Page 53 of The Afterthought

"A skirt in the middle of a field? Maybe jeans instead." She states plainly. This is all for her. If that's what she wants me to wear, that's what I'll wear.

"I'll put some jeans on." I laugh.

Not too long later, we are in the car, and she’s showing me the way to our destination. It's on a hill just outside of town. I pull up, realizing that from here, you can see the entirety of Dune Valley. How did I live here my entire life without knowing about this place?

To the right of the parking lot is the field that we came here for. I park, and we both step out of the car and walk towards the edge of it. I have the tree in one hand and a backpack filled with a blanket and some food over my shoulder. Chloe stares out into the field with teary eyes.

"Are you ready?" I ask.

She turns her head to look at me and nods, so I reach down to grab her hand reassuringly.

"Lead the way."

We walk across the well-maintained grass path down the middle of the field. I wasn't exactly sure what to expect when coming here, but it's not this. There aren't any other people around. Part of me wonders if this is someone's private property, but it's not noted anywhere, and there's a public parking lot. When we get to about the midpoint, she pulls me into the grass and reaches out for my backpack. She lays out the blanket, flopping down on it, and urges me to sit next to her.

"It's different being here in the daytime." She smiles while looking out across the field. "When we came here, it was dark. This is the best place in the area to see all the stars."

"Maybe one day we can come back at night, and you can show me," I prompt.

"Yeah, I think I'd like that."

We sit there in silence for a while, enjoying the fresh air and overall peaceful feeling the place brings. I give her the space that she needs to process being here and the support she needs to know she isn't alone.

She looks over at me. "You know, when I found out about you, I thought there was no way that we would form any kind of relationship. I mean, how could we? I spent the first seventeen years of my life knowing nothing about you. I was sure that you had to know about me and just didn't want anything to do with me. I was wrong."

“I swear if I knew about you, I would have tried to connect with you.”

"I've been trying to figure out why my mom didn't tell me about you. I wondered why she would keep you a secret from me when we never kept any secrets from each other. I get it now though."

I look at her curiously, my brow creasing.

"I think that my mom wanted to keep me to herself while she could because she knew she didn't have much time left. She had this weird sixth sense about things. I think she knew that you and I would be okay. She knew we would find our own way to forming a real sisterly relationship."

"I think you're right," I admit. "It may have started off a little rocky, but all sisters fight, at least a little."

"We grew up so differently, and yet we ended up in the same exact place." She sighs.

"You're not wrong about that. I'm thankful we ended up here. It's been a long time since I've been able to call someone family," I tell her, and she smiles.

"Family," she repeats. After another moment, she finally makes eye contact with me again. "Come on, let's go plant the tree for my mom."

We walk to the corner of the field where there is a small bench with a big empty space behind it. It looks out of place. I can't help but wonder why there aren't any trees around it.

It's like she can read my thoughts because she says, "There used to be a really big tree here when I was younger. A pretty bad storm blew through and knocked it down. Whoever manages the property had the entire thing removed. My mom and I always said that we wanted to plant another one here in its place." She steps forward and bends down to touch the empty grass. "I don't think she planned for me to be doing it alone."

"You're not alone, Chloe."

"Yeah, maybe, but it's not the same." She wipes the tears from her face and sniffles a bit before looking up at the sky. "I miss you, mom."

I pull her in for a hug and hold her tightly as she sobs against my shoulder. Her arms finally wrap around me, and she gives in to all of her emotions. "I couldn't do this without you. Thank you so much for being here with me."

"I'll always be here for you. I'm not going anywhere," I tell her, and in this moment, I know it's the complete truth.

We spend some time pulling ourselves back together before I pull the small shovel out of the backpack we brought and start digging the hole. Chloe didn't want to get dirty, so it was on me to complete the task. I should have brought a bigger shovel, but at least the ground was soft. Eventually, I dug a hole deep enough, and she dropped the tree into it.

"Do you want to say a few words?" I question, and her eyes light up at the suggestion.

"I think that might be nice, actually."

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