Chapter 36
36
Natalia
present
I return to the kitchen once the last of the platters have been brought out. The kitchen island sits empty now aside from a few serving utensils and unopened soda bottles.
“Natalia, thank you so much for your help,” Hayden’s mom says softly from the other side.
“Of course, Mrs. Marshall. Anything I can do to help, please let me know.”
“Oh, honey. Marsha, please.”
A small, humorous smile twitches at my lips.
She grins back, the first I’ve seen since Hayden introduced me to her at the funeral home. “Marsha Marshall. I guess I should have been a bit pickier about who I married, huh? ”
I smile fondly back at her. I can almost see the fresh memory of her husband returning front and center as her smile softens.
“Whew! I think that’s it, Marsh.” We’re interrupted by Rita returning from the dining room as her hand moves to wipe the loose hairs from her forehead. “You must be hungry,” she says to me. “Why don’t you get something to eat? You can sit in here if you don’t feel like mingling with everyone out there.”
The appreciation on my face can’t be more obvious. But my attention is on something else. “Actually, have you seen Hayden?”
“He went to go lie down in his room,” Marsha answers with a weak smile.
“Oh.”
“It’s up the stairs. Second room to the right.”
I lower my head, nodding as both she and Rita turn to leave the kitchen and enter the packed living room. A hint of hesitancy causes my body to pause, making me brace the countertop instead of walking out of the kitchen. Maybe Hayden wants to be alone. Maybe he doesn’t need me to invade his space and instead wants to linger in his grief alone so he can do so without feeling like he has to hold back or hide. But then that doesn’t feel right. It doesn’t feel right to let him work through this alone, pushing aside those who offer their condolences, including his mother’s warm embrace. I need to be there for him when he’s ready to open the floodgates and let everything spill.
“Natalia?”
When I turn in the direction where my name was called, I come face to face with Jenny Chen. She looks like she hasn’t aged a day. The only difference is the dark-haired toddler wearing a dress shirt with a teeny-tiny bow tie perched on her hip.
“Oh my god. It is you!” she exclaims. She steps toward me, pulling me into her for a quick embrace before her baby protests. Jenny looks at her baby and bends down to retrieve the pacifier that fell from his mouth. “How have you been?”
She turns toward the kitchen sink and runs the pacifier under the faucet before plopping it back into her baby’s mouth.
“Good,” I answer quietly, eyeing the natural and maternal way she wipes off a smear of crusties staining her baby’s cheek.
“I can’t believe you’re here! My husband, Jack, is Greg’s nephew,” she explains. “How did you know Greg?”
My hand bracing the counter grips the hard surface tighter, and I start to tap my thumb along the rounded edge. “Oh, um, I didn’t,” I answer, looking away from her. “I’m here with Hayden.”
She scoffs lightly, then smiles at me with her head tilted to one side as she shifts her baby from one hip to the other. “I knew he had a thing for you,” she says.
“Oh no,” I say, my hands coming up between us, denying her incorrect assumption. “I’m just here as a friend. There’s nothing?—”
She chuckles. “It’s fine.” She waves her hand at me. “High school was such a long time ago.”
I lower my head and settle my gaze on the shiny linoleum floor.
“I didn’t really dwell on it because I was so angry but when he got into that fight with Alex Spencer because of you, I knew there was something going on. No matter how much he denied it.”
My brow furrows as I look up to face her. “He what?”
“He walked up to Alex and punched the daylights out of him,” she explains. “It was right after prom.”
I don’t care that I look too curious, too eager. I lean toward her, my eyes serious and pleading for more information. “Did he say why?”
Her own brow scrunches in confusion.
“Why they got into a fight,” I explain .
“Oh,” she says, her hand lifting slightly. “Not really, but I think he mentioned something like Alex fu—messing up.” She looks at her baby, smoothing his hair as if suddenly remembering that he’s there.
I nod.
“Anyway,” she continues. “We broke up after that.”
“You did?”
She nods. “We were so young and so wrong for each other,” she explains. “And…I didn’t want to be second fiddle to anyone.”
“Jenny,” I say, doing my best to sound apologetic, even though I didn’t know all of this happened. “Hayden and I were always just friends. There was never anything going on.”
“I know.” She lifts her hand to graze my arm, giving it an assuring squeeze. “But he saw you as more than that.”
Her baby starts to wail just then, clawing at his mom’s shoulders as he turns to bury his face into her neck. “Oop, someone’s getting a little fussy,” she says, nuzzling her face into her baby’s hair. “I should get him down for a nap.”
“Yeah,” I answer. “It was nice seeing you.”
“You too, Natalia.”