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“Yeah.” Blindly, my hand goes into the cold case beside the register, grabbing a water before putting it on the counter. Some things are just ingrained into your psyche. “Finished school a few months ago. Stuck around Wisconsin to see if I could find a job, but nothing ended up working out the way I wanted it to. Missed the mountains.” I shrug. “Once they get in your system, it’s hard to let ‘em go.”
“Ain’t that the truth? Where you working at? Don’t think I heard.” She rings up my water.
Sliding my card into the reader, I glance up, locking eyes with her. “The bank.”
She laughs, as I shudder. “Remember you saying something one time that you’d never be one of those people who had a stuffy nine to five. Or maybe that was someone else.”
Ruefully shaking my head, I make a noise in the back of my throat. “No, that was me. Said it so many times, I’d damn-near convinced myself. But here we are.”
“Settled isn’t bad girly.” Her wrinkled skin deepens as she smiles sadly at me. “Just because your mama didn’t love it, doesn’t mean it’s not a good way to live your life.”
Leave it to her to get to the heart of the matter. “I know, Nancy. It’s just hard to come back here and see him so lonely.”
“Your daddy isn’t as lonely as you think he is,” she winks.
“Oh, I have no doubt he’s got plenty of company, but I don’t think he’ll ever get married again.”
“No,” she shakes her head. “I don’t guess he will, ‘specially since he’s not divorced from the first one yet.”
Those words surprise me. My parents divorced when I was in third grade. She must be mistaken. Not wanting to argue, I smile politely. “Well, I better be getting home so I can prepare for my first day tomorrow. It was good to see you, Nancy.”
“Come see me anytime; I’m almost always here.” Just as I’m about to leave, she ambles around the counter with arms wide open. “Missed you girly; this place hasn’t been the same since you left.”
Tears sting the back of my eyes. “I don’t think I’ve been the same since I left either.”
We hug tightly before I head out, getting back into the Camry.
Glancing down at the clock, I’m surprised at how early it is. It gets darker here because of the mountains, something I’ll have to get used to again the longer I stay. Seven and I’m heading home. In Wisconsin, I’d just be heading out for the night. The group of girls I lived with and I loved to shut the bars down.
There’s a definite change in my life from there to here. Almost as if I knew as soon as I got into my car to travel back that I would be coming back as an adult. No longer the rebellious teenager who liked to try my dad at every turn. The young girl who felt like her older sister was everything she wasn’t. Who felt like she constantly had to live up to the make up for her mom leaving because they looked so much alike and she chose to cut and run after I was born.
As I’d turned my car east and traveled back to the little town I’d left in a huff on the eve of my eighteenth birthday, it had dawned on me how much I looked forward to seeing places I’d known since childhood. How I’d see Nancy at the gas station. I’d know the people who come into the bank and they’d know me. The girl who couldn’t seem to get out of her own way is returning as the woman who’s looking to make decisions for her future.
Pulling into my dad’s house, the fact he’s left a light on for me warms a spot in my chest. Where once I’d seen this as suffocating to the girl I wanted to be, I can appreciate the anchor it’s become to the woman I am now.
My brakes squeak slightly as I come to a stop right behind his truck, tucking in as close as I dare. Turning the ignition off, I allow myself to take a moment and admire how good the house looks. How much work dad’s put into it, and the pride he’s taken in the place we live. Cognizant of the fact I still have the jacket, I take it off, putting it on my passenger seat before I get out.
When I look up, he’s on the porch, waving.
“Hey,” I wave back at him. “What’re you doing?”
“Making some burgers. Came out to see if you want one.”
My stomach growls and I realize I haven’t eaten since lunch. “I’d love one.”
“Plan on eating in the next twenty,” he nods before going back into the house.
Harlen Hudson is a man of few words, but when he speaks, he makes sure they count. Laughing to myself, I climb the steps and head in. I quickly stop in my bedroom, changing into a pair of sweatpants and a sweatshirt. Since dad’s grilling out, he probably expects to eat on the back porch. There’s still a chill in the air at night and I wanna be comfortable.
Throwing my hair up in a ponytail, I slip on a pair of house shoes and head downstairs. Peeking my head out the backdoor, I ask, “Anything I can do to help?”
“Get the fixings for the burgers? There’s fries in the oven that should be done in the next,” he stops to look at his watch, “two minutes or so.”
“Got it.”
On a tray, I assemble the things I know we both like on our burgers before taking it out. When I come through the back door, he’s grinning at me. “It’s good to have you home, Hayden.”
I smile back at him. “It’s really good to be here.”
