Page 48 of Lines We Cross
“She’s going to love this,” Karen said to me in a low voice as she passed me. We’d set up several tables for her on the uneven ground and she’d gone to work, laying out breakfast for a whole town, along with making everything look beautiful. I stopped her and gave her a hug, too grateful for words. She simply laughed and pushed me along.
Heath and Ryder were now fussing with bouquets of flowers the florist had brought, trying to get them to stay tied to the front row of chairs brought in from the church. Even Jim, with the one arm, was unloading chairs from the back of Dad’s pickup truck. The entire community had come together for me and I’d never been more grateful to be from a small town where we all knew each other and bent over backwards to help a fellow citizen out.
Rae should be here any minute. Anna had texted me five minutes ago to say they were leaving her house. She’d had to lie through her teeth to get Rae to agree to come with her. Something about watching the sunrise together.
See, today was a big day.
It was exactly a year ago that Emerson had passed away.
I hustled to the parking lot set away from the lookout point in the middle of the woods. My heart started pounding and for once it had nothing to do with exertion. This was all nerves. I’d set this all up only thinking about doing what was right for Emerson and Rae. Until just this very second, I hadn’t realized that if I failed to get to Rae, I’d be humiliated in front of the entire town I’d grown up in.
Like I said, go big or go home.
Unfortunately, if I lost Rae, I’d have to live with that consequence my whole life. Because I wasn’t moving. Nickel Bay was my forever home.
Just as I reached the gravel clearing, Anna’s car pulled up and parked. I waited until their doors opened and Anna, Mitch, and Rae emerged. My thundering heart paused and all I could see was Rae, that auburn hair catching the first rays of sunlight. The brown boots that gave her an extra inch or two in height. The fitted jacket and scarf she wore with style and ease. I couldn’t wait to see what she looked like as a mother and as an old woman. She’d be beautiful until her last breath, of that I was sure.
I stepped out of the line of pine trees and into the clearing. The movement caught Rae’s attention and she spun toward me, her eyes wide. Like two magnets, we came together in the middle of the parking lot, both of us refusing to look away from the other. Her not ignoring me or racing away was a very good sign. Her parents shuffled away, leaving us alone to talk things out.
“Rae,” I started.
She put her hand up and I stopped.
“Listen, Max. I don’t know why you’re here, but now’s not the time for you and me to argue. I just don’t have it in me on today of all days, okay?” There were dark circles under her eyes and my heart ached knowing she’d been suffering this last week as well.
I ghosted a hand down her arm, not daring to hold her when her eyes held such a plea to be left alone. Not for one second did I think she actually wanted to be left alone. Little did she know I’d never leave her by herself again. We would be a matched pair, she and I. If only she’d let us.
“I know what today is. In fact, that’s why I’m here. I love you, Rae.” Her eyes went misty even as she shifted away from me.
She shook her head. “No. You don’t get to say that to me now. You don’t get to say you love me and then leave me in the next sentence. We’ve already been down this road, so I should have learned my lesson.”
“Rae—”
“No!” Her hand slashed through the air. “Everyone I love leaves me. You did twelve years ago, then Emerson, and now you again. I’m done with that. Please. Just leave and let me be.”
A tear streamed down her cheek and I knew the depths of her wounds.
“You don’t understand. I’m not leaving. Iloveyou, Rae. And when I say I love you, it comes with all kinds of promises. Like never leaving you. Or moving away from wherever you are. Baseball was my past.Youare my future.” I couldn’t wait any longer. I pulled her into my chest, incredibly grateful when she went willingly. “If you would have stuck around, you’d know I called Coach back and turned him down that same day.”
At that she buried her head in my chest, sniffling into my jacket. She whispered something, but I couldn’t make it out. Leaning down, I whispered, “What’s that, sweetheart?”
She lifted her head, and even though her eyes were red, there was a ghost of a smile on her face. “Are you really staying?”
I looked her dead in the eyes. “I promise on my life I’m staying in Nickel Bay or whatever little town or big city you happen to be living in.Youare my home now.”
Her eyes filled with tears again, but this time she smiled big. “Really really?”
I chuckled and then kissed her quick. “Maybe this will make you believe me.” I grabbed her hand and tugged her into the woods, taking the same path we jogged along a week ago.
“What’s going on? And where are my parents?” Rae trotted behind me, her excitement obvious in the way she squeezed my hand as if she was never letting go.
I stayed quiet until we broke through the trees again at the lookout point. Rae stepped out from behind me and gasped. Head swiveling, she took in the folded chairs set up in neat rows, the tables with pastries and coffee, the various Nickel Bay citizens roaming around.
“What’s going on?” she whispered on a breath.
In answer I tugged her to the front of the chairs, right by the railing of the lookout point. As I’d instructed them to do, everyone started filing into the rows of chairs to have a seat when we walked up. Anna gave me a wink and a thumbs-up before sitting in the front row.
I turned Rae toward the crowd of fifty-plus people who’d turned out for this dawn memorial service for Emerson. They were getting a double feature today. I addressed the crowd, more nervous than before any baseball game. That was just work. This was my heart on display.
