Page 11 of What We Keep
“Just wondering if that crush is still a thing,” Jude said in a singsong voice.
“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” I muttered.
Jude shrugged, waggling his brows.
“Dude, don’t,” I warned. “It’s been years. It was high school.”
“Yeah, but—” Cole cut in.
“But what?” I prompted. “I’ve even had a relationship.” As if that had anything to do with my only high school crush who’d materialized in my world in the here and now.
“What relationship?” Jude interjected.
“I dated…” I had to scramble in my memory. “Sherry, in college.”
Cole’s brows rose as he cast me a skeptical look. “I don’t even know who you’re talking about.”
“Dude, that wasn’t even serious,” Jude said with a hard eye roll. “You just went through the motions of dating.”
I decided to barrel through this. “Well, Elsa’s staying. Mom would want us to let her stay. She doesn’t have anywhere to stay because their house also burned in the fire.”
“This isn’t about her staying,” Jude said. “It’s about your crush.”
“Guys, please don’t do this.” I didn’t need this, not today. Or any day, for that matter.
“Okay, fine. We won’t,” Cole said. “We’ll save it for leverage.” He tossed a sly grin over his shoulder.
My brothers left me in peace, and I carried on filling out paperwork. There was so much fucking paperwork to deal with, and this part got assigned to me because I was the idiot who went to law school to make money. I did get that degree, but I kind of hated the work. Now I was home, doing what was way better than law school—being a firefighter and getting ready to start wilderness guide trips again. Yet I was still dealing with all the legal papers associated with the insurance and the mess after the fire.
I wished my brothers didn’t know that I’d once had a crush on Elsa, but they did, and they didn’t hesitate to gleefully remind me now.
She was that girl for me back then, but a few years younger than me, so I left her alone. She moved away, and that was that. I let out a sigh.
I hadn’t seen her in years, and just because she was still as cute as could be and bright as a drop of sunshine didn’t mean I was still crushing on her. Not at all.
That evening
“Do you remember how her dad was?” my mom asked.
“A little,” I replied, rifling through my memories.
What I remembered about Elsa’s dad was a series of fragmented memories that didn’t quite make sense. Seventeen-year-old boys weren’t known for their discernment. But I did know that things at her family’s home had been, well, odd. Her dad had been one of those prepper guys, totally into the off-the-grid life. He’d been loving in a bumbling sort of way.
“He got sick and died, right?” I prompted.
My mom nodded. “That’s the easy explanation. He got pneumonia and wouldn’t go to the doctor. He didn’t believe in modern medicine, vaccines, or anything like that. Lucky for Elsa, her mom made sure she had all her vaccines. Anyway, that fool man had Elsa and her mom trying to keep him alive on their own. Elsa was with him when he died. The poor girl called me because her mom had gone to town to get some medicine, to try to talk him into taking something, anything to help.”
“Oh wow. That’s awful.” I shook my head.
“It was. His folly led to his daughter feeling like she couldn’t keep him alive when he should’ve gone to the hospital the minute he got that sick.” My mother clucked. “Elsa was only fifteen. Elsa was just a sweetheart, you know?”
I did know. Elsa had always been that girl to me once I was old enough to pay attention to girls.
Back to this afternoon
Elsa had been just as pretty then as she was now. My adolescent self had been moonstruck over her in high school. Crushes that happened in the midst of the rush of teenage hormones were made of heady stuff. I’d hardly seen her even though she lived next door. These thoughts tumbled through as she stood before me. Her blond hair twirled from a gust of breeze. Sunshine. I always thought of sunshine with her. Her golden locks, those green eyes, and that fresh-cheeked beauty spun together with her smile.
A moment of silence stretched between us. Elsa looked uncertain, as if she wasn’t sure what to do next.
