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“Yeah. We went back there every year after the whole heroin incident. Focused on trying to remember the adventures of our misspent youth. He once told me during the years we weren’t speaking, he would go there, just hoping to see me there. So now, I feel like that’s where he will be waiting for me, you know?”
I wiped the tears from her cheeks with my thumbs. “Sounds perfect.”
Her hopeful eyes turned to mine. “Will you come with me?”
“Of course.” I pulled her tightly to my chest, my heart cracking for her.
* * *
The next morning, we got up early and went into the woods. She talked nervously about being ‘too old’ to be traipsing into the spot where the truants hung out. We were both hoping the early hour would mean the area would be deserted.
Sure enough, we were alone when we came to a clearing in the woods. There were a couple of downed trees she explained had been there since before she used to come. I sat on one and let her wander a little to the exact place she wanted to scatter Eli’s ashes.
She sat on the dead leaves that covered the ground, the box of ashes on her lap.
“You motherfucker,” I heard her say. “You do realize you left me with no other choice than to let that asshat be my best friend, right?” She pointed her thumb over her shoulder in my direction, and I chuckled. “He just wouldn’t leave me alone, and he tells me it’s because you made him promise not to.
“Look, I know I promised not to lose my shit or whatever, but I think we both knew that wasn’t going to happen. You dying on me was the worst thing to ever happen to me. I hate how much I miss you. I hate that you left me to just keep on living without you.” She sniffled.
“Sorry, I digress. Wyatt is growing up so quickly. He still won’t call Mason ‘Dad’ or any variation of it, and I’m starting to think it is because he’s a little shit. Not gonna lie, it’s one of my favorite things about him right now. He’s constantly finding new ways to cause trouble. Nothing serious, just little things that he knows will drive the adults in his life crazy.
“For example, his new favorite thing is to hide his shoes. He looks you straight in the eyes with a little smirk as you ask him where they are, but he never responds. He doesn’t want to wear them, which is mostly Sergio’s fault. I mean, look at the guy. He’s wearing flip-flops in the forest in October, for fuck’s sake.”
I looked down at my freezing toes, realizing that living here meant I would have to get a pair of actual shoes and wear them in the winter. Especially since I didn’t want Wyatt to get frostbitten feet trying to be like me.
Cee continued, “Anyway, I’m doing what you wanted me to do. I’m scattering you where you said you’d always meet me. But I’m leaving a trail the whole way to the road. I’m gonna toss you around like a damn flower girl.
“I miss you. And I love you. I’ll be back to visit soon.” She stood up and brushed off her ass as she turned back toward me. “Let’s do this.”
To my surprise, she wasn’t crying. I remembered the last thing Eli said to me before I left his room just before he died.
“One more thing. I told her I wanted her to scatter my ashes in a year. When she does it, I need you to give her this.” He reached under his pillow and pulled out a thin strip of silver paper.
“A piece of paper?”
“It’s an art project,” he said with a smile. “Tuck it in your wallet.”
“She knows what this is?”
“Yeah.”
I pulled out my wallet, hoping the damn thing was still there after all this time. “Hold up a second. I gotta find something.”
“You’d better not be pulling out a condom, Serge.” She rolled her eyes.
I held up the piece of silver paper. “No, I’m supposed to give you this.”
“Where did you get that?” she whispered.
“Eli. It’s some kind of art project or something?” Inspecting it, I continued. “I didn’t argue with him when he called it that. Just put it in my wallet like he told me to.” I held it out toward her.
“I’m not a really good artist.”
“You made it?”
She chuckled. “Yeah, I guess it’s supposed to be a bird.” She took the paper and peeled it back before sticking her finger in the middle and pushing the two pieces back together. “See. It flaps its wings.”
“You’re a terrible artist, babe.”
