Hunter
“Nellie, have you seen my suitcase?” I walked into the living room where she was sitting watching TV as if she didn’t have any cares in the world.
“No, Hunter, why would I have seen your suitcase?” She yawned. “You have cheap, tacky stuff from Walmart. I don’t do cheap and tacky.”
“And what’s that got to do with the price of tea?” I stifled a sigh. Sometimes my sister really irritated me. “Have you used my suitcase, yes or no?”
“I have a Louis Vuitton case. Why would I ever want to use your case?”
“Okay. So I’m guessing that’s a no?”
“Yes, Hunter, that’s a no.” She paused whatever she was watching on the TV and finally gave me her full attention. “Anyway, why do you need a suitcase?”
“I told you—I’m going to San Francisco in a couple of days, remember?”
“No, I don’t remember that you told me you were going to San Francisco in a couple of days.” She shrugged. “But have fun.”
“Well, I’m not going to have fun if I don’t have my clothes with me.”
“Hunter, you can buy a new suitcase.”
“Why would I want to buy a new suitcase when I already have a suitcase?”
“You can have more than one suitcase, Hunter.”
“Oh for—Nellie, I think I’m going to have to send you back to Mom and Dad’s.”
“No! Why? I’ve been good.” She jumped up off of the couch, alarmed. There was no way she wanted to go back to Mom and Dad’s. “Do you want me to help you find the suitcase, then?”
“Well, if you want to help, I’m not going to say no.”
“Oh my gosh, big brother. You’re completely useless.”
“Nellie, do you want to stay here or not?”
“I’m coming. I’m coming. I’m joking,” she said. “Oh, man. I’d think you’d let me stay here because you loved me, not because you needed me to be your maid.”
I ignored her as we began walking through the house.
“Did you check your bedroom?” she asked.
“Obviously, I checked my bedroom.”
“Did you check the spare room?”
“Obviously, I checked the spare room.”
“Did you look in the garage?”
“Nellie, what do you think?”
“I don’t know. I mean, if you looked everywhere, where else could it be?”
“That’s why I came and I asked you, because I remember you said you were gathering stuff last week.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Remember you said you were gathering clothes and other items for the donation drive that your sorority was doing or something?”
“Oh yeah …” She paused, and then she looked at me guiltily. “Oops.”
“Oops what, Nellie?”
“So, remember those clothes that I gathered up?” She laughed in a way that told me she was nervous. I knew my little sister very well.
“Yeah.”
“Well …” She had a guilty expression on her face.
“Well what, Nellie?”
“I put all those clothes in that raggedy gray suitcase that you had in your room.”
“What raggedy gray suitcase? You’re not talking about my very nice navy-blue suitcase?”
“Hunter, it wasn’t very nice.” She rolled her eyes. “It was raggedy and it was gray, and I thought that it was trash.”
“If it was trash, why would it be in my bedroom?”
“Okay, well, I guess I was wrong. I’ll buy you a new suitcase if you really want me to.”
“I’m not going to say no.”
“Seriously? You’re so cheap, Hunter. Really? You’re going to make me spend my allowance to buy you a suitcase?”
“I know Mom and Dad gave you a credit card, so you can use that.”
“Fine. Can I finish watching The Bachelor and then—”
“No, I need it now. I want to start packing.”
“Whatever.” She walked back into the living room and turned the TV off. “Let me go and put on some make-up and then we can go.”
“You need to put on makeup to head to Walmart?”
“Hunter, I’m not buying you a suitcase at Walmart. We can go to the mall. There’s a Dillard’s there. And a JCPenney. I mean, there’s even a Macy’s. They will have nice suitcases, a step up for you.”
“Okay, fine. Whatever. It’s your money. Or actually, it’s Mom and Dad’s money.”
“Hold on a second.” She froze suddenly. “I just thought about something!”
“Yes?” I resisted making a smart-aleck comment about how rare it was for her to think.
“Did you say you’re going to San Francisco?”
“Ding, ding, ding, well, aren’t you a smart girl? You finally listened to me!”
“San Francisco, as in where Birdie lives?” Her lips twitched.
“Yeah, and …?” I stared back at her, not smiling. I knew where this was going. Nellie was Birdie’s biggest advocate. It was almost like they were sisters. I knew that Nellie missed Birdie. She’d grown up with her, but I was fed up with her smart-ass comments.
“You’re going to San Francisco, where Birdie lives,” she repeated.
“I’m going to San Francisco because I have a talk with a small bank there that Dad wants us to do business with. You know we’re trying to expand into the West.”
“We’re a Southern bank. Why are we trying to expand into the West?”
“It’s called expansion, Nellie. That’s what businesses do.”
“Okay, Mr. Big Businessman of the Year.” She rolled her eyes. “So, you’re going to San Francisco on business. And are you or are you not going to try and contact Birdie?”
“I’m not trying to contact Birdie, no.” I paused. “Though I know Mom spoke to her mom about it.”
“About what?”
“What do you think? To see if she wanted to hang out or whatever, but I guess Birdie’s not interested.”
“Of course Birdie’s not interested after the way you treated her!”
“What are you talking about? I didn’t treat her badly. She was very lucky to date someone like me.”
Nellie snorted. “You mean you were lucky to date someone like her. You’ll never get anyone as good as Birdie for the rest of your life.”
“Um, I don’t want another girl like Birdie for the rest of my life, thank you very much. She was crazy. She was drama. She was—”
“Oh, Hunter, whatever.” She rolled her eyes at me. “Why don’t you just admit that you screwed up, and maybe one day you guys could at least be friends again or something?”
“And what does that mean?”
“It just means that …” She sighed. “Whatever. You’re never going to understand. You’re a typical man.”
“I’m not a typical anything, Nellie.”
“Okay, if you say so, but let me tell you something, brother. If you had been my boyfriend,” she made a face. “Let’s just say you wouldn’t have any balls left.”
“Nellie!” My voice rose. “Really? That is not an appropriate thing to say.”
“What, are you going to tell Mom and Dad?” she giggled. “Oh wait, you are, because I forgot, you’re a snitch.”
“I’m not a snitch, Nellie, and if I were, you wouldn’t be staying here with me because if Mom and Dad knew half the things that you got up to—”
“Fine, fine. Okay.” She gave me her deceptively sweet smile. “You’re the best big brother in the world. Now let’s go and buy you an amazing suitcase so that you can go to San Francisco and not see Birdie.”
“Well, I didn’t say I wasn’t going to see her,” I said with a smirk.
“But you just said she’s not interested in seeing you.”
“Birdie doesn’t always know what’s good for her.” I laughed. “She’ll see me.”
“Oh, no,” Nellie groaned. “Really? What are you going to do?”
“I’m not going to do anything. Just send her an email, and maybe, just maybe, she’ll want to catch up for old times’ sake.”
“Do you really think so, Hunter?”
“Stranger things have happened.” I shrugged. “Now come on, let’s go. Forget the makeup. You’re not going to see anyone, and I don’t have time.”
“What do you mean, you don’t have time?”
“Nellie, it takes you an hour to do your makeup. Let’s be real.”
“Fine, but …” She paused. “We’re only going to Target, then, because none of my friends would be caught dead in Target.”
“I forgot, you’re friends with the king and queen of England.”
“Ha, ha, Hunter, whatever. Come on. Let’s go.” She dropped her voice. “But … ”
“What?”
“If you do see Birdie, will you at least tell her I miss her?” She gave me a sad little smile. “I really thought she’d be my sister one day. She would have been if you hadn’t screwed it up.”
“Whatever, Nellie, but yes, I’ll tell her.” I looked out of the window and sighed.
Nellie wasn’t the only one who missed Birdie. I missed her as well, though I would never say so out loud. I would never admit that I had played a role in the demise of our relationship. It still hurt me that she’d left. Even though it had been my fault, I hadn’t expected that she would finally put on her big girl shoes and walk away from me.
And she hadn’t just walked away; she’d left the state, so I’d had no chance of wooing her back.