Page 90 of The One I Need
“Has she cried at all?”
Jessie tilts her head down and raises her eyebrows. “What do you think? Constance McCall does not cry. Or emote.”
“I figured, I just had to ask. Oh, and why the quick funeral? Not like I expected a long mourning period, but this seems fast, even for her.”
“Something about inventory coming into the store next week and she didn’t want to change the schedule.”
All I can do is laugh. “Of course. Why does that not surprise me?”
My parents have run the town furniture shop for forty years. My grandparents opened it fifty years before that. When Jessie and I were fifteen and thirteen, they sat us down and told us that it was our legacy and birthright to continue to operate the store. When I told them I didn’t want to—I believe at that age I wanted to be an actress—I was told that I was a disobedient and terrible child. I was then forced to work at the store every day until the day I left Smallwood.
“Did you ever think of moving?” I ask Jessie. I might be talking to my sister, but I can’t stop watching Oliver with Benji. He’s currently throwing a football with him. It’s adorable.
“Once.”
I turn my head in surprise. “Really? It was more of a rhetorical question. I didn’t think there was an actual answer.”
“I’m not the only sister who fantasized about getting out of this two-horse town.”
“Yes, but in my defense, when I did leave, it wasn’t because of the grand plan I came up with when I was going to run away at fourteen.”
“True. But yes, I did. Jimmy and I talked about what it would be like to start fresh. We’ve always had dreams of opening a restaurant. Nothing big. A family-style restaurant with games for kids and free pie night on Wednesdays.”
“Jessie, you guys would be amazing at that.” I say. “I know I haven’t had your cooking in years, but I doubt that’s something you get bad at.”
“It’s just a dream. We know we can’t leave. Mom and Dad would have lost their minds if I wasn’t there to help with the store and ‘keep it in the family’ for the next generation. And Jimmy has a good, steady job at his uncle’s construction business. We’re happy. The kids are happy. This is where we belong.”
We sit and rock for a few seconds, neither of us saying anything. Yes, when I was a tween, I had dreams of moving far, far away to a town that had tall buildings and wide skylines. But at one point, I was planning on living the life Jessie is living. If life would have worked different, I’d have been here when my dad died. I would have been next to her at that furniture store. I would have gotten married, built a house, had kids, and lived the life my parents always wanted me to.
That’s what you do when you’re young and in love and you think it’s forever. Throw in wanting to please your family and you have a recipe for a life you didn’t choose to live, but were forced to.
But I’m not that girl anymore. That girl is long gone.
“There you are, girls, I’ve been looking all over for you. Why are you out here and not talking to the guests?”
“Sorry,” I say, taking the heat for Jessie. I am the one who gets to leave in two days. “I just wanted to talk to her for a few minutes.”
“Well, that’s over. Go inside. Talk to the people who came here to pay their respects.”
Jessie gets up and starts walking to the door, but I don’t move.
“Elizabeth. Go with her.”
“Do you really want me talking to people, Mom? You know what they’re going to say and ask me about, and then you’re going to get mad about that. So how about I just stay out here and mind my business?”
“You’re so selfish,” Mom says, her voice getting louder. Though I don’t look, I’m pretty sure I see Oliver out of the corner of my eye, closely watching this interaction. Jessie is standing by the door, knowing it’s best not to open it for the next few minutes.
“I’m selfish? Me? Please tell me how that’s even an option on the table.”
“Because you left.”
Here we go. The fight sixteen years in the making. “Did you expect me to stay here? I couldn’t step foot outside without people laughing and pointing at me. With no support or help from you or Dad, by the way. And they didn’t even know the whole story. So what did you want me to do?”
“You should have taken Matthew back. He made a mistake. It wasn’t worth ending your relationship over.”
Oh my God, she took his side then, and she’s doing it now. Un-fucking-believable.
“He fucked my best friend for months! Months, Mom! She was pregnant with his child at my wedding, and you expected me to take him back like nothing happened? Did you want us to be some sort of fucked-up Brady Bunch? Maybe play the role of the fun bonus mom? I know you aren’t a person who has feelings, but that’s low, even for you.”
