31. Beth
Beth
It was my last night in Randall. Mom had invited me over for dinner to celebrate my ‘new and exciting adventure,’ as she called it. It was only the three of us at their kitchen table, and it was perfect.
Her roasted chicken filled the air around us, and now that sweet corn was in season, she had it boiling on the stove. In true farm-wife fashion, she had more food than the three of us could eat in a week, but I knew it made her happy.
This was her happy place—feeding the people she loved. And soon, I’d be going to mine.
I was thrilled with the opportunity to take over the shops, and I was already planning on implementing some ideas I’d gotten from my summer class and working with my professor.
When I had brought up the changes to Mary, she agreed and didn’t take offense.
Instead, she insisted that I’d be doing the right thing for me and that what was most important.
As we waited for the food to finish, I felt this excitement deep within, yet, at the same time, a sadness about who I was missing.
When I saw Johnny last week, I froze. I turned on the business version of myself to tune out the emotion that bubbled under my skin.
I shouldn’t have been surprised to see him there, but I also wasn’t expecting it.
Later, when I mentioned it to Megan, she had a smirk on her face that I didn’t fully understand. But the more I prepared to move back, the more I couldn’t imagine being in Port St. Clair without seeing him every day.
The sun lowered in the sky, and it shone over the trees along the back field behind the house. I took a sip of the chilled wine my mom had opened to celebrate and tried to stifle a yawn.
I was excited, but the emotional toll of all the changes was making me exhausted, wishing I had more of an outlet.
Ding-dong.
I looked across at my parents who shrugged at me. No one rang the doorbell out here. The closest neighbor was half a mile down the road, and it was a Tuesday evening. It made no sense.
“Why don’t you go answer it?” My dad nodded at me.
My mom smirked behind him, and I side-eyed her as I made it to the front door.
When I saw the tall, rugged man in jeans standing behind it, everything rolled in slow motion.
I blinked.
Then I looked over my shoulder at my parents, who I could see down the hall in the kitchen, and my mom waved for me to go outside.
As I stepped onto the porch and closed the door behind me, I took in a deep breath, admiring the man in front of me. Almost identical to how he’d looked our first meeting, he wore his dark jeans, gray t-shirt, and a trucker hat. The Johnny uniform.
“Hi,” I said, feeling my ears burn as I took him in, standing on my parents’ porch. “What are you doing here? How did you get here?”
“Well, I drove.” He peeked around me, and we both saw the silhouettes of my parents standing in the kitchen, watching us. “You up for a walk?”