Chapter 2
ISN’T TIME SUPPOSED TO HEAL ALL WOUNDS?
There are only two cars ahead of me at the light waiting to cross the bridge onto the island, a sure sign that the tourist season is over. Summer is great for business at Mom’s shop but is always a pain in every other aspect, especially traffic and crowded beaches.
When the light changes, I touch the gas pedal and ease the compact car across the waterway that separates Four Points Island from the mainland.
The vehicle is new to me, but very much not new in every other way, shape, and form.
I didn’t need a car in the city but knowing I’d need one to get around here, Mom loaned me the money to buy one for the drive home.
I feel like a changed person, coming back home after having lived away for almost six years, but I’m not sure whether I’ve changed for the better.
I’m grateful for all I learned and for the experiences I had—most of them, anyway—but I can’t help feeling like a failure, coming home because I couldn’t make it on my own.
Sure, Mom needed me here, but we both know she wouldn’t have asked if I had been enjoying the successful career I’d always hoped for. To be honest, I think she was throwing me a lifeline with her request, and while I’m grateful, I’m also ashamed to admit that I needed her help.
The music I’m listening to suddenly stops. My phone vibrates with an incoming call, and a name I haven’t seen in a long time appears on the screen. Lacy.
“Hi!” I answer on speaker just as I’m across the bridge.
“Hi, stranger! A little bird told me you were coming home.”
“Your bird must be a world-class stalker because I literally just got back on the island.” Lacy always was the first to know everything that went on around here.
“Sweet! How are you?”
“I’m okay. How are you?”
“Good. I’m excited to see you. I never thought you’d leave the city. I know how much you love it there.”
“Yeah, well, it didn’t love me back.”
“I’m sure that’s not true. Who wouldn’t love you?” Lacy says, reminding me what a kind, positive person she’s always been. I should have stayed in better touch with her.
“I’m looking forward to seeing you, too. Maybe next week?”
“Sure. After the wedding? I’ll bet you’ll be really busy helping with all the last-minute stuff.”
“From what I understand, it’s just going to be a small ceremony in the park, but yeah, you’re probably right.”
“I’ll get in touch next week. Welcome home, Maddy!”
“Thanks, Lacy.”
There’s a smile on my face for the first time today, and as I pass all of the familiar shops and landmarks, I have the feeling you get when you wrap your favorite sweater around you on a cool, fall evening.
Despite the very mixed emotions I have about coming home, I can’t deny that there’s a sense of comfort here that I’ve never felt anywhere else.
I hold tight to that warm, fuzzy feeling, savoring it as I turn onto the island’s main street, past the kitschy nautical-themed mini-golf course, where my uncle would always take me when he visited.
A little further up is Four Points Island’s best ice cream shop where my team always went after we won softball games, and where Lacy and I hung out watching cute tourist boys in the summer.
The next business I pass is Harding’s Garage and my lingering smile disappears instantly.
The building is bigger now, there’s a flashy new sign out front, and the lot looks freshly paved.
Is it wrong that their apparent success makes me angry?
Why are they doing well, while I’ve been scraping by in a greasy doughnut shop?
Maybe there’s no such thing as karma if the four jerks who at various times teased, tormented, bullied, ignored, and hurt me are living good lives.
I grip the steering wheel tightly and quickly blink to stem the threatening tears. Isn’t time supposed to heal all wounds? How much time will it take to soften the pain accumulated over thirteen years of my life?
Looking back, it almost seems like the Harding brothers plotted a tag team plan for making me miserable.
When I was younger, Adam and Matt were horrible, either teasing me relentlessly or saying and doing all sorts of rude and hurtful things.
I tried to keep my distance from them, but the twins, who were in my grade, were my friends then, and we spent a lot of time together.
Chalk that up to life lessons learned the hard way.
I thought the twins were good guys who just had the misfortune of having the worst older brothers in the world, but ultimately it was the twins, Josh and Jake, who hurt me the most. After that, as if they’d been tagged out, Adam and Matt stopped tormenting me and began purposefully ignoring me in a way that made me feel like I was less than nothing.
I huff out a sigh and, along with it, a small groan of pain.
The Harding brothers were terrible to me, and in a few days, my mom is becoming a Harding by marriage.
If the boys got their lovely personalities from their dad, I fear for my mom, I really do.
And that is another reason I agreed to come home—to keep an eye on the situation and be ready to step in if needed.
Since my mom called with her bombshell news, I’ve thought back over all of my interactions with Mr. Harding, but there weren’t many I could remember.
When I used to play at the boys’ house, he often wasn’t home, working long hours just like my mom did.
Mrs. Harding, who sadly passed away when the twins were in high school, was always there when we were young.
I recall Mr. Harding being very strict and firm with his sons, but never unkind.
In the handful of interactions I had with him, he was always nice to me.
I try to take some reassurance from that fact, and I do trust my mom to make good decisions in general, but I’ve never seen her with a man, and you can’t blame me for being wary about their hasty marriage.
After a deep breath, I let out a long sigh and turn off the main street.
Although I won’t hesitate to intervene if Mr. Harding doesn’t treat my mother well, ultimately it’s her marriage, not mine.
She may be choosing to become a Harding, but that won’t make me one, and after the wedding ceremony, during which I suppose I’ll be forced to spend a few minutes with the four banes of my existence, I intend to see as little of the brothers as possible.
One more turn and I’m approaching the home where I grew up.
The sun is starting to set, but there’s enough light to reveal fresh paint on the house.
The landscaping is looking much tidier than usual, too, and there’s a new tree planted out front.
The driveway is on the far side of the house, so I don’t see all of the vehicles until I’m pulling in.
In addition to Mom’s sedan, there are three pickup trucks in the driveway, all shiny and new-looking, one of them with dealer plates.
After my long drive, I was looking forward to a quiet evening with mom. Instead, it looks like we have company.
Continue reading FOUR Play in the FOUR series collection, volume 1.