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“SO, HOW LONG HAS Melodee worked for you?” I ask Landon as we pull out onto the highway leading to Independence. I spent the morning at his office hanging pictures in the conference room and reception area and got a bad vibe from his assistant. She seemed to have had an attitude toward me from the moment she saw us step off the elevator.
“She’s been with me since I opened the company four years ago.”
“She’s kind of a bully.”
His eyes narrow and the muscles in his jaw tick. I can see that he’s getting upset and I hate that I’m the cause of it. “Did she say something to you?”
“Not really.” He glances in my direction before turning his gaze back to the road. “I mean, she did but I just brushed it off.”
“Emi?” Reaching across the console, he takes my hand in his and twines our fingers together. “What happened?”
“She just really gave me the creeps. You know? She was watching me the entire time I was hanging pictures. She kept saying little things like I’m not good enough for you and I should run back to daddy.”
“Run back to daddy?”
“That’s what she said.” I don’t release his hand before turning my focus back out the passenger window. He squeezes my hand – not in anger, more like he’s reassuring me that he’s still there.
“What the fuck is that supposed to mean?”
“I don’t know.” I turn back to face him. “It was weird. I’m choosing not to let it bother me though.”
“Okay.” His grip on my hand loosens and he runs his thumb along my knuckles softly. “If you’re sure. I can say something to her if you want me to.”
“No. I’m sure it’s nothing against me. But I do think she has a little bit of a crush on you.”
He coughs out a laugh. “What?”
“I think she’s just angry that I was there with you. I think she likes you.”
“I don’t believe that. She’s worked for me for four years.”
“I know. But still.” I leave it at that. I’m not going to argue with him about the inner workings of the female brain. I’ll stand behind what I said. She’s jealous and her little green monster wears anger on its sleeve. He might not see it, and that’s okay, but I know it’s there and I don’t feel threatened by it.
“You know I don’t think of her that way, right?”
Tilting my head to the side, I look at Landon’s profile. He’s relaxed but I can still see the bit of worry behind his eyes. Still, I believe him. “I know.”
“Seriously, Kitten. She works for me. There’s never been anything more than that.”
“I believe you, Landon.” I know it hasn’t been long since we’ve been together, but I really do believe him. If he says there’s nothing going on with his assistant and never has been, I have no reason not to believe him. He’s never done anything to me to make me trust him any less.
Lifting my hand, he kisses the back of it before lowering it back to his lap.
“Like I said, she’s a bully. That’s something that I can deal with. I’m used to being bullied,” I admit.
“I don’t know if that makes me feel any better,” he says with a grimace.
“I know, but it’s the truth. I can’t do anything to change my past though. All I can do at this point is learn from it. And what I’ve learned about bullies is that they usually have a reason for lashing out. It might not even be meant directly toward me. They might have something else going on in their lives that they can’t deal with on their own and they just lash out at whoever seems an easier target.”
“You’re amazing, you know that?”
That makes me smile and I can feel the blush burning my cheeks. “Thanks.” I look away from him for several seconds as I watch a field full of birds out the passenger window. I have no idea what kind of birds they are but they’re white. There are so many of them that it looks like a section of snow-covered land right in the middle of the field. I should have brought my camera. If I had, then I would make Landon pull over just so I could get a picture of them.
“There was one boy in high school that used to pick on me all the time,” I begin. “He moved into town when we were in second grade, so I’d known him already for most of my life. He only had a few friends that I knew he hung out with outside of school. I never saw his mother, so I don’t know if she was around. But his father was a drunk and was never home. It was just him and his two older sisters most of the time when he wasn’t hanging out around town causing trouble with his best friend.”
Landon doesn’t interrupt me or take his eyes off the road, but I know he’s listening. His fingers tighten occasionally around my own as I talk, his thumb running aimlessly back and forth against my hand.
“It was typical mean things most of the time. He’d knock the books out of my arms while I was walking down the hallway between classes. He’d bump into me from behind and knock me down. Then it started to get worse as time went on. He started ripping art projects out of my hands and slamming them on the ground to break them. He’d break into my locker and steal things out of it. He even broke the lens to my camera once, but the photography teacher got involved in that one since the camera technically belonged to the school.”
“Did it ever stop?” Landon asks me.
“Not really. I chose to ignore it most of the time. I mean, I had enough going on at home after my mom hooked up with Charlie. Having a bully at school was nothing compared to what I went through at home.”
“Damn.”
“Yeah.” I take a few calming breaths before continuing. “I was home alone one afternoon after school. My mom and Charlie were both at work, so it was nice to be able to just go home and close myself up in my room to do homework without worrying about anything else. But then my phone rang. And it was him. And he sounded terrified. He was crying into the phone and struggling to breathe between words. It freaked me out so bad that I ran as fast as I could to his house because I thought something was terribly wrong with him. And even though he had been the absolute worst toward me at school, I would have never forgiven myself if something was wrong with him and I didn’t try to help him. I mean, he reached out to me of all people.”
When I don’t continue Landon speaks, “What happened?”
“He was shooting targets in his backyard with a pellet rifle. It was so stupid really. He said he’d been shooting targets for a few hours and got bored so when he saw a rabbit running across his backyard, he took aim and shot. He didn’t think he’d actually hit the poor thing, but he did. He killed it.”
“Fuck.”
“I don’t think I’d ever seen him show any emotion of a single thing the entire time I’d known him. But when I got to his house, he was crouched down on the ground, cradling this poor defenseless bunny in his arms. He was so broken over the fact that he’d killed something, and it was so stupid. But there was more to it than that, you know? It was like, for the first time, he was no longer the bully at school that had been picking on me for years. He was just another boy, and he was lost. And I needed to help him to find his way back.”
“What did you do?” He squeezes my hand again in reassurance.
“I sat with him for almost an hour and let him cry. Then we found a shoebox and a shovel, and we buried the rabbit. We found a stone in the alley behind his house and used it to mark the grave and said a few stupid words over it, made up stories about how wonderful of a life it had led and the family it was leaving behind. Then we just started talking about everything and nothing until I knew he was going to be okay. Turns out, his father and Charlie were best friends. He knew what was going on at my house because it was the same at his. Only, his mother had left years before because she was tired of putting up with it. That left him and his two older sisters to deal with everything firsthand. He was no different than me, he just didn’t know how to deal with it. We didn’t become best friends or anything, but he never picked on me again after that.”
“What ever happened to him?”
“He dropped out of school senior year. He moved away from home, and no one has heard from him since. His father died in a drunk driving accident not long after my mother passed away, but I didn’t see him at the funeral. Both of his sisters still live in Independence and used to come to the diner occasionally with their own families. I used to ask them occasionally about their brother and they say he’s doing great, but I don’t know much more beyond that.”
“He got away though. Good for him.”
“He did. And I can only hope that he’s made something of his life. But I learned so much from my interactions with him. So, you see? Not all bullies are mean just to be mean. He was cruel to me, but it was his way of dealing with everything else going on in his life.”
“You’re amazing. You know that?”
“I know.” I giggle as I stare at the Independence Day decorations through the front windshield. Decorations that I’ve seen a million times since they never change and are never taken down. A chill runs down my spine as we drive down Main Street toward the diner. A town that I had hoped to get away from for so long, and hopefully this will be the last time that I ever step foot here.
Landon finds a parking space in front of the diner and puts the car in park. I stop him as he reaches for the button to turn off the car. “I’ll only be a minute if you want to wait here.”
“Are you sure?” He looks at me skeptically, his brows furrowed in concern.
“Yeah. I don’t plan on being here for long. I just wanted to talk to Ralph and get my last check from him. I owe him an explanation at least.”
“Okay, Kitten.” His hand reaches around to cradle the back of my head before pulling me toward him. He kisses me hard and possessively before releasing me and resting his forehead against mine. “I’ll be right here when you get back. We’ll head back to the city and neither one of us will ever have to see this town again. We can finally put it in our rearview mirror and never look back.”
“Sounds great to me.”
Walking up to the door of the diner, I can see through the windows that it’s practically empty. It’s still early enough in the afternoon that the dinner rush hasn’t started yet, the perfect time to come talk to Ralph. Stepping inside, I see Amber at the end of the counter wrapping silverware with another waitress that I’ve never seen before. She’s probably new. Neither of them looks up at me as I walk by toward the entrance to the kitchen where Ralph is washing up the lunch dishes.
“Hey, Ralph,” I call out as I push through the swinging door.
He spins around at the sound of my voice, a smile immediately spreading across his pale, time-worn features. “Emi?” He drops his last dish into the sink full of soapy water and yanks the towel away from his shoulder to dry his hands. “God, you look so different.”
“That’s good, I hope.”
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen you without your sweater on.”
“A lot has changed since I’ve been gone.”
“Well,” he starts as he steps closer. Stopping only a few inches away, he places a hand on my shoulder and for the first time, I don’t flinch away from a touch that isn’t Landon’s. “Change looks good on you, kid.”
“Thank you. I’m sorry I left the way I did.”
“Don’t be. We managed here without you. Besides, you needed to get away. I never expected you to stay here forever.”
“I just feel like I owe you an explanation.” I lower my gaze to the floor as guilt washes over me. Ralph has never been anything but nice to me, and even though he says I don’t owe him anything, I still feel guilty for just disappearing on him like I did.
“Nope. I may not say much to you girls when you’re here to work. But I could see the life draining out of you ever since you lost your mama. Little by little, day after day. There wasn’t much left of you to keep going here. You needed a way out, and I’m just glad you found it.”
“Thank you, Ralph.”
“Don’t mention it, kid. Here.” He steps away and walks toward the refrigerator in the back corner of the kitchen. Removing a magnet, he grabs a slip of paper that was being held against the cool metal. “This is for you.” Walking back toward me, he holds the paper out for me to take from his hand.
Unfolding the paper, I see it’s my check. It isn’t much, not that I expected it to be, but that doesn’t bother me. Folding it up, I place it into my back pocket and nod my head. “I’ll get out of your way.”
“Don’t take this the wrong way, kid.” Lifting my gaze, I wait for him to continue. “You’re better than anything this town could ever offer you. I hope to never see you again.” He smiles and the wrinkles around his eyes deepen.
Giggle softly, I throw my arms around his shoulders and squeeze. He pats my back awkwardly and it makes me laugh harder. “Bye, Ralph.”
Pushing my way back through the swinging doors, I see Amber leaning against the counter with her arms crossed beneath her breasts. She has a scowl on her face as she watches me step toward the counter. “Nice to see you. Thanks for keeping in touch,” she says sarcastically.
“Hi, Amber.”
“That’s all you have to say to me.” She reaches out for me, regardless of all the times I’ve ever flinched when she’s done the same thing. She pulls me into a tight hug, and I don’t hesitate to hug her back. We may not have been best buddies when I last saw her, but we do have a history of being friends. It’s the least I can do considering I will probably never see her again. “Ralph, I’m taking a break!” She calls as she turns me around and places a hand across my shoulders. She walks and I follow along beside her.
“How are things?” I ask as we walk toward the back hallway.
“They haven’t been too bad. I’ve picked up more hours since you took off without word. Now we have Alicia working your old shifts and my hours got cut again. But seriously, you could have kept in touch.”
“Amber, I haven’t had a phone in years. I don’t even know your number.”
“Sure, whatever.” She pushes the door open to the alley and I don’t question it. I blindly follow her through the door even though what I really want to do is get back in Landon’s car and drive away from here forever. “I’m just glad you’re back.”
“What?” She removes her hand from around my shoulders and I look up at her as she takes a step away from me. “I’m not back, Amber.”
“You are. You just don’t realize it yet.”
“About time you came home.” The voice behind me sends a chill down my back. Nervous goosebumps break out over my entire body, and I turn slowly hoping beyond hope that my mind is just playing tricks on me. But I know even before I see his face that it’s not a trick. I’d know that voice anywhere. It’s the same voice that’s haunted my nightmares for years.
“Charlie,” I gasp when my eyes meet his. My stomach plummets to my feet as his features morph into a look of pure hatred and I know that I’m not getting away from him. He moves so fast that I don’t even see it coming but when the back of his hand lands against my cheek, I’m thrown to the side and go down hard on the pavement, my head bouncing against the hard surface hard enough that I see stars before it all goes black.