Page 14 of Born in the Spring

The sun is back in her smile as she tugs her phone from her pocket, and every hair on my body, as if I know, stands at attention before the picture is even in my sight.

A familiar suitcase.

At the foot of an unfamiliar bed that makes my mouth go dry.

With a caption that says,On my way home.

Beside the name Elara Hayes.

I swipe the phone from Mom’s hand, the motion rough, but my mouth is still too dry to apologize and my eyes won’t leave the screen.Elara.She’s coming home.

My heart slams against my ribs as Mom confirms what I’m seeing with, “She should be here pretty soon.” She takes her phone back as I take in fresh air, a form of life and a warmth I haven’t felt since the last day I saw her, returning to me…as she is?

Mom’s change of heart makes more sense now. Where it came from.Whoit came from. Her sunnier way, her trace of restored energy.

We’re getting Elara back.

And she’s made the choice herself.

“I thought she moved on,” I half ask, half here and half on the road with Elara as she’s heading here.

“Well, I don’t know whatthatwas,” Mom says,thatbeing a reference to the guy we know about. “But of course she hasn’t. We’re her family too. And she wants to come back. And I want her back.” She stares, waiting for my own expression of that want.

“I want her back too,” I say, almost breathless, even with new life in my lungs.

“Things are gonna get better for us. Around here. For both of us.”

I don’t dive any deeper into what she’s saying than the surface. Mom knows about my love for Elara, everyone does. My feelings were bold on my face whenever I was with her, or thinking about her, or talking about her. I’ve never been shy about letting Elara herself, and anyone who asked, know, including my brother. Her boyfriend. Ex-boyfriend? Is that what you call it when someone dies? He wouldn’t be her ex if he were alive.

The thought sits underneath Elara’s tug on my heart, staring my mom in the face, as she prods me to get moving. “So, you should make sure she knows you want her back before she gets here.”

I’m already slapping at my pants pockets for my phone before she’s finished telling me.

But I don’t have my phone. I see it back at the main lodgeon the bar where I left it while helping Robin close up the gift shop.

I jump up and run off toward that direction, before skidding to a stop, kicking up snow as I hurry back to Mom and wrap her in a hug from behind. She chuckles as she rubs my arms.

“Thingswillbe better,” I tell her back, and she pops a kiss to my hand, then prods me along again.

“Go on. I’ll be behind you.”

I go on, racing to the lodge, to Elara, thinking it convenient that’s where I have to go to catch her. It has a balcony, which gives it one of the best views.

It’s where I saw the best view six years ago. Where I saw Elara for the first time.

And it’s where I’m going to see her for the first time again.

Six

Jasper / Then

Court tipped back his can of root beer—that he pretended was just beer without the root—right as I shed my shirt and chucked it onto his head. He grunted, probably spitting up pop as I laughed in the chair beside him.

I would’ve used his head as a laundry basketbeforehe took his first drink, but he’d just cockblocked my hit on a cute girl down in the gift shop and it was his turn to choke.

“I knew I shouldn’t have had faith,” he complained while chucking my shirt to the floor between us. “Your brother comes in and your chest comes out.”

Andski season was coming to a close, and the weather was starting to warm, so it was time to parade my ass around shirtless. He should’ve thought himself lucky that my stripping didn’t continue to my pants.

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