new. “I need to get going.”
She grabs her purse and kisses Emma on top of her head. “Bye, my love. Have a good day,” she tells her.
“Bye, Mom. Love you,” Emma says.
“Be good to your sister,” she says.
“I will,” Emma replies.
“I know,” Mom says. “I was talking to the big one. What are you…planning on doing today anyway? Are you planning on seeing anyone else?”
