Chapter Five
Liam
My phone rang as I rushed out the door to meet Liam. It was a local number, but not one I recognized.
“Hello?” I answered.
“Liam?” a familiar female voice spoke softly on the other end of the phone.
I knew who it was. I’d never forget that sweet voice.
“Alyssa?” I asked, surprised by her call.
“I don’t want to bother you,” she started.
“No, you’re not bothering me at all. It’s great to hear your voice,” I admitted.
“I-uh. I just wanted to know if we could meet,” she stammered.
Meet? She wanted to see me? I was more than a little surprised.
“Yes,” I answered quickly.
“Great. I’ve got something I need to talk to you about. How is tomorrow morning, my house?” she suggested.
Wow. I was shocked by her invitation, but confused by her tone and her words. What could she want to talk to me about? It had been nearly twelve years.
“Sure. I’ll come by around eight,” I responded.
“Great. See ya then,” she said sweetly and then hung up.
I held the phone in my hand, still positioned near my ear while I thought about how things had ended between us. I hated that I left the way I did, but I didn’t know how else to do it. I couldn’t stand the thought of hurting Alyssa, then or now.
I drove to the diner in a haze, thinking about the past, the present, and the future.
“Hey,” Aiden greeted me with a wave towards his table.
“Hey, man, things just got weirder,” I sat down across from him.
The chunky blonde waitress with a stained uniform brought the coffee pot to our table, offering to pour me a cup with a half-hearted smile. I pushed the cup towards her and waited for her to fill it and then walk away before I continued my conversation.
“How do you mean?” Aiden asked.
“I just got a call from Alyssa,” I sighed, leaning back in the uncomfortable metal chair.
“Really?” he questioned, but without much surprise in his voice.
“Yeah. She said she wanted to meet me tomorrow morning, that she had something to talk to me about,” I explained.
Aiden nodded slightly, his eyes barely lifting from his coffee cup to mine. He was acting just as strange as the rest of the town, as if he, they, knew something that I didn’t.
“Any idea what it’s about?” I pushed.
Aiden’s shoulders lifted, and then quickly dropped for a shrug. His eyes looked abandoned, and his expression matched. He was hiding something.
“So, what is going on in this town?” I asked.
‘What do you mean?” Aiden questioned, his eyes widening as I spoke.
“I mean, everyone’s acting strange,” I sneered.
“It’s been a long time. Maybe it’s just weird for you, being home,” he offered.
“Maybe,” I shrugged, not really feeling that this was all my imagination.
“So, you excited to see Alyssa?” Aiden asked.
Excited wasn’t exactly the word I’d use. I was nearly nauseous with anxiety.
“A little nervous, I guess,” I admitted.
“You haven’t talked to her at all since you left?” he asked.
“No,” I shook my head, staring down into my coffee cup.
The black java swirled from where my spoon had just lifted. The color was dark, rich, just like Alyssa’s eyes.
“You still have something for her, don’t ya?” Aiden queried.
Heat filled my cheeks. I did. I hadn’t realized how much she still meant to me until I’d stepped foot in my hometown, but that same old feeling flushed through me now.
“It’s been a long time,” I shrugged off Aiden’s accusations.
“Never too late,” Aiden smirked.
I laughed, avoiding eye contact with my friend. He knew me well, too well. I wasn’t ready to admit my feelings for Alyssa. So much time had gone by; there was no way to know if she was even the same girl. I wasn’t the same guy.
“I figured she’d be married with kids by now,” I chuckled.
Aiden’s eyes moved from mine, quickly diving into his coffee cup. He turned his head, looking for the waitress, doing anything he could to avoid looking me in the eye.
“No, she never married,” Aiden said, waving down the waitress, and still not making eye contact with me.
“No boyfriend?” I asked.
Aiden looked up at me, his dark eyes filled with remorse. “She’s been dating this Bruce character for a while now,” he replied.
“Character? What, you don’t like him?” I asked.
Aiden smirked, his cheeks pushing up on his face as he fought back his smile. I watched as he shook his head and tried to read his expression, but couldn’t.
“He’s just not the guy for her,” he finally said.
I assumed he meant he’d prefer Alyssa be with someone else, mainly me, but he didn’t come right out and say it.
“I hope she doesn’t plan on yelling at me,” I chuckled.
“Nah, I think she’s over all that,” Aiden responded.
I couldn’t see how she could be over it. I was an ass. An insensitive ass; at least I looked like one. I had the ring in my pocket, ready to propose. I was set to leave for training, and all I could think about was making Alyssa my wife. She was young, beautiful, and full of life.
When news came of her brother’s death overseas, I watched her zest for life drain from her soul and spirit. It was the worst possible news and the worst possible timing. She begged me not to join up, to somehow get out of it, to stay with her, where I’d be safe.
Over the next few weeks, watching her fear for my safety grow into a wild animal, it was clear she couldn’t handle the relationship if I left. I had to go. I’d signed up; it was my dream, my goal in life, my destiny. If I could have promised her I’d come back, that I would be safe from harm’s way, I would’ve given her that ring as I planned. But I couldn’t. The thought of her pain if I didn’t come back, it hurt like hell. I figured she’d get over me, move on, meet someone new, and have an amazing life, one without that same grief she’d felt with her brother’s passing.
Aiden didn’t offer much help explaining why the town was acting so strange, and certainly didn’t help me figure out what Alyssa wanted to talk to me about. I reached up to pat him on the shoulder, laughing about how he towered over me, and then headed back to my old house.
I woke up the next morning, still unsettled from my conversation with Alyssa. I wanted to call her back, to push the meeting up, but I told myself to just be patient. I’d see her in a day, and then, I’d find out what was going on.
The dust still floated in the air, visible from the sun’s rays as I walked through the house. I opened up all the windows, grabbed the vacuum, and started working on clearing the place of the neglected vibe it gave off.
I wiped everything down with a damp cloth, clearing most of the settled dust from the home. It was starting to look more like I remembered it, except for the empty vase on the coffee table. My mom never left that vase sit empty, proud to display her award-winning flowers from her garden. I stared out the front window at the weed-filled flower beds where so many beautiful flowers used to bloom and felt a sadness that I couldn’t shake.
I grabbed my keys, drove to the local greenhouse, and went in on a mission to bring life back into those dead beds.
“Holy shit!” my head turned to see Jacob Maloney standing behind a large counter with a cash register.
“Well, there’s a sight for sore eyes,” I laughed, moving towards him for a quick hug.
“When did you get back into town?” he asked.
“Yesterday,” I sighed, enjoying that he didn’t give off the same weird vibe as everyone else.
“I heard you took a job with Senator Kline,” he informed.
I nodded, unsure how word had traveled so quickly about my return. It was a small town. “Yeah, looks like I’m here to stay, at least for a while,” I admitted.
“Good. I think that’s amazing,” Jacob said, his smile nervous.
I patted him on the back and took one of the flatbed carts from the enclosed rack, nodding at him as I pushed it towards the fresh flowers.
I loaded my cart with flowers that looked familiar. It had been a long time since I’d seen my mother’s flower bed in its full glory, so trying to recreate it was becoming quite the challenge.
“You need some help?” Jacob asked, sneaking up behind me.
“Sure,” I agreed, explaining quickly what I was trying to do.
He walked me through the greenhouse, loading me up with the flowers he knew were the easiest to grow and removing the ones that he didn’t think would work in my space.
“You have a lot of shade on the side, because of that big elm,” he explained, instructing me to pick out a few heartier species to plant there.
After about an hour, I had everything I needed: soil, flowers, tools, and even gloves to keep my hands clean.
Jacob rang up my order, took my card, and then paused as he handed me the receipt.
“You see Alyssa yet?” he asked.
“I’ll meet up with her tomorrow,” I smiled.
His eyes shifted, widened, and then almost sparkled as his smile widened across his face.
“Good,” he gushed.
I thought it a little odd that he was so interested in my meeting with Alyssa, but I simply chucked it off as normal behavior. After all, the last time I was in this town, Alyssa and I were a pretty hot couple.
“Good luck and congratulations,” Jacob said as I pushed my cart out the door.
“Thanks,” I waved in his direction.
As I unloaded my truck, sitting the flowers in the spots near areas Jacob suggested, my mind wandered to Alyssa, and this Bruce character, as Aiden referred to him. Was she happy?
I tore into the weeds, taking out all my aggression on the deep-rooted rascals. I hadn’t been here long, but something had been off since I arrived, and with everyone I talked to, things just seemed to become weirder and weirder. What did Jacob mean by ‘good luck and congratulations?’ Was he referring to the garden, and my new job, or something else? It felt like something else. And, Aiden, what was up with him? He was acting so strange at the diner. The only one acting the way I expected was Ms. Martinez. She was cold, even a little rude, just as I would’ve anticipated. Either the rest of the town had lost their damn minds, or I had.
“Glad to see you’re putting your mother’s garden back together,” Bill startled me as he walked towards me with a smile.
“Yeah, that empty vase in the house really got to me,” I admitted, turning around to greet my neighbor.
“How are things going?” he asked with a strange concern in his tone and his expression.
“They are, well, they’re a little strange, to be honest,” I looked up at him, waiting for a reaction that might give me a clue.
“Strange?” he questioned, his head tilted to the side.
I stood, pulled my gloves from my hands, and wiped them on my jeans. I knew he’d know what was going on. He was one of the nosiest men in the neighborhood.
“Yeah. People staring at me, acting strange, and then Alyssa called, said she wanted to talk to me,” I explained.
Bill didn’t flinch and didn’t offer a reaction of any kind. I was disappointed, to say the least.
“Well, it’ll be good for you to talk to her,” he finally said with a low sigh.
“Why’s that?” I pushed, still hoping to get an idea of what he knew.
“How long has it been? Twelve years?” he asked.
I nodded.
“And you haven’t spoken to her at all?” he queried.
“Not a single word,” I admitted.
“I’m sure you two have plenty to talk about then,” he smiled.
“I guess,” I shrugged.
I watched as Bill’s eyes lingered on me as if he was trying to read me.
“The way things were left, I just don’t want to get into an argument about the past,” I growled.
“I’m sure you’ve both grown up a lot since then. There are more important things to talk about than a stupid decision you made twelve years ago,” he laughed.
I was surprised that he was so bold. I knew my parents probably filled him in on my reasons for leaving the way I did, for breaking it off with Alyssa. I knew he was aware of my intended proposal; hell, he owned the jewelry store where I bought the ring.
“Yeah, it was pretty stupid,” I agreed.
“Probably one of the stupidest decisions you’ve ever made,” Bill scolded sincerely.
“I agree,” I sighed, remembering how happy I was the day I bought that ring. I hadn’t been that happy since, at least not that I can remember.
“I’ll let you get back to your gardening,” he smiled, walking away, and leaving me with a gut full of regret.
Gardening? More like weeding at this point.
I knew I had all evening to dwell on Alyssa, decisions made, not made, and the upcoming meeting. It was best to keep busy, and luckily, the mess in the yard was enough to keep me busy for hours.