Page 7 of Love You Still

“Vance? Is everything okay?” Mrs. Grymes’s voice brings another wave of tears to my eyes.

“No, Mrs. G.”

“What happened, sweetheart?” Her voice softens, wrapping around me like a warm blanket. She has always had this effect on me. Just the sound of her voice calms the restlessness in my soul, just like her daughter’s.

A sharp pain shoots through my chest, thinking about Selina. I know I should’ve called her instead of her parents. She was Lydia’s best friend—those two were more like sisters—but I couldn’t bring myself to do it. I wouldn’t be able to listen to her sob into the phone, wondering if she was going to make the trip home to be with all of us. Her friends. Her family. The people that care about her the most. Would she jump on a plane to comfort Lydia’s parents, to meet her best friend’s daughter, to comfort all of us? I’m not sure if she would or wouldn’t, so I didn’t call.

“There were complications during childbirth, and Lydia passed away this morning. The Bennetts are all at their house and ask that people refrain from coming by until afterlunchtime.” I repeat the same message I gave everyone else, with no emotion, trying desperately not to say anything else.

“Oh, no,” she gasps, and I hear the phone clatter to the floor. A guttural scream filters through the phone, followed by a set of pounding footsteps.

“Hello. Who’s this?” Mr. Grymes shouts into the phone, the panic clear in his voice.

“It’s Vance. I was just calling to let you both know that Lydia passed away this morning,” I choke out, my knuckles turning white as my grip tightens around the steering wheel. The thin walls keeping my emotions at bay threaten to fall.

There’s silence on the other end of the line. Neither of them speaks for a few minutes as they process what I’ve told them. “Did you call Selina?”

“No. I couldn’t. I didn’t know how…” My voice cracks slightly as I clench my eyes shut tightly. “How to tell her.”

“Okay, son. We will take care of letting her know.”

“Do you think she’ll come home?” I give voice to the question lingering in my mind since I picked up the phone.

“I don’t know, but we will make sure there’s a ticket waiting for her.”

“Thank you.”

“Anytime, Vance. We’ll see you later,” Mr. Grymes replies before ending the call.

A fresh wave of emotions fill me as I climb out of my truck and make my way into Just the Drip. Selina may come home. I may have a chance to talk to her face-to-face for the first time in two years. I wonder if she looks the same. If I’ll still get butterflies in my stomach at the sight of her. Are things going to go right back to how they used to be now that there isn’t such an immense distance between the two of us, or will they still be awkward, forcing me to accept that things between us are over?

“Good morning,” someone says as I enter the café, bringing me back to the present.

“Morning. Order for Vance Kirkland,” I respond, still lost in thought.

I know I shouldn’t be excited about the possibility of seeing Selina, especially under these circumstances, but I am. I need her. She’s the only other person in this world besides Connor who understands what I’m feeling over the loss of Lydia. Maybe even more, since they were like sisters.

Although Selina stopped contacting me frequently, she and Lydia still talked regularly. Lydia would tell me about all the things Selina was doing in the city, keeping me up to date on everything she was doing. I never asked questions, not wanting to know if she had found someone else or if she was homesick because I knew both reasons would send me running right to New York.

“Here you go, sir.” The clerk hands me a stack of boxes before stepping around the counter, carrying two large boxes full of coffee, and striding toward the door.

“I haven’t paid yet.”

“It’s on the house.” They flash me a smile before pushing the door open and holding it, waiting for me to follow through.

“Thank you,” I whisper as I pass them, thankful for the people in the sleepy town. “We all appreciate it.”

Usually, I would make a snarky comment about being in everyone’s business, but this isn’t the time. I used to hate how my mom would know I got in trouble at school before I even got off the bus, or that without saying a word to anyone, they knew Selina had left for New York. Living in a small town makes it almost impossible to keep secrets; everyone knows everyone. But it’s times like these that the true meaning of small-town living comes to the surface.

I’m sure word has spread across town about Lydia’s death. Although she may not have known them personally, or ever interacted with them before, everyone in our town is mourning her loss. That’s what it means to be a community. We come together in times of need to support each other in any way we can.

I place the boxes on the hood of my truck before going to the other side and pulling the passenger side open. “If you could place that in the footwell, I’d appreciate it.”

They bend down and slide the boxes of coffee into the car before grabbing the other boxes off the hood of the car and placing them on the car’s seat. “Please let the Bennetts know that if they need anything, to let us know. You, too.” They reach over and give my shoulder a squeeze before stepping back and closing the door.

“I will. And thank you again,” I pull them in for a tight hug, their arms wrapping around me.

We stand there in complete silence, just holding on to each other. Silently telling each other that things will be okay. That the pain is deep now, but we will get through this.

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