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She shrugs. “I know. I guess life is just like that sometimes.” She continues walking in silence, and I follow next to her wordlessly. I hate this for her and I wish I could say the right words to make her feel better. I just have no idea what those words are.
We move through the car show, taking in the beautiful classic cars lining the street. The city blocked the entire downtown business district off, just like last night. Now, instead of being filled with concert goers and beer gardens, Main Street is full of classic cars, street vendors and the sounds of classic rock music.
Neither of us are really car fanatics, but the prideful faces of the old men sitting in lawn chairs behind their cars light up as we pretend to be. A lot of work and money goes into projects like these. I know because my dad has been working away on his grandpa’s old Chevy pickup for most of my life. We stop in front of a silver Corvette and I notice a disgusted look as it crosses Avery’s face.
“What’s wrong with you?” I whisper out of the side of my mouth.
She turns my body away from the men sitting behind the car watching us. “My mom once told me that men buy corvettes to compensate for having a small…” She shifts her eyes back and forth to make sure we are out of earshot. “Package.” She tells me in a low voice. “I obviously don’t know if it’s true, but I remember that every time I see one and it makes me laugh.”
Avery’s mom has always been an infinite source of wisdom when it comes to things like that. Luckily for us, as soon as we became teenagers, she began to share all of those nuggets of advice with us regularly. Much to my mother’s dismay, of course.
We turn back towards the car and the owner is watching us intently under the brim of his worn straw cowboy hat. Never in my life would I have thought about this mans package, and I almost wish I could wash my brain out. I’ll never look at a Corvette the same again.
Luckily, the awkward silence is interrupted by my name being shouted through the crowd. My eyes search the crowd for the culprit. Just two cars to my left, under a shade tree, stand Cassidy and Sierra. Sierra is waving excitedly.
“Sierra, hey!” I shout, as I move towards her. As the distance closes between us, I almost can’t believe it’s her. When I left Fawn Creek, she was still just a kid. Now, she’s a woman and I just can’t believe how much time has passed. She squeezes me into a hug and then I stand back to look at her. Her long red hair nearly reaches the waistband on her jean shorts. Her face has changed very little since she was a kid. But at least the splatter of freckles across her nose and cheeks hasn’t changed. “How are you so grown up?” I sigh.
“Right?!” Cassidy agrees. “It’s awful. I can’t believe it. She’s a full-time hair stylist at the salon and she’s getting married soon.” She puts an arm across her daughter’s shoulder and hugs Sierra close to her. “It all happened so fast.”
“Agreed.” I say. “When I left, you weren’t in high school yet.”
“Okay, you two old ladies. That’s enough.” Sierra rolls her eyes at our remarks. She turns to me. “Mom tells me you moved back. That’s so exciting.” Sierra interjects, changing the subject.
“Temporarily moved back.” I correct her, although I feel like I’m reminding myself as much as everyone else these days.
“How long are you going to be in town?” Sierra asks.
“Um, through the end of summer, probably. I’m trying to get Hazel’s house ready to go on the market before I leave town again.”
She nods thoughtfully. “So, you’ll be here for my wedding? It’ll be at the end of July.”
“As of right now, yes.” I tell her.
Sierra grins. “Okay, well, then you have to come. I’ll leave an invitation for you in the mailbox at Hazels.”
I smile back at her. “I would love to. Count me in.”
Behind me, Juliet fusses in her stroller, wriggling back and forth. Avery attempts to calm her by rocking the stroller back and forth, but it’s obvious that Juliet’s bored and ready to continue her stroll.
“We better get going.” I say to Sierra and Cassidy before leaning in to hug them both goodbye. “It was good to see you.”
“You too.” She whispers, hugging me tighter. “Let’s get together sometime, okay?”
“You got it.”
* * *
Avery and I spend the rest of the morning grazing through the vendor booths before stopping at the food trucks for lunch. We take a seat at a picnic table in the park with our food and wait for the local dance class to start their performance in front of the gazebo. I smile down at Juliet as she drools all over a French fry.
“She’s just like her Aunt Tyler.” Avery jokes.
“I’ve never met a French fry I didn’t like.” I agree with a shrug. “Well, what else is on the docket for today?” I ask, just as a group of tiny ballerinas take their positions.
Immediately, I recognize Piper, the little girl from daycare that was so worried about my messy hair. I smile at the quirky little girl. While all the other ballerinas have their hair all neat and their smiles frozen, Piper is dancing on the makeshift stage with face paint she obviously got from one of the local booths. The black and orange tiger face she’s rocking makes her even more of a star. I hope if I ever have a daughter; she grows up to march to the beat of her own drum like Piper does.
“Nap time for both me and Juliet.” Avery yawns. “This is pretty much it for me, unless you want to do something else.”
“So, I’m off the hook for the rest of the weekend?” I ask with the largest grin I can muster.
