Page 2 of The One I Left Behind

I know better than to ask him twice. This fucker isn’t gonna tell me shit.

Other than the sign, nothing has changed. It’s still a lot of farms, barns, and fencing with small family homes that have been passed down from one generation to the next. I’m the anomaly of this town. One of the rare ones who got out. The typical story of the country kid who made something of himself.

The farms grow smaller the closer we drive toward our small downtown. And it’s not until we reach the outer limits that my body feels as though I’m sinking into quicksand. A slow realization dawns on me when I look at the road ahead. If I thought the sign was bad, this is so much worse.

Dad honks the horn.

Emmett pumps his fist out the window.

Jude shakes his head.

Families are camped out on the sides of the street, chairs, and blankets laid out as if there’s a parade. I mentally go through the calendar, hoping for some other option—but it’s not the Fourth of July, Memorial Day, or Labor Day. Then I spot it. Mrs. Webster holding up a Welcome Home sign, handwritten with stars that match the cut-outs of her blue-ribbon blueberry pie.

“What the fu?—”

Emmett laughs uncontrollably. “It’s your welcome home parade!”

I sit up, leaning my head in between Jude and my dad. “A parade?”

“The town wanted to show you how proud they are of you.” My dad’s grin says he had something to do with this. Probably my aunts—his sisters—too.

“Dad.” I whine like I did when I was fifteen and I found my English teacher in the kitchen one morning, wearing my dad’s shirt.

“Come on. You’re the biggest thing ever to come out of this town. They want to celebrate your accomplishments. What’s so bad about that?” Dad parks in the lot of the local grocery store, The Farm Fresh, which always seemed wrong to me since if you really wanted farm fresh, you could visit any of the actual farms in this town.

There are floats and convertibles and flags and giant signs. All with the scarlet red and metallic gold of the Kingsmen.

I groan and sink down in my seat.

Dad turns off the ignition, and he and Jude climb out. My dad immediately strikes up a conversation with someone about the drive to and from the airport.

“Stop acting like a child and get the fuck out of the truck.” Jude hits his hand on the door.

Emmett follows suit, and I’m the only one left in the truck until three cheerleaders pop up in front of my window. I startle back and stare at them wide-eyed.

“It’s him,” the blonde with a giant bow on her head says.

The brunette rolls her eyes. “He’s in the truck for Plain Daisy, of course it’s him.”

The red-haired one creepily stares at me with unblinking eyes.

“Um… hello?” I give them a wan smile.

“I’m Kait.” The blonde waves her fingers, grinning.

“And I’m Rey.” The brunette takes out her lip gloss, coating her lips before puckering them into a kiss.

Kait points at the red-haired girl. “That’s Colette. She’s shy.”

Colette says nothing.

This is not a good look for me. Three young, impressionable girls corralled around my window as if I’m the only bull on the ranch.

I slide to the other side of the truck. “Nice to meet you all. I gotta go.”

I flee the truck before I’m posted on the Canary Wall down at The Hidden Cave. Just when I think I’m free, I run smack dab into Brooks Watson. At least I’m pretty sure it’s him. He’s changed a lot since he was the quarterback of my high school football team.

“I heard the rumors, but…” I inch back, taking in what I would’ve imagined to be a Halloween costume before seeing it on him.

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