Page 13 of Pick Me This Time

“We taught you how to keep your priorities straight,” Mom said. “Speaking of which, I hope now that Sterling is here you guys will be ready to get down to business planning the reunion. So far, your committee has done a wonderful job coordinating with all your old classmates and getting the invitation out there, but Bill and I are both starting to get worried about the actual event.”

Bill Riley had been the principal at Allisburg High since before I’d been born, and Mom had been working there just as long. As stalwarts on the faculty, they helped with the reunion ever year and I knew how much they both enjoyed seeing all their former students when the annual event rolled around.

This year was simply the first time that one of Mom’s own kids was involved with it, and I knew that was making her feel extra pressure. Eric groaned again but nodded as he finally finished his meal.

“I haven’t really gotten around to talking to Sterling about it much, but I know he came out earlier so he could help. We’ll be fine.”

“Excellent.” Mom smiled at him before turning to me. “You’ll help too, right? You were part of the student government back in the day and we’d sure appreciate if you’d jump in too.”

“Wow. The teachers are really worried, huh?” I asked curiously. “What happened to Sterling North being the be all and end all?”

Mom chuckled. “He was never the be all and end all. He was simply a good student, but he hasn’t been all that active when it’s come to helping plan it all. I’m sure he’d appreciate a hand now that he’s here. There’s not much time left to pull it all together.”

“It sounds like you’ve got it all under control, though,” Eric joked. “You and Bill having fun with this?”

Mom shook her head and gave him a stern look. “We haven’t minded having to help out to get to this point, but we’ve also got our hands full with homecoming. There’s more than just your reunion to think about. We’ve got the parade and the dance, and the fall festival coming up. I know you’re all grown up and busy, but so are we, so get it together.”

“There’s the teacher we all know and love,” I teased before I reached out and gave her forearm a quick squeeze. “Don’t worry about it, Mom. I’m happy to help. Just let me know what you need and I’ll drag them all out of bed by their toenails if I have to.”

Mom winked. “I’m going to hold you to that.”

We chatted a while longer before Mom and Dad retired to their bedroom. Eric and I washed up, like we did every week after our family dinner, and then we went out on the back porch together to have a last drink and unwind.

“What’s really going on with Sterling?” I asked now that we were finally alone. “I heard what Mom said in there and everything, and it makes sense, but jeez. He was such a grump when I picked him up.”

My brother shrugged, leaning back on his chair and looking out at the moon beyond the awning covering the porch. “To be honest with you, I don’t really know what’s going on with him. I agree with Mom that it must be difficult, but when I asked, he just said he was tired. He wasn’t really a grump, though.”

“You’re lucky, then,” I muttered. “He hardly said two words to me. He wouldn’t even tell me what he really does for a living. All he grunted at me was that he worked in finance. Then he asked me to drop him at your shop and that was it.”

“He’s an investment banker,” Eric said mildly. “A tired one, at that. I don’t think he’s taken a vacation since he left here.”

“Really?” I frowned. “I guess that would explain it.”

“He’s always been a hard worker,” he said. “I used to think it was because his family struggled so much financially and that was why he was so determined to lift himself out of those circumstances, but now, I don’t know. He’s got to be making a killing and yet it looks like he’s still a workaholic.”

“I always knew he was determined, but I suppose I didn’t realize how much or why,” I said, still not really understanding it. Northfield Farms had always seemed like heaven to me, but I’d also known that it didn’t rake in the big bucks.

Food for thought.

Even more curious than before, I studied my brother’s contemplative features, bathed in shadow and silver as he kept his gaze on the moon. “What else do you know about his life now? He seems so different.”

“And you seem so curious.” He turned to arch a dark eyebrow at me. “What’s going on, Daph? Why all the questions about him?”

I shrugged. “No reason.”

“An old crush rising to the surface, perhaps?” he teased.

I scoffed. “Absolutely not.”

I’d been hiding said crush from him since I’d been fourteen years old. After eleven years, I was hardly going to admit it now. Even as I said it though, I couldn’t help but think back to that night Sterling had walked me home from the party.

To this day, whenever I thought about the way he’d smiled at me that night, I felt a little flutter in my stomach. I knew it was silly, but it just never went away.

It was definitely back in full force now that I’d seen him again. Sterling North just had that effect on me, and it seemed that even eleven years later, there was absolutely nothing I could do to stop it.