HOME TORN

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PROLOGUE

It had been five years since she left this poor, miserable, hick town. Five years since she packed a bag and snuck off in the night. Like a common thief, except she wasn’t a thief. Or how most stories talk about the young couple, so much in love, go away together. To live happily ever after in Paris or some other cheesy place.

Not Dani. For one, there was no boyfriend waiting for her in a Mustang. And there was no happily ever after and certainly not in cheesy Paris.

She left and she’d never came back…until now.

Did she ever think about calling? Visiting? Or even sending a letter?

She’d be lying if she said no. She had. Too many times that she actually started to hate it. There’d never been anything good in this town, at least for her. Julia and Erica had the life. They’d been worshiped, the oldest and youngest of the O’Hara girls.

Dani had been the middle O’Hara and the most invisible. Two years separated each of the O’Haras.

She wasn’t the rebel, the whore, the school’s drop-out. And those weren’t the reasons why she left home, without a word to anyone.

Dani left because there’d been nothing there for her.

Jake had made his choice. He told her that night, after ten years together, that he was in love with her little sister. He’d been in love with Erica since high school, but didn’t say anything. She was the golden child. Valedictorian. Captain of the track and volleyball team. She’d even been the cheerleader and editor of the yearbook.

A mini Julia.

Twins, that’s what everyone called the two of them. Both blonde, slender, green eyes, and boys hanging on every word they uttered.

Not Dani. She was the middle, the invisible, and the outcast.

They were golden and she was dark. Almost blackish brown hair. Theirs were wavy and hers was straight. Some said it was sleek, but she just knew it was opposite her sisters.

Her sisters were slender and she was skinny. She had the long legs, the broad shoulders where they had the short cheerleader bodies. Hard-packed, gifted with a nice rack. You guessed it—slightly bigger than a B cup for Dani. Not noticeable with her long legs and how skinny she was. You might be thinking that she’s tall, but she’s not. Not that much, anyway. Almost 5’11. Not quite six foot, but tall enough. For a girl anyway.

She left home a quiet hopeful at the age of twenty two and she was returning a sullen realist. She didn’t have her head in the clouds anymore. And she’d learned not to be quiet. And both had been learned the hard way. Most would’ve gotten nightmares, but she persevered.

The five years away hadn’t been a cakewalk. They’d been torture, but they taught her a few things.

No. It wasn’t that she really loved her family or that she took them for granted.

She just learned that in a crisis, she was damn near unbreakable.

It was how she survived. And now…and now she’d returned again to a home that had never been a home.

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CHAPTER ONE

Craigstown looked the same. The mainstreet of cobblestone bricks and swatches of paint on their lampposts looked a little bit cleaner, if you asked her. The liquor store that shone a fresh paint on it’s bricked walls was still on the corner, right next to the bookstore where it’s grey overhang had faded. And Gracey’s café still had three ivory cement tables that loitered the frontlawn, complete with those same red umbrellas on top. The Laundromat was tucked in the far corner, where the riff-raff could clean their clothes in peace. Where no one needed to know they were there. Or be given a reminder that Craigstown, the perfect little town, even had riff-raff as residents. The same graffiti had been a touch-up. And the movie theater was still emblazoned with neon lights, blaring the latest blockbuster they could get their hands on, for their one screen. It didn’t matter that the movie had already been in theaters for five months. It was new to the Craigstown residents. That’s all that mattered.

And all the gas stations were still the hook-up. At least ten cars were parked in the corners, teenagers standing around, figuring where the party was that night. The flashes from the bottles exchanged in hands didn’t come as a surprise. If you wanted a pre-party drink, go to the gas stations.

The supply never ran dry.

And the bank…the bank had the same teller. The same desks, the same managers, and even the same windowshades. Dull and beige, never noticed and never forgotten.

“Oh my god.” It was whispered from behind and Dani turned around, slowly and in resignation. She’d driven through town with mixed emotions. She wasn’t glad to be back, confused as to why she’d returned home, and now she’d been spotted.

And not by anyone, but by Kelley Lynn. The popular girl from her grade. She wore the same blonde bombshell with added highlights atop the same slender figure. Her clothes had upgraded from the too-tight tank-tops to the just-right cleavage underneath a trimming cashmere sweater. She still wore pink, everything had been pink, even the shoelaces. Pink with glitter. Kelley Lynn had always been the quiet mentor of her best friend duo with Erica, but they shared the same interests of popularity, boys, and gossip…and she was holding a deposit bag.

“Is it…is it you?” She blinked. Taken aback. “Dani?”

Her nickname, short for Danielle. She’d been the only one named after their momma. Julia and Erica hadn’t even gotten a middle name for their momma.

It was shallow, but Dani felt it was the only special thing she held onto with pride. She’d been named after her mother.

“Hey, Kelley.” She said easily. She flashed her perfect white teeth. The only thing that had never been invisible. “How are you? What are you up to now?”

“Oh my god. It’s you!” She wrapped her arms around her. Rocking back and forth, she exclaimed, “We all thought…we all thought you were dead. I mean…you didn’t come to Erica’s…we didn’t know what to think.”

She hadn’t known. That was the truth. But she hadn’t let them know either. When she left, Dani really left. But she hadn’t expected to miss something like that.

“I know. I was…on location for my job. Julia and Aunt Kathryn hadn’t gotten a hold of me.”

She didn’t know if they would’ve, had they had the chance.

“You’re home? For good?” She asked, breathless, her hands still holding her arms in place. As if she feared Dani would run again.

“I’m home…for awhile.”

For as long as it took for her to heal. Dani thought it was ironic, to return home to the place that had torn her heart out because she needed time to settle the ghosts she’d accumulated since she’d left.

It was the neverending circle that was unfixable.

“Well, hey! Me and Dave are having a grill tonight. You should come! Julia’s bringing Jake. It’ll be the old gang.”

Julia and Jake? It had been Erica and Jake.

“The old gang?”

“Oh.” Kelley flushed, “I’m sorry. We all kind of all regrouped you know, after Erica’s thing…Julia, me, Katrina Lloyds, Heather Carlile, and some of the others all formed a clique. Kind of like in high school, but all we really do is get together for dinners and have a few beers around the campfire. Sometimes the girls will all go shopping. It’d be great if you came!”

“I’ll think about it. First night and all, you know…”

They both knew she wouldn’t go.

“Oh. Okay.” Her smile lessened, slightly, “Well…you’re welcome, you know that. I want you to know that. Gosh…have you been home yet? Have you seen Julia and Kathy?”

“Not yet. I wanted to do some business first.”

“They’re going to be so excited. I just know it. Julia’s going to die happy tonight. She’s…gosh…they’ve all been missing you so much.”

Especially if they thought she was dead.

Maybe she’d be welcomed like the prodigal daughter.

Dani wasn’t betting on it.

“I’m sure they have.” She smiled politely.

“Oh. Okay. Well…I should get going. Dave needs all the steaks and brats before long. We have to start up the grill before the guests start arriving.” A few steps away, she stopped and turned back, “It really is great to see you, Dani. Really.”

“Thanks.” Dani murmured. And she meant it.

One of the windows opened up, so she moved forward and produced her checks.

Mrs. Gallows. She’d be working at that same window until the day she died. With her gray hair in the same bun, the same pressed pink sweater, and even the same flamingo brooch pinned to her left breast.

“Tsk, tsk, Miss O’Hara. Your account was closed three years ago.”

No welcome back? She wasn’t surprised.

“What do you mean? I haven’t written a check from this account in five years.” She hadn’t. Dani cashed most of her savings, all except three hundred, but with interest…that should be up to three fifty. At least.

“Your aunt emptied your accounts. We thought you were dead.”

Prim and proper bitch was standing before her.

“Look, Mrs. Gallows…I’m not dead. And my aunt was never given permission to have access to my savings account, so my account shouldn’t have been closed.”

“Nothing we can do about it now.”

Dani dropped her bag on the counter. “You can open another one and you can deposit my checks.” It was said forcefully and very unlike the Dani that Dani knew.

Their eyes caught and held.

Dani didn’t blink. Mrs. Gallows did.

“Fine.” Mrs. Gallows sniffed, “But you need to cover the registration fee.”

“Fine.”

“Fine.”

Dani caught Kelley’s stare from the corner of her eye, but when she turned to look, Kelley looked away. Furtively.

“That’ll be fifty dollars for the registration fee.”

“Take it out of my checks.” Dani pushed them over.

As she counted each and every one, Dani saw her eyes widen with every check as she shifted it to the back. As she typed the amounts in, she then asked, “Would you like some cash or a bankcard, Miss O’Hara?”

“No. Just my receipt.”

She slid it over and spoke, “That’s $823, 932.46. Anything else for you, Miss O’Hara?”

There wasn’t, so she murmured, “Thank you, Mrs. Gallows. It’s so good to see you.”

“It’s good to have you back in town, Miss O’Hara.” She answered back, stiffly.

“Thanks again, Mrs. Gallows.” She sent a sickly sweet smile.

Dani had learned the art of fakeness. She’d grown up with the three masters of the town.

Outside, she crossed the street to her Mustang.

Yeah—it hadn’t been a boyfriend waiting in a Mustang for her. The boyfriend had just dumped her, but she had the Mustang. Not some boy. A ‘78 Mustang. Vintage. And the one thing that was the same. A preserved identity from the past.

Dani had slept many nights in her mobile soul. The car had become more of a home that her real home.

“Sweet ride, Miss.”

“Thanks.” She smiled.

“An ‘84?”

“No. She’s a ‘78 Stang.”

He whistled, wheeling his bicycle closer and ran a hand down the hood. “It’s in good shape.”

“It’s been in storage for awhile.” She’d stored it in a shed near the Grainge Airport and paid a mechanic to check on it once a year for her. He had and it was in glistening shape for her when she opened those storage doors, two bags over her shoulders. She’d never been a sentimental person, but when she saw her baby—she almost cried.

Part of her past and present that was still clean. Solid.

“My uncle builds cars. He’d flip on this one.”

“Who’s your Uncle?”

“Jonah Bannon.” He replied, shifting on his lanky legs, one hand idly holding onto his bike handles. He looked like a stereotypical punk, one who’d be chased out of the grocery store for breaking products or whipping eggs across the store. With gelled spikes adorning his little-boy features, she could tell he was probably the heartthrob of his grade.

Just like his uncle who’d been in hers.

Jonah Bannon. He wasn’t the popular, prom king type, but he’d still been in his own league. And he dated almost every single female from five years ahead of them to five years behind them. Probably farther than that. Even Erica had dated him for a week or so, but the moaning she put the rest of them through from the break-up had been horrendous. Even Julia had griped about it and those two portrayed as Siamese twins. Tight bond between them, but Jonah ripped it apart—for a good few months when he dated Julia later on.

Dani had never seen more broken dishes from that night when Erica confronted Julia on her back-stabbing heinous bitch game.

Siamese twins, but neither saw it.

The thing with Jonah is that he wasn’t a bad guy. He was just a leader, a little reckless, brave to boot, and he was gorgeous. It had been joked around town that if anyone wanted a breathing flesh and blood anatomy model, go to Jonah. There wasn’t an ounce of fat on his body and a person could see nearly every muscle that just glided over his bones as he strolled through town. Some say it was a six-pack, but others said it was a twenty-four pack.

No way around it, the guy was gifted with some spectacular genetics.

And it looked like his nephew had the same gift.

“What’s your name, kid?”

“Bryant. Bryant Meadows.”

“Your momma married Bubba Meadows? Aiden, right?”

“Yeah.” He smiled, a perfect set of teeth (not surprised), “You know my mom?”

“Uh huh. Went to school with your uncle Jonah, but everyone knows everyone in towns like this. She’s older, right?”

“What’s your name?”

“Oh. They wouldn’t know me. I knew them, you know. One of those things.”

“Oh.” He re-assessed her, “Well…I can guarantee that my uncle will know you now.”

Chuckling, she noted, “You’re a charmer.”

“Yeah and I’m dating Sheila Robbins.” He bragged, a smirk on that tan face.

“Head cheerleader?” She said dryly.

His head bounced up and down as he shifted again. Restless teenager. “Oh yeah. And she’s the stuff, ya know.”

“I bet she’s head over heels for you.”

“She flirts with Todd Anderson a lot though.” He frowned slightly, as his hand started to roll his bike back and forth. He was a bit fidgety, but that was normal for a teenager.

He looked like his mom. He had the same blonde hair with golden streaks. He’d have an Adonis build when he got older, if he worked at it. That would be from Bubba. But right now, he was just another skinny, lanky teenager that had the goldenboy personality. Already. A little bit opposite his uncle.

If memory served right, Jonah beat up the Prom King their year. It had been all the scandal, but Trenton Halloway had gotten his ass served to him on a silver platter. Jonah hadn’t been messed with before that, but he was treated near royalty after that. From the gossip mill, the skirmish had been over a girl or a comment surrounding a girl’s sexual applicability.

That was Jonah. Brave, a leader, and a little reckless.

Trenton Halloway had been the golden boy in their grade. The stereotypical football captain, steady with the most popular girl (Kelley Lynn). He’d only been weary around one guy, Jonah Barron.

“She probably just does it to keep you on a leash.” She reassured him, unlocking the Stang.

“Can I get a ride?” He asked, eagerly. “It’d be so sweet and I know Uncle Jonah’s going to ask once I tell him I saw a ’78 Mustang today. This way, I can tell him all about it. Please?”

“Hop in. We’ll go around a few blocks though. I have to get some business done before closing time.”

“Sure, sure.”

As she pulled into traffic, she glanced over. Bryant was almost salivating. She remembered when she used to be like that, but she hadn’t had the nerve to ask Mr. Benjamins if Dani could ride in some of his old classics. She just watched from afar, pressed up against the alley as she peaked around. She spent hours in that spot. It’s where she learned about cars in the first place.

“So what’s your uncle doing these days?” Casual conversation.

He shrugged, “I don’t know. He travels sometimes. I think he does something with land and business developers. He goes to a lot of business dinners and drops off his left-overs sometimes. Momma goes crazy. She loves all that gourmet fancy food. Jonah would rather have a hamburger.”

Dani grinned, picturing his uncle saying those exact words.

“And you? What do you do around these parts? You got a job or something?”

“I work at the golf course, working the landscape. It’s a sweet gig. I’m outdoors and I get a tan. Plus…I get free golf.” He boasted, drumming his fingers on the dashboard. “This car is sweet! I bet my uncle Jonah will try to buy it from you. He loves these cars. Man oh man, that would be awesome. I could haul ass in this sucker.”

“Simmer down there little man. The car’s not for sale and your uncle won’t have a snowball’s chance in hell.”

He turned his beaming smile on her and she could hear the pride in his voice. “You don’t know my uncle Jonah. He can sweet talk his way into anything. Pants, cars, deals, anything.”

“You’ve heard that a few times, huh?” She drawled.

“Yeah.” A slight flush came to his pretty-boy features, “But it’s true. Momma hates it though. She’s always complaining about some trouble that uncle Jonah got himself into, all because of his sweet-talking ways.”

That was the Jonah that she crushed from afar since sixth grade.

As she pulled back onto the mainstreet, she turned the car next to his abandoned bicycle. “Here you go, Bryant.”

Hopping outside, he asked, his fingers curled on the windowframe, “What’s your name? My uncle Jonah’s going to want to know.”

Dani shook her head. She’d filled the invisible role in school, not just at home. “Your uncle don’t know me so don’t worry about it. It was good meeting you and hearing how your mom and uncle are. They seem to be doing good.”

“Yeah, they’re real good.” He nodded, another blinding grin her way. “I’m still going to tell uncle Jonah that you know him, but you don’t think he knows you. Believe me, he’ll hunt you down by tomorrow morning. He loves these cars.”

So did she and there was no way she’d depart with it. Her preserved identity here.

“Don’t worry about Sheila Robbins and Todd Anderson. She’s just flirting with him to make you jealous. She really likes you.”

“I know, but it sucks sometimes.” He pounded a fist atop the car and waved farewell. “See you around, lady.”

A second later, his bike sped off across the street in front of her. Another hand was lifted in a wave and he disappeared around the corner by Gracey’s café.

He worshiped his uncle. That was obvious, but he was a lot like Aiden too. Bubba was known for being laidback in high school. Didn’t see much of that in Bryant. Aiden was always bouncing off the walls and she had the golden locks that her son had been blessed with, but he aspired to be just like his uncle.

Some things didn’t change. Jonah sounded like he was the same.

Kelley was proof that some things had changed. Girls like Kelley, Julia, Katrina Lloyds, and Heather Carlile would never have been friends five years ago. Julia and Heather had been arch-rivals and each hated the other.

Julia hadn’t been a fighter, but everyone knew those two loathed the other. Erica had been the aggressive, assertive one of the family. Julia sat back and let her little sister lead, but there was a hidden layer of spunk underneath Julia’s perfect passive exterior. Heather brought that out. Maybe it was because Heather and Julia were so similar, they were like the same end of a battery. Naturally deflecting the other. Being a pastor’s daughter, Heather had a parallel exterior to Julia. Both girls were known as the ‘nice’ girls in their popular crowd.

There wasn’t room for two ‘nice’ girls.

And Katrina Lloyds. If Dani had been the outcast of her class, Katrina possibly had her beat. Off the wall, artistic, and poetic, Katrina blew away all stereotypes one is supposed to be in a smalltown. She was liberal, proclaimed she was a lesbian at eleven years of age and changed back three years later.

Ironically, it had been Jonah who changed Katrina’s mind. Everyone just thought she was going through a phase.

But girls like Katrina Lloyds were not friends with the Kelley Lynn’s, Heather Carlile’s, and the Julia O’Hara’s in the world.

Erica changed all of that.

Erica must’ve changed a lot more than Dani would’ve given her credit for.

Dani had changed when she left, with her time gone, but the change hadn’t been a result from Erica.

And Jake and Julia. That was another change. The boy circulated through all the O’Hara girls. No doubt he’d gotten some reputation from those credits. The first to proclaim that announcement. It wasn’t a feat to date Julia and Erica, but no one else had been with Dani.

Jake.

He’d known her when others merely felt her breath.

She’d opened her world, tore down the walls, and he walked away.

It’s why she left. At least, she figured, that’s what everyone assumed.

Turning down Brick Avenue, the same buildings were in place. Some had fresh coats of paint adorning their walls while others had been stripped clean from age and weather. A doorknob was missing on a few with some decorated by shiny, brass, knockers.

It wasn’t a surprise to see that one or two had been condemned and then vandalized. The yellow tape surrounding wouldn’t desist the local juveniles looking for a party house.

Parking at the end of the street, Dani saw the old mansion was still in place. Old and weathered, it still held firm.

It had been the party place of her year.

Every Friday and Saturday nights, and some Thursdays, everyone gathered and partied together. It held memories of laughter, sex, drinking, bonding, and pain. In one night there’d be at least a few fights. Some were with fists and some done with words. The next day there’d always be a new rift in the social cliques, but the next night it’d be healed and reconnected.

In one night a fight would take place, a new couple would merge, and the majority of kids would hang out—having a good time.

Jimmying the door, she opened it and stepped through. Some of the couches had been replaced. Thank god.

Dami glanced upwards and saw the ceiling had the same carvings. From initials to x-rated images, everyone who was everyone got their mark on that ceiling. As she stepped onto the first stair, and circled up the stairway that moved around the living room, she remembered staring down at that living room.

She was never a part of that, on those couches.

She sat above, in her hidden little alcove, and she watched and listened.

She was content to sit and listen all those years.

The second floor was the same. Passing by a few of the bedrooms, Dani saw that some of the beds were replaced. New curtains and new bedsheets. Those were always disgusting, but she never had to worry about them.

Moving to the far wall where the railing ended, she knelt and tapped lightly on a wall paneling.

Hollow.

It moved back a slight inch, and sliding it all the way off, she sat on her haunches and stared at herself.

A memory in her mind.

Dani sat in there for hours at a time. There was another opening on the side that led it’s way to the roof and out to the fire stairs. That was how she always crept in. And she’d sit there, curl her arms around her knees, and rest her head against the wall while she listened through the slightest of openings on that wall paneling.

Dani knew everything that went on in school and she learned it all from that hidden hide-away.

Reaching in, she lifted her hand up and felt the wall just above the paneling. She couldn’t get in all the way from this side, but she felt around until her fingers traced the rough carvings made by her hand.

She never got her mark on that ceiling, but she placed it there instead.

In her spot, proclaiming it as her own.

She couldn’t tell anyone why she needed to know it was still there. Maybe it was another part of her that was held intact from her part. Similar to her Mustang. A preserved identity that was solid, firm. Strong.

It gave her a sense of settled. And she couldn’t explain why, she couldn’t explain it to herself, but she knew that she needed to know it was there.

“Hey! What are you doing here? This place is condemned.”

She went numb from shock at that voice. It couldn’t be…but, looking up…it was.

He’d broken her heart five years ago.

“Hey Jake.” She said easily, straightening. And waited.

Sometimes she wondered if her heart had ever healed in one piece.

Jake stood in a police uniform and he yielded a flashlight in one hand with a baton in the other. Armed and ready. He looked older. He’d always had an average build, but he seemed maybe an inch taller than his previous 5’11” with a bit of a beer belly before him. His hair looked a little thinner, but it was still a rich mop of dark brown. She couldn’t make out his hazel eyes.

She always loved those eyes. They saw her.

She stood slowly and murmured, huskily, “You going to beat me down, Jake?”

She’d said those words another time, long ago.

A deer in the headlights. That described his expression to perfection.

“Wha…Dani?!” He whispered. Paralyzed.

“First me and then you tell me you’re in love with Erica and now….Julia. Is it an O’Hara thing?” She remarked.

“Dani?” He rasped out, a step closer. “Are you…is it you? Am I seeing things?”

“Yeah. I’m back.” She stepped closer, out of the shadow.

His eyes lit up when he took a better look at her.

He murmured, thoughtfully, relaxing, “But you’re not the same.”

A response wasn’t necessary. Not between the two of them. They both read the confirmation.

They’d been like that before too.

“Dani…” He murmured, hoarse, “I can’t…holy hell…Dani.”

He couldn’t believe she was here. He couldn’t believe she was alive. He couldn’t believe…she ceased caring four years ago. It took a year, one entire year for her to wake up and not think of him. But she remembered that day. She’d been born that day. And the sunlight felt a little bit warmer, a little bit brighter, and a little less blinding.

“I’m back, Jake.” But she was hollow.

“I can’t…” He still shook his head. “Wow…Julia’s going to…and Erica…”

“According to Kelley Lynn, you guys are all great friends. And you and Julia. I never would’ve thought that when I left here.”

“Yeah, well…things change, Dani.”

The love of her life stood before her and he’d yet to hold her in his arms. A welcome embrace.

“Apparently.” She said, bitterly.

“It’s not…it just happened, okay?” He sounded exasperated, a step closer. “It’s not like it was planned or anything. After Erica…Julia needed someone and I was lonely. We thought…god, Dani!...we thought you were dead for the longest time. You didn’t come back for Erica’s—what else were we supposed to think?!”

“I didn’t know.” She murmured, softly. “No one told me.”

“No one knew where you were!” He cried back. The flashlight and baton were swiftly sheathed back in place on his uniform. “You didn’t say anything, Dani! Nothing. They were out of their minds when you left.”

“Good thing Erica had you then.”

“Don’t! Don’t even! This is not about me and Erica.”

“Yeah, well…it’s not about me leaving. And it’s not about Erica either. It happened, Jake. And you’re with Julia now and you’re all great friends with her, Heather, Katrina, and who else?” She retorted, looking away. She didn’t want to see the agony on his face because it was still there. Every time her name was mentioned.

Erica had been the nameless wall between them for a year. She’d always known that Jake loved her. A girl knows when her heart is being ripped out by someone who she couldn’t win against. A girl just knows when the battle was already over before it even began. That was how it was with Erica.

Erica just won. All the time.

He’d been in love with her for years, but he never thought he had a chance. That’s what he told Dani that night. But, a small smile of happiness on his face, Jake had told her that he’d been seeing Erica for a year now.

The nameless wall had been given a name that night.

An invisible agony given solid form.

Things had started accidentally. A night when Dani was supposed to be home and hadn’t been, but Erica had. And she’d been lonely and needed a shoulder to cry on. The shoulder had been his. And it grew from there, that’s what Jake had told her that last night.

“Julia, Erica, everyone, we’ve all been through things, Dani. They were devastated when you left and then Katrina’s brother died in the war. Things just…people change, Dani. We changed.”

So had she.

“And after Erica, we all were there for each other, you know. Her and Katrina were good friends and Katrina and Julia became good friends. And me and Julia…”

What about you and Julia?

“We,” he sighed, eyes on the floor, “just sort of happened. But…it’s been great, Dani. I love her. I asked her to marry me.”

Dani hadn’t realized the knife had always been there, in her gut. At those words, it got twisted. So it’s always been there, but forgotten.

She glanced up and met his eyes. They were filled with some anticipation, excitement, and caution.

“We’re getting married in three months.” He paused and stepped closer, “I’d like for you to be a part of the wedding.”

“Why?”

“Because,” a deep breath, “you were my best friend growing up. Even though you’ve been gone for five years, I always felt that you were still alive and you’d be coming back. Never shared that with the missus though, but…it’s what I always harbored in the heart of mine.” A soft grin, “I always knew you’d be back someday, just didn’t know it’d be today and that I’d see you here of all places.”

“You want me to be a part of your wedding? To my sister?” She asked.

“Yeah, Dani. I do.”

“You and me were together for ten years, ever since sixth grade. How long were you and Erica together?”

“Four.”

“And you’ve been with Julia?”

“About seven months, but I love her. I know what you’re going to say, Dani, and I love her. I don’t care.” He sounded earnest.

Neither did she. She said smoothly, “I left because of you and Erica. How can you have the nerve to ask me this?”

He paled.

“I’m not the same, Jake.” She said clearly, “I’m not that invisible girl anymore. I’m back for…I don’t know. I don’t know how long, maybe enough time for the wedding, but I don’t know. But I, for sure as hell, know that I won’t be a part of your wedding. No way.”

“Will you come at least?”

“I…,” She was at a loss for words, “I don’t know, Jake. This is a bit much on my first day home.”

He nodded, accepting. “Alright.” He said sincerely.

He was different, but he was the same.

“You have changed, Dani.” He murmured a moment later, “I can see it in you. You’re the same girl looks-wise, but…you’re different. I see it in the eyes.”

“You’ve changed too, Jake.”

“Yeah. I have.” He mused, nodding, “I’m happy, Dani. I’m happy. I’m happy that you’re back, finally.”

She was silent.

“I won’t press you for where you’ve been or why you really left, because I don’t believe that bullshit it was because of me and Erica. But, like I said before, I won’t press you. I know you, maybe better than anyone else, and I know that you’ll say when you want to say. But I’m glad you’re back. You were my best friend, Dani. Best friends don’t change, not if they’re true. I learned that while you were gone too.”

He used to be the quiet accepting best friend. He’d be with her in the shadows. They’d played in the river, pulled each other from their innertubes, and then dried out on the bank underneath the hot summer sun. He knew where she was ticklish, what she could shrug off, and what her eyes were always saying.

And he knew how she felt about her sisters.

“You got the old Mustang out of storage?” Jake asked, a rueful grin on his face. Those hazel eyes sparkled.

“Yeah.” Dani murmured, turning slightly away. “She was kept up for me by a friend.”

“I should’ve known when I saw it outside, but I just figured I was seeing things.”

They used to kiss in that car too.

“When’d you become a cop?” She asked abruptly.

“Oh.” He laughed, “About three years ago. Erica wasn’t happy with my job at the hardware store so I figured what better job? Sheriff Mulvay said he was looking for a deputy and I’d get to stay in town.”

“I bet Erica liked the idea of being with a cop.”

“Yeah. She sure liked the bullet-proof vest. She said it was hot.”

Yeah, she’d say something like that.

“So you like being a cop?”

“It has it’s good and bad days. Some of the local punks around here get to know you real well. The drunks aren’t that fun, but what do you do? Part of the job. How about you? What are you going to be doing now that you’re back? Where are you staying? I’m sure Julia would welcome you at the house.”

“Julia’s still living there?”

“Oh yeah. After Erica, her and Kathryn got real close. Your Aunt Kathryn ain’t doing that well these days, but Julia thinks she’s sticking around for the wedding.”

“What’s wrong with her?”

“Same thing that got your momma. Cancer. Julia said that your Aunt Kathryn gave up for awhile. She refused a second go with the chemo when it came back.”

Her family was almost nonexistent.

“I’m not going to stay at the house, but I’ll come out though.” She murmured.

“At the hotel, then?”

“I don’t know right now.”

“Alright.” He turned away, but glanced back, “You want me to say something to Julia or do you want to surprise her?”

Numbly, she murmured, “I’ll do it. I wanted to come here first and then I was planning on going out there. Is Julia at the house?”

He nodded.

“I’ll be out later on.”

“We leave for the grilling around six thirty.”

She nodded.

Pausing another second, he turned back and gave her a hug. Lifting her off her feet, he whispered against her ear, “It’s good to see you, Dani. Really really good.”

You too, but the words couldn’t come so she patted him on the shoulder.

She glanced one last time to her corner, where her initials were hidden from view, as the door closed behind him.

It was sudden and abrupt. Final.

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