“Listen, my mom wants to have lunch with you one day next week. I’m not going to be there, because she made me promise. So, pick a day, and I’ll be banished to the restaurant.”
She purses her lips and looks over my shoulder.
“Okay, I’ll call her, because I like your mom. You, I can do without.” She says.
“Goes both ways,” I say and smile at her, before turning and making my way back into town.
Before heading home, I make a stop at the Farmer’s Market and get the items my mom asked me to pick up. I know I have been away too long, because I have forgotten just how fast news travels in this town.
“Why the hell did Brynn throw not one, but two kiwis at you today in town?” My mom meets me on the porch. This tells me she has been waiting by the window for me to show up. She has always done this, when I’m in trouble.
“I don’t know, Mom. Maybe, because I was breathing.” I try to joke, as I head inside the cape cod style home.
“Well, I told you to fix things with that girl and not make it worse!” She hits me with the dishtowel in her hand.
“I’m trying, Mom, but all of this won’t be fixed in one day. It will take time. She needed to throw the kiwis, so I just let her.” I shrug, trying to ignore how ridiculous this all sounds.
“Did you tell her I want to have lunch with her?” She says her voice still irritated.
“Yes, she agreed and said she’d call you to set it up. I promised I wouldn’t be there, so just let me know when, and I’ll spend the day in the kitchen at one of the restaurants.” I say.
“Good, good.” Mom pauses, lost in thought. “She really threw two kiwis at you?” She asks, and when I turn to look at her, she’s fighting a smile.
“Yep, just like I taught her, too. One to the forehead, and one to the shoulder.” I rub my shoulder, like it hurts.
That’s when my mom loses the battle and busts out laughing so hard, that she barely makes it to the dining room chair, before she collapses.
“That girl was always passionate. There’s a fine line between love and hate, dear. You will do good to remember that.” She says, when she finally calms down, and then stands to put the produce away.
I head to my room. I planned to stay in the space above one of the restaurants and turn it into a bachelor pad, but my mom guilted me into moving home and spending some time with her. She said the house is too big for just her. I think my mom knows I’ll give her anything she wants right about now.
I walk into my childhood room, which thankfully, my mom had redecorated. It’s no longer full of all the things that remind me of Brynn mixed in with photos of my dream culinary school and car posters. Now, it’s a respectable nature green guest room that I find calming.
I sit down at the desk, intending on going over the books again from the restaurants, but I find myself on the Sunset Inn’s social media page, hunting for any photo of Brynn that I can find.
Guests have tagged her in them, and she’s shared some of her and Lin. My favorites are last season of her around the evening bonfire with guests. I continue scrolling, until I end up two years back, and I’m thankful to not find a single photo of her and another guy.
I don’t know why, but that gives me some relief to think there hasn’t been anyone, since me. I could ask around in town, but the last thing I need, is it getting back to her that I’m asking about her. Or worse yet, anyone in town getting any ideas about us and trying to stick their nose in it. No, thank you.
I’m not sure how I’m going to fix things between us. I did screw it up pretty badly, when I left the way I did it, and then, got upset that she didn’t come with me. We barely spoke, when I came home for her parents’ funeral. By then, she had completely shut down, and I can’t blame her. At least, she let my mom and dad help her through it all. They kept me up-to-date, and I craved any little detail they would toss my way.
It shouldn’t have taken me over five years to come back, and hopefully, I’m not too late to make this right. I will fix this, and not only, because my mom asked.
Chapter 3
Brynn
On the way to Jasper’s mom’s house, I start to wonder, if I can get out of this meeting. Lin doesn’t need me, because Kade hasn’t been as much of a diva, as we were expecting, but Mrs. Adams doesn’t know that. Or I can say a pipe burst in a guest room. No, she’d send someone over to help fix it.
Each time I have an idea to get out of lunch, I know she has a way to take care of it. So, as I pull into her driveway, I’ve resigned myself to the lunch.
The town is a bit busier today, as everyone is still talking about the bridge that was washed out in the storm the other day. The bridge is our one way on and off the island. The town is split, as some are happy we are isolated from the mainland for a bit, and the other half are pissed they can’t get off the island.
Supply wise we are fine, and we have a medical clinic if needed. Anything else major, the coast guard will airlift the person out. The county is working to get the bridge mess cleaned up and assess what can be reused.
This means Kade is trapped here awhile longer, too. Oh, joy. Poor Lin. I sigh and glance up at the house in front of me.
I have so many memories at this house. Dinners with his family, spending time together, when his parents were working, study groups meeting here, and make out sessions in this driveway. They all assault me, as I stare at the classic white Cape Cod house with its black gabled roof, dormers, and shingle siding.