“You okay?” I asked.
She gestured for me to wait for a second and finally launched herself up.
“I’ve got it,” she said and let out a breath. “Your mother ordered sandwiches.”
With that, she whipped around and left. I chuckled, shaking my head as she walked away. This was good news. It was what I wanted—for Kelly to get the job. Since I finally got confirmation it hadn’t, I could free myself from my self-imposed exile.
Finishing up my work, I headed out of the office and went to find my family. Just as Merry said, they were gathered together in the green field that took up a large portion of the center of the complex. Several blankets were spread across the grass, and my brothers and parents lounged on them, talking and laughing. They looked up at me as I approached, but none of them said anything. I plopped myself down on the blanket next to my mother, and she smiled at me, running her hand over my hair.
“Are you hungry?” she asked.
I nodded. “Starving.”
She reached into a white box on the edge of the blanket in front of her. It was from the little restaurant not far from the complex. Their box lunches were a favorite of everyone’s, and since their food was one of Merry’s strongest pregnancy cravings, these sandwiches and sides were a popular feature around the complex. I was fine with that. Mom handed me a sandwich and gestured to the cooler a few feet away. I crawled over to it and grabbed out a can of soda. I ate the sandwich in a few bites and guzzled down the soda. After a second sandwich, I went back to the cooler and got out a beer.
Mom waited until I opened the beer and rested back on my elbows before she spoke.
“So, son, there are rumors about you and a certain new mechanic,” she said.
I sighed, letting my head fall back for a second, then looked over at Mom, taking a swig of the beer.
“I’m assuming you’re talking about Kelly. We met three years ago, then she left the country,” I told her.
There wasn’t any need to go into further detail than that. It was enough for her to figure out what happened. Mom was a smart cookie. And she was also an adult who hadn’t lived a cloistered life before becoming a wife and mother of four sons. It was futile to pretend she was clueless.
“So, she was the girl you met at the bar that night,” Quentin said from the blanket where he was cuddled up with Merry. “I thought she looked familiar.”
“She seriously left the country?” Nick asked. “You’re sure that wasn’t just a line she used?”
“You know, you’re the second person who’s asked me that,” I said.
“Who was the other one?” Nick asked.
“Colby,” Quentin and I said at the same time.
I looked over at him, and he shrugged.
“Sounds like something he’d say,” he said.
“It is and, yes, I am sure she left the country. She’s from Canada. That was her last night in town, and she left for home the next morning,” I told them.
“Did she really not know you worked here?” Dad asked.
“I’m pretty sure she didn’t,” I said. “We didn’t talk about our jobs, so I didn’t even know she’s a mechanic, and I didn’t mention racing. I guess she could have looked it up and seen a picture of me, but she looked really surprised when she saw me in the garage. Then she offered to leave if it made me uncomfortable for her to be here. I really think it was as much a shock to her as it was to me.”
I fielded a few more questions from my brothers and father but didn’t elaborate anymore. I stuck to the same details, not wanting to drift too far into anything personal or give them more information than they needed. I knew full well my brothers knew exactly who she was. They were there the night I met Kelly and again on my birthday a few days ago when I saw her again. What really mattered was they all seemed to be fine with the idea of her working there, and I was glad for that.
I was happy when the conversation finally detoured to another topic, and I could relax away from the hot seat. I ended up eating another sandwich along with potato salad and a cheese wafer, finishing the meal up with one of the restaurant’s pineapple cupcakes. Mom was a fantastic baker and created most of my favorite things to eat, but there was something special about the pineapple cupcakes from Belle’s. Whatever it was, I could probably eat a dozen of them by myself.
After dinner, I headed home. Now that I knew she had officially been hired, I wanted to call her. Everything was out in the open, so it wouldn’t have been that hard to ask Mom for her number. I could call and check in with her, to congratulate her for her new job. But I stopped myself before I did. I didn’t want to overstep. Mom let me know her first day was Monday. I could wait until then when she was in my space and we were at the beginning of our new normal.
10
Kelly
Choosing where we were going to live wasn’t easy before leaving Canada. I had to try it to find the perfect spot for Willa and me from a different country and trust it was going to be as good in person as it was online. It was a major risk, a leap of faith I was nervous about making. When I first started talking about making the big move, Kira pointed out going to visit Charlotte in the first place had been my idea. I already knew it, and loved it, so why not go back?
Fortunately, I was able to find the little apartment and had spoken to the wonderful landlord several times before committing to the place.
I was still a bit anxious when we arrived, but I found the apartment to be even better than I thought. And it wasn’t just the place itself that made me happy. One of the reasons I was interested in the apartment to begin with was the adorable little park not far away. We could easily walk there and enjoy not only the elaborate play area, but the splash pad. That would be a fantastic respite during the intense hot weather of the summer.
The park was where Willa and I went to spend the day after I found out about getting the job at Freeman. As excited as I was about getting back into a garage and working on bikes again, it wasn’t lost on me that going back to working outside the home would mean less time with my little girl. It had been the two of us since the day she was born, and I was already starting to feel the pangs of missing her. It was a few days until I started work, so I wanted to savor every minute before then.
We got to the park a little while after breakfast, and there were already several families there. I brought Willa over to the sandbox, and she immediately wriggled over to another cute little girl sitting in the sand. She picked up a purple shovel and started digging while the other little girl moved it into a bucket.
“They seem very intent on whatever they’re doing,” a young woman with a short, dark bob said, gesturing to the girls.
“Yes, they do,” I said with a slight laugh. “It is very serious work.”
She smiled at me. “I’m Katie. That’s my daughter, Sara.”
“Kelly. And that’s Willa.”
Katie and I fell into small talk that eventually drifted into a more personal conversation. I learned she was also a single mother and lived just a few blocks in the opposite direction of the park as Willa and I did. She worked as a medical assistant and had another child, a five-year-old boy named Harrison, who was in school. She said that with the sniffling sound in her voice I knew I was going to have when it came time to send Willa to kindergarten. It was still years in the future, but I was already feeling sad about leaving her for that first day.
We talked about our girls, and I told her about moving from Canada after she told me she moved from the West Coast two years before. It felt good to just sit there and talk while Willa played. I didn’t have any friends in the area yet, aside from Darren if he even counted. I missed my sister so much and hoped meeting other moms and having the chance to socialize would help the lonely, homesick feeling that kept creeping into my mind.
We stayed at the park for several hours. It was longer than I expected Willa to last, but she was enjoying her new little friend and just kept playing, so Katie and I just kept talking. When both
little girls started to fade, we scooped them up, exchanged numbers, made plans to meet back up at the park again soon, and went our separate ways. By the time we got home, Willa was asleep in my arms, and I carried her right into her room to lay her down for a nap.
She’d had snacks at the park, and I’d snagged a couple of handfuls of Goldfish crackers and a pouch of applesauce from the abundant assortment I always brought with us. But it wasn’t enough to really count as lunch, so I went into the kitchen to make something to eat. As I put together a sandwich, I thought about how nice it was to talk to another adult. Back home I spent time with my sister and other family, I had friends who would come by and hang out and had taken a few Mommy and Me classes with Willa. Not having any of that here was making my world feel very narrow and my life very quiet. Oddly enough, it didn’t really bother me all that much. I enjoyed being home with Willa and didn’t really feel a lot of compulsion to go out.
But I knew I should. I didn’t want to become a recluse who didn’t do anything or have anyone in my life other than my child. Opening up to more people and really experiencing my new surroundings would make it feel more like home and give me more of a chance to pursue the new life I came here to find. That thought led me to grabbing my phone and calling the babysitter. It was last-minute, but she was available and more than happy to come over for a few hours to watch Willa so I could go out. I figured I deserved a night out on the town to celebrate getting my new job.
After eating lunch, I spent the rest of the day catching up on tasks around the apartment. There were still a few boxes I hadn’t unpacked, and I was quickly realizing there wasn’t enough space to fit everything I thought I could. I was either going to have to do a purge and donate to local charities, or all the extra stuff was going to need to get boxed up and put in storage somewhere. The one small storage closet out on the patio probably wasn’t going to be enough.
When Willa woke up, she promptly went to work taking care of her baby doll. She played with her with the same intent concentration as she dug in the sand. That was part of the little personality I was discovering more of each day. Her focus and concentration were intense, sometimes almost to the point of her ignoring everything else around her. Right now, her focus was on making sure her baby doll had its bottle and was wrapped up tightly enough in its little pink blanket. She soothed the doll, patting it lovingly as she rocked back and forth with the doll cradled in her arms.
It brought tears to my eyes watching her. For such a little girl, there was so much life and love in her.
After her bath, the babysitter arrived, and I went into my room to get ready to go out. I didn’t find many opportunities to get dressed up anymore, so I relished the chance to put on heels, add a little extra makeup, and curl my hair. It was just little touches, but it gave me a boost and made me look forward even more to the night out. I kissed Willa’s head and assured Flora that she’s probably go down soon since she had a full belly.
Without much familiarity with what else was around the area, I ended up at the same bar. I sat down and realized it was the same stool I’d chosen on Darren’s birthday. Maybe that meant I was becoming a regular. I was only there for a few moments when the bartender came up with the same beer I drank the last two times I was there.
“Good memory,” I said.
She flashed me a grin. “It’s my job.” I reached into my pocket for money, but she waved me off. “It’s been taken care of.”
She glanced to the end of the bar, and I looked over to see one of Darren’s brothers talking to Lindsey, the owner of the bar I’d met the other night. He came toward me and extended his hand.
“I’m Nick Freeman. I hear you’re the new mechanic at the complex,” he said.
I shook his hand and nodded.
“I’m Kelly.”
He sat down on the stool beside me, and the two of us started chatting. I felt slightly tense the entire time, waiting for him to say something about Darren or for Darren to show up and take over my night. But Nick never said anything about him, and Darren never showed up. I tried to tell myself I wasn’t disappointed he wasn’t there and instead concentrated on getting to know Nick and Lindsey, who’d joined in our conversation. I found I really liked Lindsey, and Nick was fun to talk to as well. It was good to get to know another member of the family I’d be working so closely with, even if he didn’t actually work at the complex.
I didn’t stay long. After nursing two beers, I paid for my second one, said good night, and headed home. I got back before eleven and fell into bed.
11
Darren
For a good while Quentin was hosting dinners for the family at his house on Sundays. My oldest brother took to success naturally, and while he didn’t let having money change him, he used it well. One of the most obvious displays of that was his house. He fell in love with the house in the early years of building up the business handed over to him by our father and bought it as a sign of where he was going in life. Over time, he’d designed additions, incredible landscaping, and features that made it truly his. It was luxurious without being pretentious, right down to the massive firepit in the back that always had an abundance of beer stocked nearby.
That’s where the family gathered on Sunday nights until the weather turned cold and then we took our dinners indoors. It was good to have all four brothers and our parents together for that one night each week. We were very close, but intense careers and busy lives sometimes meant we didn’t get the chance to see each other as much as we wanted to, even when we worked in the same complex. Having those Sundays gave us something to look forward to and ensured we maintained the connection that kept us so tightly bonded.
But for the last few weeks, Sundays came and went without Quentin inviting us over. His life had been a bit busy recently to say the least with getting married and preparing for the baby. None of us blamed him for needing some time away from obligations, but we missed those nights. That’s why it was a great surprise early that week when he told us that he was getting the gatherings going again. I looked forward to it all week, and when it was finally time to go, it felt great to be back around the firepit.
Not that things were exactly the same as they always were. These gatherings were usually pretty raucous, and we often joked it was a good thing Quentin chose a house far enough away from any other people so his neighbors couldn’t be disrupted or upset because of all the noise we caused. Now that Merry and her pregnant belly were a part of the dinners, things were a little calmer. I enjoyed the energy and excitement of those more chaotic nights, but I also appreciated the quiet.,
It was particularly important to me that night. The next morning was Kelly’s first day, and I felt like I needed to get myself ready for all the changes to come. We had the ability to be friends. I was confident in that. After all, we were both adults, and there was no reason we shouldn’t be able to move past our one night together and not be weird about it. It wasn’t like either of us were dishonest with the other on that night. I could understand being uncomfortable if one of us had lied to the other about who we were or if she had disappeared without telling me. But that’s not how it happened. The note in my pocket wasn’t just my good-luck charm. It was my reminder of her and of that one night, when she had enough thought of me to bother pausing and leaving me a goodbye.
It meant even more now that I’d seen her again and found out about her annual toast to my birthday. Even though we’d only spent a short time together, I obviously had enough of a positive impact on her to want to remember me that way. There was no reason we couldn’t exist in the same environment without discomfort or would need to avoid each other.
Despite talking myself through that, I still appreciated the night with my family. They were reassuring and strengthening, but they also gave me a distraction. I took a bottle of beer out of the cooler set up a few feet away from the roaring fire and sat down next to Nick.
“How’s work?” I asked.
“It’s good. Busy
,” Nick said.
“That’s good. Better to have it busy than be bored.”
“Amen to that,” he agreed, tipping his bottle of beer toward me so I could clink mine against it by way of a toast.
Nick was the only of the four brothers without an active role in the company. Vince didn’t have a full-time role the way Quentin and I did. He maintained his own businesses and was frequently extremely busy. But he still worked at the complex at least one or two days a week. Nick, on the other hand, decided to follow his own path. He did his part if he was needed, such as helping load up for races and unload when the equipment got back to the complex, or when there was an event and we needed extra hands. But for the most part, he kept to himself and his own work pursuits. As much as I loved racing and working at the complex with my family, I could absolutely understand why he would want to do his own thing and not follow along in our father’s footsteps.
I also knew he felt like he was a bit of the black sheep of the family because of it. It wasn’t easy for him to decide he wasn’t just going to fall in line the way Quentin had, or even carve out a portion of his time to work the racing business the way Vince had. He knew it was what was expected of him, just like the rest of us did, and he didn’t want to disappoint our parents or any of us. Mom and Dad would never have been angry with him or told him they were upset with him about him making that choice. They were always supportive of their boys and what we wanted for our lives. But there were still times when it was obvious they wished Nick was more involved in the family business and around us more often.
I thought maybe that was why we were closest to each other out of the four. He never got any pushback from me, and I never felt anything but understanding for him. It let us feel totally comfortable with each other and stay tight.
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