Chapter Fifty-Nine
On Monday morning, I get a text from Gillian: CALL ME. I MISS YOU. ~G
The fact is, I miss her, too. I hate the way things were left between us.
I text her back: I’M MOVING INTO A NEW PLACE. HOW ABOUT YOU COME OVER THIS WEEKEND AND HELP ME DECORATE?
OMG! YES!!! She immediately responds.
Yep, I miss the girl.
I drop Riel at Ponce de Leon Academy and Mar at the junior high, and I set out to officially figure out my life. I go to the campground’s office first and follow through with the cleaning job and my cabin. Next, I head to the local high school and wait in line to see a guidance counselor.
Hours later, I’m enrolled for second semester, and with my transfer credits I still have enough to graduate on time. I also have a folder full of college applications for grants and scholarships and loans. I may get turned down because of the disciplinary letter, but I’m still going to try. And if nothing comes through, well then, I’ll just work my way through my dream of a higher education.
Forge on and don’t sit idle. More of Momma’s words. It’s funny how now that I’m away from her and independent I recall more and more her sayings, and the wisdom behind them. To think I spent so many years discounting them. She knew exactly what she was talking about.
By four o’clock, I’ve picked Riel and Mar back up and we’re all standing outside of my cabin. My very first place. With my phone I snap a quick picture of it and text it to Levi: ALL MINE :) And then I stand for a second and just take it in.
Tiny and painted red, the cabin has a screen porch and shrubs that line the front and side. Whoever lived here before me stuck halogen lights in the ground, and I decide I really like them.
Riel steps up beside me. “Ready?”
With a nod, I lead the way across the porch, unlock and open the front door, and cringe. “Ugh.” I crinkle my nose. “Moth balls.”
Mar slips past me and straight to the windows to open them, and as the fresh air slowly seeps in, I look around the tiny place.
A love seat sits centered under a window with a TV right beside it. Thin, stained, beige carpet spreads throughout all the rooms. There’s a small kitchenette with rusted, rundown appliances. A skinny hallway leads into a bedroom big enough to hold a double bed and one dresser. And in the bathroom I find a stand-up shower, a porcelain sink, and a toilet with discolored water.
Riel puts my stuff down on top the bed. “Last person who lived here was the campground’s maintenance man.”
“Cute from the outside.” I try for positive.
“I’ll give you clean sheets, towels, blankets, and all that. I’ve got some spare dishes and stuff. Whatever you need. Help yourself.”
“Thanks. First thing I need to do is clean.”
“Put Mar to work while I’m gone to the Windbreaker. Place is small. Won’t take you long.”
“Sure!” Mar agrees, a little too excited for someone who’s about to help me clean.
LOVE! Levi texts me back.
DIRTY, I respond. SCRUBBING NOW .
Mar and I spend the next few hours cleaning my new place from top to bottom. We make about a bazillion trips back and forth between the cabin and the fifth wheel getting extra stuff I need. I owe Riel a huge thanks—otherwise I’d be coughing up money I don’t have for basic necessities.
Mar falls asleep on my newly clean love seat and I dial my momma.
“Hey, sweet girl,” she answers. “I’m just getting to the club.”
I smile at her familiar voice. “Momma, I’ve had a run of bad luck. I lost my scholarship.” I don’t tell her all the circumstances surrounding it.
“I’m sorry, darling girl. You coming home?”
“No, I found a job and got a place to stay. I went over to the local high school and enrolled for next semester. With all my credits, I’ll still be able to graduate on time.”
“And MIT?”
I try not to get depressed at that question. “I don’t know, Momma. I’ll try, but I may have to lay that dream aside for now.”
“That’s okay. You forge ahead. I hope you know how proud I am of you.”
I smile. “I know, Momma.”
“Let’s talk later. I’m fixin’ to be late if I don’t get in there.”
“Love you. Kiss the twins for me.”
Riel knocks on my screen, and I jump. With a laugh, he lets himself in. “Talking to home?”
“Yeah.”
“Everything okay? Your mom’s good with the changes?”
“My momma’s proud of me.”
Riel smiles. “Bet that feels good.”
It occurs to me that he probably has no clue what that feels like. I bet his dad, whenever he does show up, never says those words to him. “It does. It’s the best. You’ve never heard that from your dad?”
“Not for a very long time.”
“I’m sorry, Riel.”
“Me, too.”
I can’t imagine never hearing that from my momma.
He looks around. “Much better. Get everything you need?”
I nod. “Thank you very much. How can I repay you?”
He gets a sneaky smile. “We’ll think of something.”
Awareness buzzes across my skin. “Still want to christen the place?”
Simultaneously, we both look down to Mar, then Riel comes straight toward me and pulls me in for a very long and delicious kiss. “Give me some time to get her settled in her own bed, and then I’ll be back.”
I lower my voice. “I bought condoms when I was out today.”
He slides his hand down to my butt as he takes a couple of love nibbles from my neck. “I did, too.”
Mar stirs and yawns, and sleepily she gets up and trudges out of my cabin. “I’m going to bed,” she mumbles.
Riel doesn’t take his eyes off me. “Let me walk her over, tell her I’ll be here, lock her in, all that good stuff. Fifteen minutes. No, ten. No, five tops.”
Playfully, I shove his chest. “Go. I’ll be here.”
He gives me one last soft kiss. “I’m so happy you stayed,” he whispers.
“Me, too,” I whisper back. Very happy indeed.
I see them out, and as I stand on my porch, watching them walk across the campground, the smell of pot floats past me.
Immediately, I recall that time I was helping Gillian unload her car and there was the smell of pot in the air. Just like then, I’m sieged with the unnerving sensation someone is watching me.
But that’s impossible. Manny’s in jail. That part of my life is over with. This is what I tell myself, but just like when I was on the boat, something tucked away in my brain has me questioning.
I look back at Riel as he opens the door to their fifth wheel and Mar steps up inside. “No,” I say to myself. “Everything is okay.”
Riel turns then, and his face is lit by the light spilling out of the RV. He smiles, and I smile back. He holds up five fingers, reminding me he’ll be right back. My smile gets even bigger, and I nod. Yes, everything is okay.