Page 61 of The Second Chance Cinema
Ellie was in good spirits on Christmas morning and later that night for Actual Christmas Dinner with Drake’s parents. She lit up the conversation and complimented their food. She even asked Beth for hair advice, although that was the last thing Ellie needed. These attemptsmeant something to Drake. But when they got home later, some of the cheer drained away. Between their weekly cinema visits and all the wedding planning, there hadn’t been time to decorate the house. Two sad presents waited for them on the bare living room floor.
Drake suggested they open the boxes. They could do that, at least, couldn’t they?
“A sweater,” Ellie said, holding her unwrapped gift up in front of her. Drake had spent hours at a vintage store trying to find something she’d like. He wasn’t sure where to start—what was classified as cool and what fell into the ugly camp. He’d landed on a new sweater from the mall that looked like an old sweater. “Thanks,” she told him, tucking it back inside its box.
Ellie hated the sweater.
A better partner would’ve known what to get her. Lucas wouldn’t have been caught dead with a mall sweater gift. He’d rented her a roller rink. And still, she’d walked away from him.
Ellie passed Drake his present. This year, she’d bought him something new, too. It was a men’s bath set. Ellie, the queen of nostalgia, had bought Drake a brand-new men’s bath set straight from department store shelves in a scent called Deep Pine. The choice was so unlike her that Drake couldn’t help but be hurt. She normally put effort into picking gifts, despite her resistance to holiday fanfare.
On their first Christmas together at Ellie’s apartment, their gifts had been much more intentional. Ellie had given him a relic of a toolkit that was supposedly plucked from a Hollywood movie set. Drake had bought Ellie a new record player. Her old one was dying and had started to make the singers sound like distortions of themselves. But Ellie was resistant to throwing away the current player—Dorothy III. This was how Drake had learned that Ellie’s belongings had names and came in a series, like a child’s goldfish. He had found this so endearing at the time.
Two years later, he was annoyed to be listening to Etta Jameson Dorothy III when Dorothy IV was right there in the closet. Maybe it was the soulless gift that was getting to him. What was she trying to say with it?
“Thanks for this,” Drake said, clumsily taking the bottles out of the plastic container and smelling them. “Smells amazing.”
“And thank you,” Ellie told him, patting the box. “The sweater looks …cozy.”
Drake still wasn’t sure what to do with Sandra’s gift in the closet. If she were to send Ellie a text about it, he’d have no excuse. The last thing he could handle was another misunderstanding. “There’s one more thing,” Drake said. Ellie started to get excited. “It’s not from me,” he told her to temper expectations, then retrieved the perfectly wrapped box and placed it in front of her. Ellie stared at it.
“What is this?”
“It’s …I don’t know what it is,” Drake admitted. “It’s from your mom.” He said the wordmomlightly, as if she might miss it. “My mom,” Ellie repeated. “My mom was here?”
Drake nodded. “She stopped by yesterday. Just for a minute.”
“And you didn’t tell me?”
“I wanted to,” Drake said. “But you walked in so happy. I didn’t want to ruin those cookies for you.”
He shouldn’t have brought up the cookies.
“Anyway, she said something when she dropped it off. She said that you shouldn’t have been alone that day. And that—”
“I don’t want to hear it,” Ellie blurted. “You were right not to tell me.” She stared at the gift for a moment, then put it back in the closet where he had pulled it from and shut the door. “I’m tired,” she told him, even though she was an eternal night owl. “I’ll open it another time.”
They washed up and tucked into bed. The glow of Ellie’s phone illuminated the dark room, despite her suggestion of sleep. There were so many things left unsaid, so many invisible boxes of memories that had been unwrapped but not yet put away.
27
What is it you’re missing?” Natalie asked the following Saturday night as she led them over to the glass lost and found case for the second time.
When Drake intentionally left his scarf behind, he had been wondering the same thing. What was he missing from Ellie’s story? Last week, he’d watched her fly through dozens of quick-lived flings. Seeing her lack of commitment play out had shaken him. What if their relationship was a science experiment to test if Ellie could handle something real? He knew this fear wasn’t fair or warranted. He also knew the movies would give him more information in time. But Drake’s curiosity was insatiable, and he couldn’t wait another week to see what memory might be tied to the plaque labeledLove Affair.
His eyes darted around in a desperate search. On the bottom shelf, an object that had once seemed innocent took his breath away.Witness to Ellie’s Accident, the plaque read. The object was devastating having learned its story, the cheap dinosaur toy from Ben’s rearview mirror so small and vulnerable inside the glass case.
A white Stetson cowboy hat was one spot over from the dinosaur.Cowboy Love Affair, the plaque read.Cowboylove affair? Drake pictured Ellie on the back of a horse, wild wheat waving, a small wooden cabin on the horizon. He saw her in a white dress, petting a goat, sitting by a crackling fire. He turned to look at her behind him. Technically, they were inside the cinema walls. He could ask the question on his mind.
But Drake wasn’t prepared to talk about what sat at the far corner of the bottom shelf from his own life, so close to the item in question.
“I’m glad they have your scarf,” Ellie said, breaking him from the visuals that were best left in a country music video. Natalie handed the scarf over, and Ellie pulled them toward the staircase on the right that led to the balcony level with a quick “thanks” thrown behind her. Halfway up the stairs, Ellie paused and looked out. “I want you to know that … I think I overreacted,” she told him.
Drake stopped at her side. “Overreacted about what?”
Ellie hesitated. “I mean, since we’re inside cinema doors, I guess I can say it. Seeing that you’d watched the same movie with Melinda got to me. I think it was because we had just seen The Garlic Bread Place. You told her you loved her there.”
“I know.” Drake sighed.
