Page 53 of Getting it Right (Addy's Rollercoaster)

The decision made for me, I clicked on the email.

Addy,

How are you? I thought maybe after all these years that I wouldn’t feel like a part of me is missing not having you in my life, but that isn’t the case. If you feel the same, could we arrange to meet?

Let me know.

Barry

What the hell?

I read it and read it again, and still, I couldn’t believe it. What was I supposed to do with that?

Elation gave way to anger. Did he think it was that easy? Just send me a message after all this time, and we’d just pick up where we left off and be friends again?

No. No way.

I didn’t need him or anyone else in my life. The emptiness had been filled now that I had Rachel and Claire. And Mr. Amazing Ass at the gym, if I wanted to indulge in a harmless noninteractive fantasy.

Barry was the past, a closed book. I slammed it shut.

• • •

But the past didn’t stay in the past. Life reopened it the next afternoon at Footit’s in one of the most surprising ways.

“Hi. Sorry I’m a little late.” I approached the table where two men sat, one a little older than me and the other a teenager, not knowing how to play this except to wing it. “I’m Addy Footit.”

Clutching my iPad to my chest for protection, I held out my free hand to Bob Murphy, Collin’s older brother. He was my one and only applicant for the busser position, and he was accompanied by a handsome boy.

“Hi, Miss Footit.”

Bob stood and took my hand, politely shaking it. He’d hardly changed at all, though it had been seventeen years since I’d last seen him. Was that because of his Down syndrome, his gentle heart, or something else?

“You look as pretty as you did when my brother was in love with you,” he said guilelessly.

“Oh.” My legs giving out from surprise, I grabbed the back of the chair in front of me and dropped into the seat. “I wasn’t sure you’d remember me.”

“I remember everything that was important to Collin.” Bob sat back down. “And you were the most important for a long time. You and his music.”

I’d forgotten Bob’s uncanny habit of saying exactly what he thought from his heart without a filter.

“Okay, what?” The boy that seemed more man stared at Bob, not me, looking as thunderstruck as I felt.

I wasn’t sure what was going through his head, but I was trying to get over how much he resembled Collin with his black hair and silver eyes.

“That was another lifetime ago,” I said softly.

Despite the lack of volume, my voice was easily heard. I’d come in early for the interview, so the bar was empty, not open yet. I hadn’t been able to think of much else since I’d seen Bob Murphy’s name on the job application.

“My dad never mentioned you,” Bob’s companion said, and the ground dropped out from under me.

Flabbergasted, I gaped at him as he stared at me. “You’re Collin and Miranda’s son.” I shook my head, hardly able to believe it.

“Kyle Murphy,” he said with a confident nod.

“I wondered what you’d look like grown up.” I’d seen his grainy school photo on the news after the accident, when he was only ten, but he was much older now. “I wondered if I’d ever get the opportunity to meet and talk to you one day.” My gaze drifted over his features. “You have Collin’s eyes. His intensity. But the rest is your mom.”

“You knew my mother?” Kyle leaned forward, seeming surprised. It wasn’t only my sister who didn’t talk about the past with her child. It seemed Miranda had been reticent as well.

---