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“Whoops. Sorry. Good thing you got that great contract a couple years ago, right?” She smiles at me, but it doesn’t come close to reaching her eyes.
“Jealousy never did look good on you.”
“Ha, I’m not jealous. I’m perfectly content with where I am right now.” She throws it in drive and winds through the narrow roads as though she’s driven on them her whole life.
“Working a desk job where all of your family members are your clients and living in a small town where you can only hope to meet someone during tourist season because you’ve known everyone your entire life?”
She grips the steering wheel harder and shakes her head before turning up the music. “Don’t worry about me, Rylan. Oh, that’s right, I was never much of a concern for you.”
I turn down the radio. “That’s bullshit and you know it.”
She doesn’t say anything, concentrating on the road ahead, her hands at ten and two on the steering wheel. “Is it?”
“Fuck, Calista, you were my everything.”
She sucks in a burst of air and lowers her window to let a stream of fresh air flood the car. “Let’s just get through this wedding, okay?”
“Deal.” Maybe there’s nothing to talk about.
“And if you want to bring a date, it’s no big deal, I’ll be fine. I mean, if you were even concerned,” she says.
I wasn’t because I have no plans to bring a date. Even though I know there’s no chance for us, a small piece of me has always hoped that one day would be our time. That maybe she’d change her mind.
“Fine. Same goes for you.” I say it out of spite. I’d rather take a fork to my eyeballs than to ever see her with another man.
“Thanks. I’ll consider it then.”
She drives crazy as usual, and we end up beating Alice and Jean to the retirement center. Instead of waiting for them, Calista gets out of the car and walks right in.
I slowly exit, feeling a little hesitant because I haven’t been here since Grandma Ethel lived here. I miss my grandma, but she led a long and happy life, which is pretty much all we can ask. Plus, I’m sure she’s up there with my grandpa Jim, living her best afterlife.
When I came home last Christmas, I noticed Grandma was walking a little slower, and my mom told me how much she missed Dori. It was like a domino effect. Dori passed, then Grandma Ethel, and the third member of the grandma gang, Midge, passed away only two months ago. My dad thinks they didn’t want to be here without the others. After losing their husbands, they found one another, and their friendship was everything to them.
My feet grow heavy the closer I get to the sliding doors because a part of me feels like she should still be in there, meddling in my siblings’ love lives, making sure they all end up in committed relationships with their true loves.
When I enter, Calista is talking to LeeAnn at the reception desk. LeeAnn has a phone pressed to her ear and waves to me. She’s been here for years and has seen Calista and I grow up.
I stand next to Calista and try some shallow breathing because her perfume drives me crazy. Actually, it’s her body spray, the one she uses when she’s going to work out. But she’s used the same kind for as long as I’ve known her, and it spurs memories of us working out together or when I helped with her physical therapy when she was healing from her injury.
LeeAnn hangs up the phone. “Pete said he’ll meet you in the lounge area. Says his apartment is a mess.”
“Thanks.” Calista leaves, not waiting for me, not bothering to spare me a glance.
“How are you, Rylan?” LeeAnn asks, giving me a pitying look I assume must be about my grandma.
“Good, thanks.”
“Sorry about the playoffs.” She cringes.
Ah, so that’s what the look is about. I smack on a smile. “You and me both.”
I hightail it out of there and join Calista in the lounge. A minute later, Alice and Jean join us.
Pete comes down a couple minutes later, pushing a cart. He’s probably in his eighties, with thinning gray hair on top of his head, and wearing green sweatpants, a green sweatshirt that’s a few shades lighter than the pants, and bright-yellow slippers.
He looks at us and frowns. “That old bat LeeAnn told me Calista Bailey was here.” He smiles and shakes his head at Calista.
“That is Calista,” Jean informs him.
