Page 59 of Something About September

They found themselves walking side by side, not touching, the hay brushing their shoulders. When a dead end appeared, they turned, laughed quietly together. This was the way it always was, in the Calloways’ hay maze.

“Maybe I don’t know my way out,” he said. They were standing close now and her heart was racing the way it always did around him. “Maybe I’m lost.”

She looked up at him. “I’m not, actually,” she said. “For once.”

She took a deep breath and then started telling him about her plans. The way she would have before, back when they were friends. It felt so good, and she could tell by the way his face relaxed that it felt good for him, too.

They started walking again as they spoke, making wordless choices together as they did.

Another turn.

Another corridor.

She knew they were close to the exit because of the changing light and the voices she could hear. She stopped walking. He did, too.

“I found something,” she began. “I wanted to tell you about it because…” She trailed off, felt shy.

“Because we tell each other things,” he finished for her. “I’ve missed that. A lot.”

She felt relieved. “Me, too. So much.” She told him about her mother’s letter and about feeling like she could finally hear her mother’s voice. The grin on Cort’s face was a reward.

“I’m so happy for you, Becca. Honestly. That’s beautiful.”

“I’ll show it to you sometime, if you want.”

“I’d love to see it.”

They rounded a final turn, and there, suddenly, were music and voices again. They stood in the bright mouth of the maze and looked at each other. She didn’t want to walk away from him—and it seemed he felt the same.

She decided to be brave.

“The truth is, I didn’t just miss talking to you, I missed you,” Rebecca said.

His eyes darkened into that storm-cloud gray she knew and loved so much. He bit his lip, stepped a little closer. When he spoke, his voice was soft. “I’ve missed you, too.”

“Dad!”

Pip was walking toward the maze with Melanie. He ran over and began to tell Rebecca excitedly about being in the hay maze twice that day already, and how nervous he was about the pumpkin weigh-in. The three of them stood in the sunlight and chatted easily, and at one point Melanie caught Rebecca’s eye and winked.

Then Rebecca spotted Sabrina, walking alone in the distance toward the main house, and she knew there was another conversation she shouldn’t wait to have.

She said her goodbyes and turned away, trying to ignore the tug she felt at walking away from Cort. But they had made some steps toward a new beginning, and that had to be enough for now. Much like a hay maze, whatever they were going to become couldn’t be built in just one day. She had to be patient.

When she walked into the farmhouse, there was silence. She found her friend at the kitchen table, a cup of tea in hand, looking drained. She smiled when she saw Rebecca. “Hey,” she said. “Just taking a little break.”

“You look tired.”

“I am. And it’s only Friday. Two more days of this.”

“You just aren’t feeling it this year, are you?”

Sabrina shook her head. “You know I’m not.”

Rebecca sat down at the table. “I did something wild,” she said as Sabrina poured her a tea.

“Oh, really? What’s that?”

“I texted Cort.” Sabrina’s eyes lit up. “I talked to him. He saved me when I was lost in the hay maze, actually.” Now they widened with delight. “I told him I miss him, and he said he misses me, too. We left it at that, but it feels good. Like the start of maybe, just maybe, being at the right place at the right time, together.”