“I guess?” From his questioning, I felt like I was missing something, but I couldn’t figure out what. What wasn’t he saying?
“Eliza lives in Golden Falls.”
“I realized that,” I admitted with an awkward laugh. “I knew she was from here but had no idea she lived here. She…she has her yoga studio up here and is bartending at Lake Ridge.”
“I know,” Colin clipped, and it didn’t feel like this conversation was going to end well. At least everything was out in the open.
Colin and I hadn’t talked about Eliza in the last three years, but we had talked about her a few times when he was dating her. He’d accuse me of flirting with her, and I’d tell him that I was just making conversation. Because I trulywas. Neither of us crossed any lines when she was with Colin—I’d never do that to someone I cared about.
As soon as Eliza and Colin started dating, I’d pushed away any of my initial attraction.
I’d make conversation with Eliza the times we were all together, because I genuinely liked talking to her. It was easy. I wanted to get to know my brother’s girlfriend, but I didn’t think Colin was ever able to move past the fact that I hadn’t been able to look away from Eliza that night in the bar when we both first saw her.
More silence filled the line.
“What aren’t you saying, Colin?” I asked, my words coming out sharper than intended.
“I just find it interesting that your new job is in the same town my ex lives in, at the same bar she works at.”
I sighed heavily. “I don’t know what you want me to say, Colin. I didn’t know she was here. We see each other at work, and that’s that. You broke up three years ago. What does it matter?”
Mentioning that Eliza wasn’t interested in getting back together with him would only make things worse, so I held my tongue. At the rate this conversation was going, it also wouldn’t be a good idea for me to ask why he’d called her.
“She broke up with me,” Colin said.
“I know. That’s what I just said.”
“No, you saidwebroke up, which is technically true, but it was more likeshebroke up withme.” He scoffed. “She kept me at arm’s length the whole year we were together. We never talked about anything meaningful. Took her forever to tell me about her parents. I introduced her to Mom pretty early on, but she never took me home. She’s?—”
“Don’t finish that fucking sentence, Colin.”
Whatever he was going to say wasn’t going to be good, and I’d heard enough. I also wanted to believe that whatever he was going to say, he’d ultimately regret, and as frustrated as I was with him, I didn’t want that.
A small part of me could understand part of his frustration. But what I was mostly focusing on was what Colin was missing. That Eliza didn’t feel comfortable enough to open up to him emotionally, and that wasn’t on Eliza. She was protecting herself.
Colin let out a heavy sigh. “Fuck.”
Maybe that regret was coming sooner than I thought.
“I should get going. Tell Mom hi from me. I’ll give her a call later this week. Bye.”
Colin didn’t give me a chance to say anything else before he hung up the call, for good reason. With how tightly my jaw had been clenched, I wasn’t even sure what was going to come out of my mouth.
It was for the best neither of us would have to find out.
“You made it,” Mom said with a full smile as I got out of the car. She pulled her navy-blue cardigan tighter as a chill swept in.
“Hey, Mom.” I pulled her into a hug. “Good to see you. Did you get your hair cut recently?” Her brown hair looked shorter than usual, hitting just below her chin.
Mom touched her hair as she pulled back, nodding. “A few weeks ago. It’d been too long since I’d been in the salon last, and I finally found some time.”
When I took another look at her, I noticed that even though her smile was bright and there was cheerfulness in her voice, her eyes looked tired. My mom had always enjoyed going to the salon, and even though it was a simple thing, it was one of those visits that she didn’t miss. She scheduled her appointments in advance and kept them, saying it was her “me time.” The fact that it’d been a while since she’d gone made me think things had been busier for her than she let on.
“Your grandparents picked which retirement community they’ll be moving to. One in Arizona. I think it’ll be good for them. Get away before the weather gets cold again.” Mom filled me in as we walked up her driveway. She’d just gotten back from my grandparents’ house and had a round of boxes still in her car to donate.
“The weather is just starting to warm up—don’t remind me that it’ll get cold again,” I joked. “But that’s great, Mom. What do you think about your house?” I tipped my chin. “Still thinking about selling?”
Mom lived in a white ranch-style home with red shutters and windows that offered all the views you could image of the lot. It was a beautiful location—one that I’d come to appreciate more as I got older.
