Page 60 of Collision

“At Tim’s place,” Shelly answered. “You remember Tim Brooks, right?”

“Oh, yeah. The one over on Rossville Avenue. That place gets a lot of business.”

I nodded and chewed.

“Merritt and their eldest son, Chase, are friends. So he hooked her up with a job. She’s been spending all her free time there – they’re really busy.”

I held my breath as Shelly explained everything to her parents. She was careful with her words. I suspected it was because she did not want me to out her secret about Brody moving in with her. She could keep her mouth shut when she needed to.

Betty looked skeptical. “Were you always friends with Chase? I don’t remember you two being friendly when you were younger.”

“Brody hangs out with him a lot. That’s how we know each other,” I lied.

Shelly nodded and tried to back me up. “We’ve all been trying to get Merritt out of the house lately. Cheer her up.”

“A cute boy will do the trick.” Betty winked at me.

“Oh, no. It’s nothing like that,” I quickly replied.

Don leaned back in his chair and patted his stomach. “Enough of this cute boy talk. Who wants salad?”

I took the salad bowl from him, and continued to shove forkfuls of food into my mouth.

“Merritt,” Betty began. “You still have a box in the closet. Maybe you want to take a look through it, and see if there’s anything you want to keep.”

“Don’t make her look through it now,” Don interjected.

“It’s okay,” I waved my hand. I knew exactly which box she was talking about. “I’ll just put it in Shelly’s trunk and go through it another time.” I stood quickly and began collecting the empty dishes, eager to escape this conversation before it continued.

Once the table was cleared off, I followed Shelly to the closet in Betty and Don’s bedroom. She reached in and sat it gently on the floor in the middle of the room. It was labeled with my name on it in black marker.

“You shouldn’t even look through it.” Shelly flopped herself onto the bed. “You’ve been making a lot of progress lately. It might just stir up bad feelings and memories.”

I sat on the floor, staring at the box. “I wish I could just throw it away. I can’t bring myself to do it, though.”

“I don’t think you should throw it away. You might want those things later on in life. Just put it in the closet in your apartment. Or I can keep it at my place, if you want.”

“No, it’s okay.” I picked at the tape that was curling on the side of the box. “Why didn’t you want to tell your parents about Brody moving in?”

“They’ll get all excited that we’re taking the next step. I don’t want them planning our wedding before we even get engaged.”

“Have you guys talked about getting engaged?”

“Not really. We said we definitely need to finish school first. Get jobs. Maybe even a house.”

I smiled. “I’m so proud of you, Shell.”

She crinkled her nose. “Why do you say that?”

“Because look at your life – look how great it is.”

“Your life will be great, too. I promise.”

“Whatever my life is or isn’t, I can still be happy for you. You deserve all the happiness in the world. You are my very best friend and I am so excited for you to take the next step in your relationship with Brody.”

She smiled. “Thanks, Toad.”

“Girls! Pie’s out when you’re ready!” Don called.

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