The eloping comment is obviously a jab—that slight bitterness over me running away. I shake my head and mutter, “I doubt I’ll ever get married anyway.”
She looks up. “What? Why would you say that?”
Did I say that out loud?
“I don’t know. It just seems like something too distant to think about.”
A frown tugs at her mouth. Katie pretends to have other things to do in the back of the office. That’s how quickly tension can rise between me and my mother. “How are the applications going? Do you need any help?”
“They’re fine.” I lie. The one to Emory is still incomplete—there’s something holding me back. Five somethings. “I’ve been doing it while helping Jake. He just needs someone to sit next to him and help him muddle though some words.”
Her expression softens. She likes Jake—it’s impossible not to. “I’ve never seen someone work so hard. I hope he passes.”
“Starlee, want to help me carry some stuff back to the storage building?” Katie calls from the back.
“Sure.”
“I’ll lock up,” Mom says.
In the back room, Katie lifts a box of cleaning supplies that came in that day and hands it to me. Then she grabs her own. We head out the back door. It’s early evening, the sun fading and all warmth going with it.
“What’s going on with the college stuff?” she asks when we get to the building. She rests the box on the door and digs around her pocket for the keys.
“Nothing. It’s fine.”
She rolls her eyes and shoves the key in the slot. “You’re not a good liar, Starlee.”
She flips on the light and I follow her in. The interior of the storage building feels even colder than outside. “I’m just not so sure I want to go anymore.”
“To college? At all?” She sounds alarmed.
“I don’t know. Things are just different now. I mean, a year ago I had a different home—a different life.”
“One that didn’t include the wayward sons.”
I laugh at the name. She’s the only one that knows I call them that. Usually it’s just in my head. “There’s that, but they aren’t all of it.”
She starts unloading the box of cleaning supplies, placing bottles and containers on the shelves in an organized manner. “Even I can admit you’ve changed since you got here. You’re not the same person that showed up last summer. I guess it’s not a surprise that your plans for the future have changed.” She takes the box from me. “When are you going to tell your mom?”
“Have you met my mom?” I ask and she laughs in reply. “I’d just kind of planned
on avoiding it. Maybe she won’t notice? I mean, she is busy with this wedding, after all.”
She shakes her head. “Even I know that’s not going to fly.” She adds a few more bottles to the shelf, then stacks the empty boxes on top of one another. “Can I offer you some advice?”
“I’m listening.”
“There’s probably a happy medium in here somewhere. Not going all the way back to the East Coast as well, but still going to college.” Her fingers grip the boxes. “I was a terrible student and never had any desire to leave Lee Vines. It’s my home. It’s like it’s in my blood, but I also know the real reason I stuck around.”
“What’s that?”
“I was scared to leave. I’d been dating this guy for most of high school and I thought we’d just stay here together.” I know her current boyfriend, the park ranger, is new. “His name was David. He was my first—you know, everything. The sex back then was both terrible and amazing. Everything was awkward but the feelings were so real. Raw and edgy.”
I can relate to that. “What happened with you guys?”
“We were immature. He smoked too much weed. Your grandmother gave me that job cleaning at the Lodge, but it wasn’t enough money to support his habit and he was a lazy bastard that didn’t want to work. We finally broke up and he moved down to Fresno or something. Living with some chick that’s paying his bills.”
“Wow.”