by Marie Garner
Susan looked up between bites. “That’s great. How much longer are you in town?”
Eva cut into her meat, waiting before she answered. “School starts in about three weeks, so I have to be back within the next week or so.”
Susan glanced around, looking at her family, before she focused back on Eva. “Are you going to miss us?”
Eva sighed, sliding her fork back and forth on her plate, giddy as she thought about what she wanted to talk to Aaron about later on that evening. She didn’t want to give herself away, so she waited until she composed herself and looked up with a neutral expression on her face. “You have no idea. I never thought that I would fall in love with this place like I did. Now I don’t know what to do, but I have to go back for the new school year.”
Susan smiled sympathetically, glancing at Aaron. “It’s going to be hard for you. I couldn’t imagine being in your position. Are you still planning to sell the house?” Eva’s eyes widened at Susan’s latest question, not knowing what to say. It really wasn’t any of her business, but Eva noticed that no one else was talking as they waited to see what Eva would say.
Eva loved Aaron’s mom, and she knew that she was genuinely interested in what was going on with her, but she really wished she would stop talking about it. With every statement that mentioned going back, she could feel Aaron getting tenser and tenser, and she didn’t want to put him in a bad mood by talking about leaving. On the other hand, if he was clearly this upset about her leaving, then telling him about staying may be easier than she thought.
She shook her head slowly. “I don’t think so. I thought I was going to, but I’m just going to leave it for right now and see how things work out later on.”
Susan looked relieved. “Great. Elizabeth really wanted you to have it.”
“We wanted to see the house tonight since you will be coming home soon, and we may not get a chance to later on,” her stepmother interjected, and Eva inwardly groaned because she knew this conversation wasn’t changing any time soon. She wanted to enjoy the night, not talk about leaving, but their mothers clearly had other plans.
She glanced at her mother, realizing what she just said. “Sure. Are you guys not staying with me?”
Her stepmother cleared her throat before glancing at her father. “We didn’t want to make assumptions.”
“Seriously, Mom? Of course you are welcome to stay at the house; I wouldn’t want you guys to stay anywhere else.” Her stepmother looked at her father and seemed to breathe a sigh of relief. She didn’t know what that was about, other than the thought that her stepmother may still be wary of her. Eva knew that it had been a rocky road lately, but it was getting back to the way it used to be and there was no reason for her mother to think that things had gotten that bad.
“I got a job,” Katie said out of the blue, something she was prone to do all the time. Eva had often been annoyed by her way of changing the subject, but today she was very grateful.
“Did you?” her mother asked, making Eva wonder why she had kept it a secret.
“Yeah, I will be a reporter and weekend anchor for the station in Bluefield.”
“Are you serious?” Eva asked, surprised. Bluefield was only twenty minutes from Highland Creek, and the last time Eva checked she was looking closer to home.
“I looked all over, and they were the only station that took a chance on me. I was looking for somewhere closer to home, but it didn’t work out. As of now, I will only be about an hour and a half from you guys.” She looked at her mother, clearly seeking her approval.
“Well, we’re proud of you. I like the fact that you are going to be semi-close to us,” her mother said enthusiastically, always ready and willing to be encouraging to her children, something that Eva was much more thankful for after everything that happened. Dinner continued on that strand, thankful for Katie’s new job and just celebrating Eva’s birthday.
The biggest surprise was the cake which they brought out after dinner. It was made in all black with an Oreo dirt pile that said “Over the Hill.” She laughed, although she knew that thirty today was not the same as it once was. She took the good-natured ribbing about not setting off the smoke detector and getting old and knew how lucky she was to have such amazing people in her life. They stayed chatting, everyone just enjoying each other as she caught up with Reagan and Katie; Addie gave Katie pointers on succeeding in a mostly male field. She liked that her father and brother hit it off with Aaron and his brothers and father and could see this happening for years. Call her crazy, but she really wanted this relationship to work despite being so far away.
She couldn’t help but notice that Gwen and Conner were having a heated conversation, and she figured they needed to get their shit together pretty soon. As the night wound to an end, someone mentioned her opening her presents. She didn’t know they had even gotten her anything, but she was never one to turn down presents. She wanted Aaron to see, who was surprisingly absent along with Reagan, so she went looking for him.
She went back into the house, surprised at how much she wanted him to share with him. He had been so great to her, throwing this party with everyone around her, and she couldn’t wait to celebrate many more birthdays with her. She didn’t see them in the kitchen, but followed the voices down the hall.
“…Loved her?” She could hear Reagan saying, sounding like she had been crying. She wanted to go to her, but stopped when she heard the next words out of Aaron’s mouth.
“… Loved her? Who the hell said anything about love? A summer fling is just how it sounds; people don’t build a life on that.”
Eva thought she would die; she rubbed her chest over her heart to make sure it still beat. She didn’t understand how the guy she thought she could build a future with would think that about her. She was the only one that could apply to; she and Aaron were in the middle of a summer fling that he clearly believed would not continue. She just wanted to go home and not have to worry about the people at the porch. Eva couldn’t just leave, not with everyone waiting for her, but she didn’t want to see Aaron.
She walked back outside, sure that her face was going to crack because her smile was so fake. Everyone turned to look at her when she returned.
“Did you find Aaron?” his dad asked, and she shook her head no.
“I think he was talking to Reagan and I didn’t want to disturb them.”
“Well I’ll get ’em,” he said before going in the room.
Gwen sauntered over to Eva and asked, “Are you ok?”
“Why do you ask?”
“Well, other than the fact that your face is red and you look like you are choking on lemons? Nothing.”
“Can we talk later? I don’t want to have to deal with it right now.”
“Gotcha. Well, just know I am here.” She stroked Eva’s arm in comfort as an arm wrapped around her. Aaron, she thought, and tried her best not to move away from him. There was a time and a place for their conversation, and now wasn’t the time.
“I hear we are opening presents.”
She got through it. She didn’t know how, but you never know what you can do until you have to. His siblings got her a spa package, with his sisters promising to make a girls’ day of it while his parents got her a gift card to restaurant in the next town over. Everything they did made it sound like she was there for the long haul, but she couldn’t tell them that she probably wouldn’t be around much longer. Reagan was a bit distant when she and Aaron came back, and she took it as further confirmation that he was talking about her, so she definitely wasn’t going to be around for much longer.
Thankfully she wouldn’t see him tonight; he had to kiss her goodnight at his house so she could take her family back to her house. If he thought something was wrong with the kiss, that she wasn’t as enthusiastic as she could have been, well tough shit. He didn’t get the right to complain, and she didn’t really want to talk to him about the fact that she was a summer fling. Thank God she hadn’t told him about her plan
s to stay, nightmares about him laughing at her haunting her as she showed her parents and siblings her house. They loved the house, and her mother hugged her and thanked her for sharing this part of her life.
“I had to show this to my mother,” she said. “My real mother. Regardless of who gave birth to me, you have always been my mother. I can’t thank you enough for that.” Eva hugged her, and they both pretended her mother wasn’t crying hysterically when she went to find Eva’s father.
“Way to go, Sis,” her brother said, having witnessed the whole exchange.
She bumped him with her shoulder. “Thanks. I can do that sometime.”
“I’ll bet,” he said. “Wanna tell me what happened back there?”
She figured her best bet was to pay dumb. “What do you mean?”
“You do know what I mean. Back at the party everything was great, then you leave to go in the house and all of a sudden you come back upset. Gwen even asked me what was wrong with you.” Damn, Gwen! How dare she ask her brother? Good thing she could avoid that conversation with her because she went home with Katie, but she had sicced her brother on her.
“I really don’t want to talk about it tonight.” He looked like he was going to say something else before she cut him off. “It’s my birthday, so I get a pass.”
“Fine, I’ll give you the pass tonight, but that’s it. Be ready to talk tomorrow.”
“I love you.” Eva hugged him tightly. “Thank you for caring.” He kissed her head, as he had been doing for years, and turned around to go to his room. Eva crept slowly to her room, not wanting to encounter anyone in the hallway. She lay on her side as the tears leaked out, thinking about how she was on top of the world this morning. All that changed in an instant, and she didn’t want to think about the asshole that had broken her heart. There was no way Eva was staying here; she couldn’t wait to get back home to her old life. And fuck this house, she thought. She wasn’t staying anywhere where she could run into Aaron. Happy fucking birthday to me.
Aaron hadn’t seen much of Eva in the days following her party. Her parents were here for two days and he wanted to give her time, and then she said she was really busy yesterday. He didn’t know what the problem was, everything seemed great until the end, but he wanted to know what was up with her. He thought it might have something to do with the fact that she was leaving, but he knew he couldn’t ask her to stay. She had a life somewhere else, and as much as he tried to show her that she would have a good time here, she wasn’t taking the bait. It was driving him crazy because he knew it was selfish to demand her to stay, but he wanted to give her the world if she would let him. He called her earlier for some lunch and she once again said she was busy, which was why he was knocking on her door instead of being at the office like he should have been.
“Aaron.” She answered on his second knock, her eyes widened as she looked around. He no longer thought something was up, he knew it. The question was what.
“Hey.” He leaned in a kissed her, but noticed that she didn’t return the sentiment, and pulled back and looked at her. She scratched behind her ear and looked away, making him worry about what had happened between the party and now that made this awkward. “Can I come in?”
“Um … yeah, I guess.” She backed up and allowed him to come in and he knew why she was acting weird. He could only stare at the moving boxes everywhere, scared that if he said something he would completely flip out. This was a girl he thought he could build a future with, despite the fact that he hadn’t known her that long. To think that she had made this decision without telling him really irritated him. He looked back at Eva, who was doing a good job of looking everywhere but him, before he suddenly found his voice.
“So this is it?” he said as he surveyed the moving boxes in the living room.
“Yeah,” Eva said, rubbing her arms down her thighs in a nervous gesture. “I’m just finishing up, and the movers will be here any day now. All I have left is to sell the place.”
“And you can do that?” he said, his green eyes staring intently, looking for any doubt.
“Do what?” She still wouldn’t look at him. She was breaking his heart into a million pieces and she wouldn’t even acknowledge him.
“Just leave,” he said, gesturing with arms open toward the room. “This is your legacy. Your gift from a flawed, wonderful mother who wanted to leave her child with something lasting.”
“I will always have my mom,” she said, shaking her head not understanding what he was saying. And maybe she didn’t see his heart, but he was sure it was so broken that it was bleeding out of his chest.
“I thought you said you weren’t going to sell the house.”
“I said that I probably wasn’t going to sell the house, but as I was thinking about it the other night I decided that I didn’t want to keep a house I won’t need.”
“And what about us? Were you even going to tell me what you had planned, or were you just going to call me on the way out of town and say ‘Nice knowing you.”
“Us?” Eva looked confused, as though the thought of a future with him had never crossed her mind. “I mean, what we had was fun, but we …”
“Don’t!” he said, sharper than he intended. He couldn’t stand to hear her say they were nothing, that the last month or so had been nothing more than cheap sex. “Don’t you dare try to make what we had a fling. We had something, and you can’t deny it.”
She threw her arms out. “I am not saying we didn’t have something, but we both knew I was going back. I have a life back there. I can’t just stay here permanently.”
“Why not?”
“Why not what?”
He moved toward her, eyes pleading. “Why can’t you stay? Be with me? I swore that I wasn’t going to do it, but I am asking you to stay.”
“Aaron, look,” she said, shaking her head, “I will always care for you, but we both know this wasn’t forever. We have said from the beginning that we would try a long distance relationship, but I don’t know that it will work.”
He crossed his arms over his chest, frustrated that she refused to give him any hope. “Says who? You? And what makes you the ultimate decision maker? Did you even think about me when it came to this?”
“Of course I did …”
He kept coming at her, wanting her to say something, acknowledge what they were to each other. “And what about three nights ago, when I was so wrapped up in you, giving you the sweetest pleasure you could handle, when I told you I could see a future with you. Were you always plotting this?”
She was taken aback at the implication. “Not necessarily.”
He glared at her. “Then what changed? Everything was fine up until your party, but it was like you changed. Did someone do or say something that made you change your mind?” Something flashed in her eyes, but he was so mad he couldn’t see straight and couldn’t call her on it.
She shrugged, not knowing how to answer him. “Nothing happened, and I don’t know why you are freaking out! We both know this wasn’t …”
“No we didn’t!” he shouted, his hurt turning into anger, so the only thought he had was to lash out at the one causing the pain. “You decided! You made all the decisions, from the very beginning! Well I am done. I tried to make you see you could have a good life here, with me, but it was never enough. And it was never going to be enough. You got your wish. You got to know your mom and fuck the local boy while you were here.”
“Hey!” she cried in outrage.
She had no right to be offended now, not after he came here to see her packing up without saying a fucking word to him. If she thought so highly of their relationship, she would have said something. Instead, he just became her plaything.
“What?! It’s okay for you to cheapen what we have, but not me? Well I am going to tell you now, I will not chase you. When you leave, do not expect me to come banging on your door begging you to come back. I have done enough of that already.”
Her lips wavered before she
pressed them together tightly, swallowing loudly before she responded. Her eyes shone with tears before she blinked them back. “I guess you made your point.”
“Yeah,” he scoffed, “I guess I did. You are more like your mother than you want to admit, but at least she had the balls to finally tell you why she left. Have a nice life. Since you will be so happy to be rid of us I probably won’t be seeing you again.”
His shoes echoed across the hardwood as he practically ran to the door. Turning around one more time, just to see her and to memorize every feature and see if there was any crack. She stood still as a statue, her back erect and her head held high in a gesture so like her mother Eva would have been surprised. Aaron slammed the door on the way out.
Aaron didn’t know how he got through the rest of the day, his anger fueling most of his actions. After leaving Eva, he stormed to Bryan’s office, not knowing what to do. Bryan sat and listened to Aaron as he explained the whole sordid affair. He didn’t say much, just offered his apologizes, and told him that if he wanted Eva back he was going to have to find a way to get her. He didn’t want her back. Why the hell would he want someone who obviously wanted nothing to do with him anymore? He thought about the party, and although he was sure something happened to change her mind, he didn’t know how to talk to her. Plus, if she really cared about him, she should have come to him with any issues that she had. She made all the decisions, like he accused her of doing. From the very beginning all he wanted to do was help her deal with the stuff, shoulder some of the burden, but she was too damn independent to want any help from him. This was just the nail in the coffin of a relationship he stupidly thought would last forever.
“Hello?” he answered the phone the following morning, putting his thoughts of Eva out of his mind for the time being.
“Aaron, how are you?” Great. All he needed now was crazy-ass Marcia needing something from him. It was a perfect example of Murphy’s law; when shit went bad, it went real bad.