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Chapter 2
League City, Texas
Nine years later
I was thinking about Alec Abramson again at the moment because I saw him just a few minutes ago. He had gotten famous since the last time I saw him, so I could search him on the internet any time I wanted, but this was the first time I had seen him in person since we graduated high school.
I honestly thought I would never lay eyes on him again. But here he was, at my little elementary school. It was a Saturday afternoon, and I was in charge of the medical tent at the huge fall picnic that was held every year at the elementary school where I worked.
Alec was in a disguise, but I knew it was him. I knew him that well, even after all these years. I was still hopelessly in love with Alec during our sophomore year of high school, but I finally got over the feelings during our junior and senior years, after he broke the hearts of about ten other girls. None of them lasted for more than a month or two, and at first, I was jealous of them, but then I just started to pity them. Then I started to pity Alec.
Not that he needed or wanted my pity. Aside from his inability to have a healthy relationship with a woman, he had it all together. He was a talented musician who started a rock band called Split Decision with his equally talented twin brother.
I wasn't surprised when they got famous years later. I didn't listen to their music, but it wasn't because it wasn't good. I knew my limits, and it wasn't advisable to expose myself to too much Alec Abramson. I was over him, but I was not immune to his charms. I never stopped thinking Alec was the coolest, most handsome guy I had ever met.
But I knew I had made the right choice after years passed and I saw him live a life that was void of any sort of commitment to one person. I just wish I had known it before things happened between us. It was fine, though. I worked with teenage girls at my church, and I was able to warn them against letting regrettable things happen with their boyfriends.
I normally didn't think about Alec Abramson, other than to give my testimony. I was only thinking about him today because Alec was here, at my school. It was his mom and dad that I recognized at first. Alec looked like an eighty-year-old man. He was wearing a disguise. His customized mask was really nice, and I wouldn't have recognized him if he hadn't been with Sean and Jenny Abramson. I had only looked at him because he was with them. But I saw the shape of his face and I could tell it was Alec by the way he walked.
We were forty minutes away from Galveston, and I never expected to see them there. I hadn't run into any of the Abramsons since I moved to Houston for college, so it was surreal seeing them there. I had no idea how they ended up in League City, Texas at my little elementary school.
I spotted them right when they came in, and I got nervous, thinking I might have to talk to them. But then I realized it probably wouldn't happen. I was hidden away—stationed in the medical booth. I could easily avoid them. It was a group of three grown adults, and I was relatively sure none of them would need first aid while they were at a picnic. In fact, I only had three patients so far today.
I was going into my second year of working at this school as the nurse, so I hadn't been to many of these picnics, but I had come last year and I knew it was a big deal in the community. There were games, contests, and raffles with really good prizes like trips and cars. It was a major fundraiser for the school, and all of the parents and teachers got into it.
It was coming up on Halloween, and some of the kids were in costume. I really loved looking out at the action and interacting with people. But today, I would be cautious and sit in the back of the tent where it was shaded and I couldn’t easily be seen.
I had a knitting project in my bag, and I sat in the back of the booth and worked on that. It was an easy pattern for a dishcloth. It was my go-to knitting project when I wanted a mindless activity to occupy my time. I knitted three rows of fifty-three stitches while I sat there, glancing outside every ten seconds or so.
Moments later, I had a skinned knee to attend to. It was a precious little girl, a three-year-old little sister of a couple of our other students. She and three others were in my tent for about ten minutes while I cared for her scraped knee. I gave away three popsicles during that transaction, and everybody left the tent smiling.
I was tempted to follow them out of the booth to take a look at the scene at the picnic, but I didn't know where the Abramsons had gone, and I didn't feel like running into them. I turned and sat in my folding chair in the corner of the room. I had just settled in with my knitting when I saw a shadow come across the open side of my tent. It only took a split second for me to recognize that it was Alec standing in my doorway.
He stared and smiled at me in such a way that I knew he knew who I was. He recognized me, and I was so nervous and shaken in that moment that I pretended that I had no idea who he was.
"Can I help you, sir?" I asked, pretending I thought he was an old man.
"I reckon I need a bandage," he said, faking an old man's voice. It was slower and deeper and with a southern drawl.
"What'cha got?" I asked, putting my knitting down and getting down to business with him.
"What's that, needlepoint or something?" he asked.
"Knitting," I said, still being frank.
"What's a woman your age doing knitting?"
"Oh, it's simple, really. People of any age can do it. So, what is it that you need bandaged today?"
"Oh, uh, my arm," he said.
I had to hold back a smile at the voice. He sat down in one of the chairs, and I sat next to him, squinting at his arm like I was waiting for him to show me the problem. He had on jeans and a fitted thermal shirt, and he lifted his sleeve, but there was nothing there.
I glanced at him, making eye contact when there was no problem to be found. He smiled at me. His mask was well made, but it wasn't applied perfectly. It was a custom piece that had holes for his eyes and mouth, and in those areas, the thin silicone was peeling back just a bit. People just assumed he was an old man and didn't look at him long enough to inspect it. He knew who I was, and he thought he really had me fooled.
I held character, letting Alec believe I had no idea who he was. I was a little anxious to see him, but time had passed, and I had matured in my feelings. I no longer took it personally that things hadn't worked out between us. It had been such a long time that my heart was much harder about it than it used to be. I wouldn't say I was indifferent to him, but I wasn't terribly affected.
I looked at his very young arm again, staring down, blinking at it, trying to see the injury.
