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16
Twenty Years Later
Faith
No matter how hard you try to move on with your life, you can never get over some things.
Stuck to the corner of my mirror like it was the day I left, the photograph of me and Dom at our last high school dance smiled back at me. For the third time since I came home yesterday, I was in tears over him. Still, I just couldn’t bring myself to put it away.
I realized I had a whole lot of fence-mending ahead of me. I’d kept an eye on Jason and Carolyn on social media over the years, but I never worked up the courage to hit send on those messages I typed out.
One year turned into another, and I got busy building a new life for myself. Then, one day, I looked up and ten years had passed, and I just figured they wouldn’t be interested in hearing any of my excuses. So, I waited another decade to be sure I’d really sealed my fate with them.
It took a lot of counseling and medication to unpack all those worthless feelings I left with. But I was still heartbroken for the little girl who used to live here and the mess she left behind.
My hands flapped at my face, and I blew air into my eyes to dry them as I took one step back to look myself over. “For criminy’s sake, Faith. It’s been twenty years. It’s time to let all that go.”
Sitting at the edge of the bed I slept in as a child, I bent over to put on my designer open-toed heels I spent half my last paycheck on to celebrate my new job.
I was a different person than the one who left this room last time, and from this grown-up woman’s perspective, the whole world was less terrifying.
The house I once was so embarrassed by was now a treasure chest of happy memories. Smiling at the tiny crack in the window’s corner, I conjured up the image of Dom climbing through it to hold me until I went to sleep when I was too scared.
There was a time when Dad and I only passed each other in the kitchen when he came home from work and I left for school each morning. But he retired from the old quarry six months ago, so he had a few minutes to make sure I got a cup of coffee to take with me. “Good luck today, Faithy.”
I kissed his cheek and picked my folded-over pink fitted blazer off the back of the chair. “Oh, thanks. But I already signed the contract.”
After I worked the sleeves over my arms, I pulled my hair free from my collar. “So, it’s more a meet and greet than an interview.”
He curled his lips under as he dug behind his ear and leaned into the kitchen sink. “Yeah, but...” His hand flipped away as he sighed. “You’re bound to run into some folks you used to know, and I’m sure there’ll be lots of questions.”
I reached for the cup and hooked my purse over my arm. “It’s okay. I’m ready for that.” Tugging the door open, I spun around to wave at him as I backed outside. “Love you. See you later.”
Walking to my dream car I paid cash for when I sold my business a few weeks ago was cool and all. But it was nothing close to my excitement when Dad and Dom pulled the tarp off the old one they fixed up for my eighteenth birthday. Glancing back in the rearview mirror at the ghosts from the past in the garage windows, I kissed my fingers. “I hope you’re happy wherever you are, Dom.”
As soon as I turned left onto the road into town, I found the playground up on my right and my foot slid off the gas pedal for a moment as I spaced out a bit.
A little girl at the fence waved at me as my car trickled by, and I wiggled my fingers back at her. “Aren’t you a cutie pie?”
I was glad to see someone cut down that old scary tree, leaving only a stump behind for the kids to take turns jumping off of. But even gone, it was still a constant reminder that I’d thrown away the greatest thing that ever happened to me. “What an idiot you are.” Happy, colorful drawings lined the elementary school windows, and I whimpered as I sped by them. “Your kids would have been close to starting high school by now.”
Though I worked at one of the biggest healthcare facilities in the country until last month, preparing myself to step inside this tiny four-floor building had my heart fluttering and my hands freezing like I’d never set foot in a hospital. “Pull yourself together.”
As I inched along the parking lot, I pulled my standard old lip balm from my bag and swiped it across my bottom lip. “No one will probably even remember you, anyway.” I dropped the tube back into my bag and pulled into the first spot I came to. “Hardly anyone knew who you were back then.”
Perfumed with blooming jasmine, tiny white petals floated over me as I walked up the sidewalk.
The glass doors parted for me, and I stopped to pick the flowers from my hair in the gift shop window until a man with silver streaks at his temples came into view beside me. “Miss Bennett?”
I peeked over my shoulder and smiled at him as I turned around and held out my hand. “Mister Stryker?”
Immediately grabbing it, he flicked his eyebrow at me and urged me toward the elevators. “It’s great to meet you finally. How was the drive back home?”
Walking down the hall was like flipping through the yearbook on my bookshelf. So, when the lightbulbs clicked on my old classmates’ heads as we passed them, I gave each face a nod or a smile. “Very long. So, I’m glad I never have to leave again.”
He leaned over to push the silver up button. “Are you getting settled in okay?”
We both peeked up at the lights to pass the time as I shrugged back at him. “I should have just paid somebody to load and unload everything for me, honestly. My back is killing me.”
