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3
Frank
Iwas getting ready for the funeral and thinking about why I was going in the first place. It was true that Gerald was an important member of the town of Hampton, but at the same time we weren't very close. Since we were both business owners and he had been one of my clients in the past, it felt like an obligation for me to go, but I knew that there was another reason.
There was another huge reason, and I couldn't deny it. While I wanted to say that I was there because it was the right thing to do, I knew that it was more because I wondered if somebody else was going to be there. Someone that I remembered very clearly from the past, even though I hadn't seen them in over ten years.
I looked in the mirror and decided that I was just being stupid. She might come, but it's not like she would be the same as before. I always wondered what happened to Amber. I got updates once in a while when I asked, but it had been over a decade. Obviously, some things had changed. She wouldn’t be the same woman that I’d fallen for so long ago.
Deep down, I knew I had this ridiculous idea that we would see each other and everything would fall back in place. I still remember that perfect summer we had together, and I’d always wished that I had been able to stay a little longer. Now, though, I was back in Hampton, and this might be my only time to see Amber. The last I heard, she was living in Paris. Certainly a step up from the small town where we had met, but Amber wouldn’t miss this. She was too close to Gerald to not go.
I got dressed thinking about her, wanting to impress her, and leaving with a bit of hope in my heart. I didn't know even know what I was hoping for. My life was a mess, and I didn't even know if I had room for anyone in it, let alone Amber. She had always been full of life and feisty. Could I handle her? I could barely handle the girl that she once had been. So much had changed. So many things.
Before I could talk myself out of going, I left the house and locked the door behind me. I still preferred my truck, even though I barely ever used it for what a truck was used for. I wasn't in construction, after all, I was an investment banker, but in Hampton, a man needed a truck.
I made it to the only funeral parlor in town, and I had this strange feeling come over me. I didn't believe in fate or magic or anything like that, but so help me it was like I could feel her in there. I didn't know how in the world I would know such a thing, but I certainly felt like Amber was right ahead of me. All I had to do was go to her. This feeling that we always had between us was something that I wanted to believe was real. I wanted it to be something that was still felt all these years later. I know that I still thought about her, but did she still think about me?
I was a little late, probably because it took me about ten minutes to get out of the damn truck and into the funeral parlor. The place was packed. Gerald was a beloved man in the small town. Hampton was also a small town, so people actually cared. A lot of them were there just like me, some obligation or another. If I didn't go, people would notice, and it would be brought up later. Maybe they weren't there for quite the reason I was. They probably weren't there for a long lost love from when they were in high school like me, but I liked to think that I wasn't the only one doing it for a reason.
Because I was late, and the ceremony had already started, I was quick to sit down in the back. I wanted to observe a little bit before I was seen by anyone else. I wanted, quite honestly, to see if Amber was there. And if she was, I wanted to get time to get used to seeing her again. It had been so long, and I was so in my head about what to do. I can't remember a time where I felt so indecisive.
It didn't take long for me to find her in the crowd. That was because she was sitting in front with his closest relatives. I don't remember her saying that she had any brothers or sisters. I hadn't even seen her face yet, but I knew that it was her by the color of her bright red hair. Of course, it was her. I'd never seen that color hair on anyone else, and I think if I did, I would have told them to dye it another color because it didn't belong to them. It belonged to her.
I could only see her from behind, so all of the curiosity that I had was still in full effect. I tried to silently get her to move forward. All she had to do was turn around and see me. Let me see her. Couldn't she feel my attention?
It was only when the funeral director was done talking and he introduced her, that I was able to finally see her. I couldn't say how badly I wanted to. I was convinced that so many things would have changed with her. I wouldn't feel the same way that I always had before. I just knew it, but I was wrong. She looked almost exactly the same. Her porcelain skin was still as white as it could be and was covered in freckles. Her green eyes were flashing, even as far away as I was, I knew that they were the same color and had the same gusto that they always had.
Amber had filled out a little bit, became more of a woman. Last time I had seen her, she was nothing but a girl. Now, with her rounded hips and full chest, I could tell very clearly that things were different. She was even more beautiful than before, if that was possible. It certainly didn't feel like it should be.
My heart was beating harder in my chest, and the more I looked at her, the more I knew that she was exactly the woman that I needed. I hadn't been waiting for her, but maybe my heart had been. My body had used other women to fulfill the immediate desires that I had, but always in the back of my mind, I was thinking about one woman. How I was comparing them to one woman, a woman that I had never even been with more than a kiss. How funny that a kiss could change everything.
“Thank you all for coming. I look out into the crowd and I recognize most of you. As you know, every summer I was here staying with my grandfather and to this day, with all of my travels behind me, it is by far my most happiest memories. The people in this town were so good to me and made me fall in love with small towns. Even as I traveled and started a life, I always came back here. Hampton and my grandfather were the only steady things in my life. Without both of them, I don't know if I'd be the person I am today. I know without my grandfather, I wouldn't have done the many things he encouraged me to do. He was always there for me, the one who always believed in me, and I just can't believe he's gone.”
I felt bad for her then, her voice so strong in the beginning, but it really just started cracking up by the end of it. Anyone present could see that she was hurting. Everyone there knew her and knew that she loved him. It was sad, and I felt like all I wanted to do was go to her and make her feel better. She had such a heavy heart. I could feel it from where I sat.
Then, out of the blue, she looked my way and our eyes locked for a moment. I heard her gasp a little bit and that was only because she was so close to the microphone. She remembered a few more words and thanked everybody for coming and then quickly sat down in her seat. I waited for her to look back at me and it took only a moment for her to do so.
Did she remember me, as I so clearly remembered her?
The service took forever to end. The whole time I wondered if she even remembered me. It had been so long ago, but it was hard to deny the recognition that I had seen in her eyes. So, she knew who I was. Was she going to talk to me? Why was I feeling so on edge?
I didn't get up out of the seat for several moments because there was a flood of people that were going to Amber and offering condolences. I wanted to as well, but I didn't want to have the conversation with her, not our first conversation, in front of everybody. I wanted to believe that what we had to say to each other, we would need a little privacy for. That's what I hoped for, anyway. I had all these big thoughts in my head, but I still didn't even know if any of it was possible.
When the crowd started to clear off a little bit, I walked up to her, and she was standing by the door. She was thanking everybody for coming in and even then, her pain that she was in now, she was still just as graceful as ever. I had observed her for the last hour, and I was convinced that the young girl I knew had turned into a just as capable woman. I was nervous to talk to her, but I knew that I was never going to get my answer if I didn't. I had to know if she had thought about me all these years as I had thought about her. I didn't honestly want to think about if she hadn't. I think that it would have made it hard to come to grips with that, after thinking about it for so long.
“Well, it's been a long time, Frank.”
I smiled at her, and I had all the answers that I needed. Of course, she thought about me. Maybe not as much as I had thought about her, but I was definitely on her radar.
“It has been a long time. I must say that I have missed hearing your voice and seeing you. It's been too long.”
Amber grinned spectacularly and waved to somebody that was passing by and politely said something to them about coming and how it would have meant the world to her grandfather. When she turned back toward me, I could see that there was something on her mind.
“I didn't think I would ever see you again. After I came back the next summer and you weren't here, and your parents said that you weren't coming back, I figured that was that. Each year I would come back in the summer, and each year you were away. What have you been doing with yourself, Frank, in all this time?”
“Well, I went into the military.”
“I know. They always liked to talk about that, and I can see that it rubbed off on you. Hoo-rah.”
