Page 8 of What We Keep
I parked, feeling a sting of tears in my eyes as I gathered myself to walk in. Janet and I had emailed and texted, but the café had been closed when I drove into town. She’d told me Luna Talton was taking it over sometime in the next few years. I didn’t know much about Luna, although I knew she’d moved away when her parents became RV influencers.
Honestly, when I thought about my time here in Willow Brook, I knew a lot of people’s names—like Holly’s—and I knew them in passing. But I had never been allowed to go to slumber parties or bring kids out to our house. So I felt like I had snapshots, like looking at somebody’s high school yearbook, except I had lived here.
“You’re not living that life anymore,” I told myself in the car.
I took a breath, climbed out, and crossed the parking lot, pausing to glance up at the bright red sign with the outline of a fire truck. A cheery bell jingled above the door when I walked in. The café was crowded, the air rich with the scent of sweet and savory foods mingling with coffee. The welcoming space had brightly colored art on the walls, fireweed flowers painted on the old fire pole in the center of the space, tables scattered around, and the low murmur of customers in conversation.
When my mom and I would stop in when I was growing up, Janet was never too busy to chat with us and always made me feel like I belonged. As my gaze arced around, I recognized Luna. The woman at the counter with her wasn’t familiar. When I heard Janet call her Casey, I mentally clocked that I didn’t recall a Casey from childhood.
A moment later, I was waiting at the counter, and Janet was counting out the change someone had handed her. When her eyes lifted to mine, her face cracked into a wide smile. “Elsa!”
I cleared my throat. “Hi, Janet.”
That was all I said, and considering the intensity of emotion rising inside me, it felt inadequate. Janet had meant so much to me when I was younger and always would. She had been a bright spot in an otherwise sort of odd life for a little girl.
When it all came to a screeching halt, she comforted me amid a startling loss. To this day, sometimes I wished we’d stayed here, but I needed the space and the change of scenery at the time. Growing up, I never had internet or a cell phone, so I’d never developed the habit of zipping messages back and forth the way so many people did.
When my father died unexpectedly, the loss had been a shock. He’d been one of those off-the-grid, prepper types. He was kind and loving, if a bit flaky. Even when I was little, I’d known my life wasn’t like that of most kids. As a result of his choices to keep us pretty isolated, I was still socially reticent.
All these thoughts spun through my mind as Janet rushed around the counter and pulled me into a comforting hug. Her eyes twinkled with her smile when she stepped back and squeezed my shoulders. “Elsa,” she repeated. “Come in the back.”
“Janet, I know you’re working. I don’t mean to interrupt your day.”
Ignoring me, Janet grabbed my hand and led me around the counter. She stopped beside the woman I didn’t recognize. “This is Casey. She works here,” she said.
“In case that wasn’t obvious,” Casey teased, nudging Janet in the side with her elbow.
Janet rolled her eyes. “This is Elsa Whitney. She grew up in Willow Brook, went away, and now she’s back.”
Casey’s gaze was warm. “Nice to meet you. I’m new-ish here.”
“I sort of am too,” I replied.
A pile of customers came in, and Casey threw me another smile before saying, “Busy, but I’m usually here, maybe not always, but often. I’m sure I’ll see you around.”
Janet tugged me through the swinging door. “Do you remember Luna?” She gestured toward Luna, who smiled at me.
I felt nervous as I nodded. I didn’t know what Luna knew about me. “I think so. I remember you from school.”
“Elementary school, and then I moved away. Welcome back!” Luna’s wild, dark curls were pulled up into a ponytail.
“Her parents became RV influencers,” Janet offered up.
Luna rolled her eyes. “It was fun for about five minutes.”
“If you did the online thing, my parents had a whole channel. They made me go by the name Jane online, you know, to protect my privacy. I even straightened my hair, which was a nightmare.” Luna rolled her eyes.
A laugh sputtered out of me. “Oh.”
Janet paused, looking between Luna and me. I could tell she was considering what to say. “You don’t have to explain my life,” I said. “You can just… I don’t know.” I shrugged.
Janet’s expression sobered instantly. “Elsa, I mean?—”
Luna’s gaze had sobered too. I took a deep breath, marshaling my composure. “I’m okay.” And I really was okay. I would always miss my dad, but I’d found a way to emotionally climb over the hill of anger about how he got so sick. “I’m okay, Janet,” I repeated. “Really. I’d rather just be direct. My dad was a wacky, if loving, guy who got sick and wouldn’t go to the hospital. I was with him when he died.”
That wasn’t the whole of it, but it covered the main points. Luna reached out, taking both of my hands and squeezing gently.
“I know a little bit about what it’s like,” she said. “Maybe not that specifically, but having something big that starts to feel overwhelming. It’s life, right? Life is messy and complicated. I’m sorry about your dad.”
