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11
Park Benches
“Addison,”my parents chime as they walk into the kitchen.
Their faces, morphing from stone cold to heartwarming in an instant, almost make me laugh. There will come a time, over the weekend, when I’ll be pulled aside and spoken to about this morning, but it won’t be today. Probably not even tomorrow. If I can avoid them, I will. At all costs.
How do you tell your parents the truth about a scumbag like Josh?
Would they even believe me?
I’m sure he’s changed since then, hopefully matured, but that doesn’t mean the way I feel about him has changed. Or the fact that I’m grateful he left me in the parking lot that night.
Thoughts of that night bring back thoughts of Wyatt. Everything does around here. No matter where I turn, something in this town will remind me of him, of us, of what we had and of what I lost.
Then there’s Lola.
She looks so much like her father it hurts sometimes. When she holds a conversation, even at four-years-old, she looks you straight in the eyes. There are times I feel like I’m looking into Wyatt’s eyes as we talk, the hazel beauties sparkling in the light the way his used to.
“Where’s Lola?” my mother asks, interrupting my thoughts.
“She’s taking a nap. I’ll wake her up in an hour and then she’s all yours.”
“How long has she been down?” she replies, taking a step toward the back stairs.
Rolling my eyes, I nod at my mother and she begins ascending the stairs before the words leave my mouth. “Long enough, I guess.”
Moments later, I hear Lola’s laughter echo down the stairs. That’s all it takes for my father to disappear as well. As upset as they were when they found out I was pregnant, they love that little girl to pieces. You would never know there was a point in time they wanted me to end my pregnancy.
“So, what’s on our agenda for today?” Addy asks, taking a sip of her coffee.
It’s after noon, almost ninety degrees already, and she asked for a cup of coffee. Not that I was surprised. Addy drinks coffee all hours of the day and night and yet still is able to sleep as soon as her head hits the pillow. I envy her sometimes.
If it’s not the coffee keeping me up, it’s Lola or the dreams that plague me from time to time. I would call them nightmares, but Wyatt is always the star, and if that’s the only time I get to see him, to remember him as he once was, it can’t be a nightmare.
“Nothing that I know of. The party’s not until tomorrow. There’s not much to do in town. What were you thinking?” A devious smile spreads across Addy’s lips, but I silence her before she can share her thoughts. “Don’t even say it.”
“Why not get it out of the way now, on your terms. No surprises. Figure your shit out and this way you can do it without Lola around.”
Valid point, but I’m not ready to face him yet. There’s so much uncertainty.
How will he react to seeing me?
Does he even want to see me?
Has he moved on?
What happens after I tell him about Lola?
That’s my biggest fear. Not that he doesn’t want to be a part of Lola’s life, because there’s no reason he has to be, but that he’s going to freak out when I tell him. I would freak out if I were him.
“Not yet,” I finally say, pushing away the turkey sandwich Norman made for me.
“Fine, but let’s at least get out of the house. We’ll go into town, walk around and see what this festival is all about. I’ll even let you criticize the way they’re doing things because we both know you could do it better.”
Agreeing to her terms, Addy and I get ready to head into town while my parents dote on Lola. When we pop into the kitchen to say goodbye, they’re feeding her a giant ice cream sundae for lunch. They don’t know it yet, but they’ll regret that in about an hour when her sugar buzz kicks in.
As I pull into town, the only street parking available is in front of the Tavern. Of course, just my luck. Addy is going to find a way to drag me inside later. I can already see the wheels turning in her head as she gets out of the car, nodding her head in approval.
