Elise called Melanie as she drove to their mother’s house. She tried to remind herself the reasons why she was back in Kentucky. The goal was to care for her mother and help her sister. Not fall in love with Ben, again, and meet her estranged father.

“Hello.” Melanie sounded like she was talking directly into the phone microphone, trying to avoid being overly loud.

“Hey, Mel. Where are you?”

“I’m having lunch. I can’t really talk now. Can I call you back?”

“Sure. Hey, am I supposed to pick the kids up from school?”

“No, I’ve got it. I don’t go back to work until tomorrow morning.”

“Okay, I guess I’ll see you later.” She rode the windy roads back to the downtown area, where she was from and should stay from now on.

After not seeing any Toyota in her mother’s driveway, she pulled in. She switched her boots with her shoes before getting out. There was no need to solicit any questions from her mother about where she’d been that day.

“Mom,” she yelled as she opened the front door. “Elise, come on in. I’m in the family room.” Elise slipped off her shoes and fixed herself in the hall mirror before going in and seeing her traitor mother. The one who broke the pact of ‘stay away from all men, who are evil.’ Lyla was stretched out on the sofa, looking more relaxed than usual. Who didn’t, when they’d had some?

“Mom, I heard you had an early morning visitor. I stayed away, giving you time to visit with him.” Stay calm and give her the rope to hang herself.

“Oh, Elise, come and sit down. Who are you fooling? I know Ben told you my ‘friend’ stayed over. And how could Ben tell you if you hadn’t spent the night with him?”

Oh, no she didn’t. It was completely okay for Elise. She was young and naturally acceptable to have stay-overs. But her mother? She was older and should know better. Especially if she was the one who set the game to be one of solitaire. What was drilled into Elise for her first eighteen years should be good enough for her mother’s last fifty.

“I didn’t spend the night with Ben. Melanie’s piece of junk wouldn’t start and so the kids and I stayed over so he could take them to school. Thank you very much.”

“Well, Frank’s car wouldn’t start either.” She winked at Elise and continued watching her soap opera.

“Mother, I’m telling the truth. Why are you acting like I’m not?”

“Elise, it’s okay. You and Ben were always together. I couldn’t keep you two separated.” She didn’t break eye contact from the television.

So, now it was all right for her to stay with Ben? Only ten or so years ago he was the Devil. It was imperative for Elise to escape him and his silly notion of forever. But today it’s fine and dandy? What the hell?

“Well, then why did you fly to Vegas with Melanie and him to watch them get married?”

Lyla looked at her daughter. “Why shouldn’t she? He had a ranch, a future, and he loved her. You left him. He was fair game.”

Elise stood up from her chair. “Fair game? I left? You make it sound like it was my money that bought the plane ticket and out-of-state college tuition.” If she didn’t pace herself, Elise might hyperventilate. “Did you push her to marry him? And only after you practically piloted my plane to fly me out of here and away from him. Why, Mother?”

“Elise, you have a very selective memory, don’t you?” She broke her trance with the love story playing on the television and began intently focusing on the tragedy her daughter was recalling. With her being the murderer of love.

“Oh, enlighten me, Mother. How do you remember it?” She drew in a lungful of air and thought back to the day her mother called the taxi service and helped pack the luggage for her to leave home. All under the guise that Ben was going to break her heart if she let him.

“I remember a scared-to-death girl coming home saying that you found an engagement ring in his room. And all you wanted was to go to college. You didn’t want to be strapped to little ol’ Bowling Green, Kentucky for the rest of your life. So, as any mother would do, I found you a school in California that ensured you the best future and sent you there.”

“Wow, is that how you sleep at night? Skewed memories? How do you remember Dad? Do you remember only his tail lights or maybe the endless nights of you yelling at him?”

Lyla sat up straight on the sofa. She lowered her bad foot from the cushion. “How dare you, Elise. Your father left you. I mean, us. He didn’t care about anyone but himself. I did you a favor with Ben. He would have done the same thing to you. Don’t you know that’s what happens when you give all of yourself to someone? When you sacrifice everything?” Her lip began to tremble and the vein in her temple thumped up and down. “One day you have it all—love and a promising future. Then, the next, it’s dead all because you decided to complicate things with a family and a mortgage that anchors you down by the jugular.”

“I have my doubts, Mother. I don’t think you wanted anyone to love me.” She walked out of the room and picked up her keys on the table beside the door. She said a quick prayer before putting the key in the ignition. As soon as it started, she reversed it with a heavy foot and sped out. Did her mother really believe the lies she had just told her? She tried not to focus on their relationship often, but it was never one to nominate for perfect.

Elise drove around aimlessly, listening to her growling stomach and feeling weak. Finally, her car pulled into the McDonald’s and she ordered a salad and ate it in the parking lot. She had an hour before she had to get Melanie’s car back to her in order to pick up the kids. After she finished picking at her lunch, she checked her phone. One missed call from Darren alerted the screen. She remembered it had vibrated at the creek and wondered what was going through his uncomplicated mind. She watched the people as they came and went from the restaurant. If only her life felt as normal as theirs looked. She pressed in Darren’s phone number and waited for him to answer.

“You just read my mind, baby.”

“Hey, Darren. How are you today?”

“So much better now that I’ve heard your voice. Has it been hectic there for you?”

He didn’t know the half of it. A cloud of sadness draped over her. After a long sigh, she tried on a small smile for him. She knew facial expressions could be detected over the phone connection. “It’s been all right. I think I’m going to come home a little earlier than I planned.”

“That’s the best news I’ve gotten all week. Is your mother better?”

“Oh, yeah. I’d say so.” Thoughts of her just yelling at her and images of her man-friend found their way to the tone of Elise’s answer. “She’s actually better than I thought she would be. So I’m going to call the airline and book my trip back.”

“Just let me know and I’ll pick you up. And promise me you won’t leave again. I haven’t thought of anything but you.”

Ben had just told her that’s all she did—leave. What was her problem? Maybe she should meet the man who introduced her to the concept, after all.

“I have a chance to meet my dad, Darren. I’m scared.”

“Baby, why are you scared? He’s your dad.”

“I know.” She wondered how much she wanted to divulge. She’d told Darren that her dad left when she was little. The most that he knew about her family was that she had a less than desirable mother, a terrific sister, and an absentee father. She never went into the leaves on the family tree, only the branches.

“It’s just that it’s been so long since I’ve seen him. I’m not even sure he’d even want to see me.”

“Of course he would. Do you want me to come and go with you?”

“Oh, Lord, no!” That would only add more dirt to the murky water she’d been sitting in for the last few days. “I’m just a little unsure because he didn’t try to find me, after I moved to California. For the record, he never came for me when I lived in the same house as a kid. But he’s only a couple hours from here. I don’t get it.”

“Well, I think you should meet him, if you want. Who wouldn’t want to meet you? He won’t know why he didn’t do it earlier. You are a remarkable woman. I’m so proud of you. You make me the happiest person, Elise Newton. And if you don’t come back soon, I’m chartering a plane to come and get you.”

No pressure there. She just cheated on him. Cheat was such a strong word. All right, kissed behind his back sounded better. Intentions were beside the point. Maybe Darren wouldn’t feel the same if he knew the real Elise Newton. Hearing him say her praises made her sick. She had to get off the phone.

“Thanks, honey. You are a wonderful guy. I’m lucky to know you, Darren Masterson. But I have to get going. Melanie needs the car for the kids. I’ll call you tomorrow.”

“Okay, baby. I love you.” The sun rose and set on those words. Millions of seconds passed without a breath on her end. Why was he so persistent in his feelings to her? She didn’t deserve them.

“Bye, Darren.”

She clicked it off before she hated herself even more for not saying it back to him. And then hated why she couldn’t. She drove to Melanie’s house. The house was empty. She wasn’t home from lunch, yet her mother’s car was in the driveway. Her new guy must have picked her up.

Elise made a beeline for the shower. She lifted the lever to release all the hot water that would flow out. Broken images of Darren, Ben, her mother, and her dad polluted her mind in the steamy space. California and her little house on Meacon Street were her only refuges. It only held one of her obstacles in life—Darren. And she had practically turned that around with an ‘I love you’ by the sliding doors of the airport and a vague agreement to marry him in Vegas. Was she trying to elude her buried problems with a white flag of surrender? Believing and hoping that by getting married, normalcy would soon follow? But would it? Shouldn’t she be normal before exchanging lifelong vows with someone?

She stepped out of the shower and wiped the fog from the mirror. Melanie knocked on the bathroom door. “Hey, I’m getting the kids. Do you want to eat at Mom’s tonight? I can come back and pick you up or you can drive over.”

“I think I want to stay in tonight. I’m not feeling too well.” She looked at her reflection, while lying to her sister.

“Do you think you’re coming down with something?” Melanie spoke into the crack of the door, her voice vibrating through the small space.

“I’m fine. Just tired from all the activity. You forget, I’m single in California. The most I do is go to work and sit at my desk for nine hours a day. You go and have a good time. I’ll enjoy some peace while you’re gone. Don’t worry about me.”

“Okay, I’ll call you before we come home to see if you want anything.”

“Have fun.”

Elise dried off and walked to the room in her towel. She collapsed on her bed and stared at the ceiling. She knew she had to go to Clarksville. She took her phone off the charger and messaged Ben. ‘If you don’t mind, I’ll be at your house to leave around ten.’ She set her phone back down and rolled over on her side, not sure she’d have enough time to mentally prepare herself for the change of her life the next day.

Her phone rang. She took a moment, wondering if she should look at it. Her impatient heart raced, trying to elicit cooperation from her brain to look at the screen. Was it Ben? It couldn’t be. She just messaged him. Slowly, with anticipation, she peered over at the screen. Seeing his number made her eyes un-blink with a million questions behind them. Why couldn’t he be as savvy and just return the message. A phone call was not necessary. Unless he couldn’t go with her.

“Hello?”

“Hey, I just got your message. That’s fine. Do you want me to pick you up?”

“No, I’ll meet you at your house. I don’t want to explain myself to anyone around here. And don’t tell Melanie where I’m going.”

“No problem. But I’m trading her my truck. She’s taking hers into the shop. Do you have any objections to Old Blue?”

Could any more come at her? Was it possible to have an overdose of nostalgia? Old Blue was a refurbished pickup that Ben’s granddad left him when he died. Elise and he rode around in it everywhere, when she still lived there. When they were young lovers, unable to sit at a distance from one another. She had worn out the middle section, riding as close to him as she could.

“Of course not,” she said with a heavy sigh. “Is everything all right?”

“Yes. I just had a fight with Mom. I’m feeling a little anti-social right now, that’s all.”

“Nothing new then?”

“What do you mean?”

“You don’t remember the fights you two used to have all the time? And you’d come over and stay at my house till night came and you figured she was asleep, before going home.”

Oh, my gosh. He was right. They did argue all the time. About everything. Maybe that’s why it was so easy to leave the state and her mother, in Kentucky. Elise had forgotten most of those times. She just lumped all her problems together without daily dissection of why she was so dysfunctional now.

“I had forgotten, I guess. Hey, Ben, how was Mom when you and Melanie were dating?” The question came out of her mouth without guessing she might become nauseated from the inference. It was difficult to imagine her sister with the guy she loved so much.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, was she nice to you? You know, like nice because she had to be, or nice because she was?”

“She was nicer than when we dated. Why?”

Elise knew it. Her mother didn’t have a problem with Ben, she had a problem with her. It seemed to fit. She knew Ben was good marrying material, so she moved Elise to hook him up with Melanie. Her clear choice in daughters.

“I just wondered. That’s all.”

“Hey, want to come over like old times, till night time and you know she’s asleep?”

She couldn’t fault him for trying, but one night and narrow escape was all she was could endure. “No, I’m going to hang out with myself tonight. I want to get some rest for tomorrow. Thanks for taking me, Ben.”

“I’d do anything for you, Elise.”

“I know. Goodnight.”

She turned her face in the pillow and screamed. Why did her mother hate her so much? And she did it so well. With a smiling face and five states between them, who could detect the neglect she reserved for her daughter? Not Reverend Michaels. Lyla assured him every Sunday what close tabs she kept on her daughter. Not Frank, her newest shag partner. She must have lied to him and said Elise was in the Peace Corps and never made it home twice in the same decade. And as for Melanie, it was easy to say that Elise wouldn’t return her calls. Was it necessary to see if it was the truth?

Elise dressed and went downstairs and turned the television on. She ate a bowl of cereal and watched reruns of “Seinfeld.” It was seven o’clock when Melanie came in with the kids.

“Do you feel better?” she asked her sister, while putting all the backpacks down by the hall closet.

“I do, thanks. How was dinner?” She got up to rinse the bowl that had sat for the last two hours beside her.

“It was okay. Frank brought over dessert and then we left and came home.”

Elise turned off the water and gave Mason and Faith a kiss on their heads. Both of them had been loitering around their aunt, waiting for acknowledgement. “How long has she been dating Frank?”

Melanie came into the kitchen and stacked the kids’ lunch boxes on the counter. “Oh, I guess about eight months. Maybe nine. It hasn’t been a year yet. She doesn’t think that I know he stays over. I have no idea why she’s so secretive about him. I could care less. Didn’t she mention him to you?”

“Mom and I don’t talk that often. You’ve always been the favorite.” Her smile hurt when she tried it on after that declaration.

“What? If that’s true, it’s only because you moved so far away.” Melanie picked up a few toys from the floor and handed them to Mason. “Put these away and stop picking on your sister.”

“Melanie, she picked my destination. She said colleges were the best on the West Coast. Yet, she never visited me. Not once. Don’t you think that’s a little weird?”

“Mom doesn’t like to fly.” She dismissed Elise’s observation as being anything out of the ordinary. “Go upstairs and get ready for your showers.” Melanie snapped her fingers at the little boy and girl who were seeing who could push the other the hardest. “I mean it, you two. I’m tired and it’s almost your bedtime.”

Elise followed Melanie around while she put the kids’ things away and prepared for the next morning. “Melanie, she never really invited me back after I graduated.”

“They don’t have jobs around here for computer programmers, Elise. I think you’re imagining something that’s not there.”

“Fine. Maybe you’re right.” Ignorance was bliss.

“So, what did you do today? I tried to call you this morning to see if you wanted to hang out.”

“I didn’t get a missed call. I’m sorry. I just went for a horseback ride and then to McDonald’s for lunch.” She doused a little more water on her day’s activities to make it sound pathetically innocent.

“Oh. Well, I’m going up to get them ready for bed. I have to turn in early, too. I have to be at work first thing. I’m dropping the kids and meeting Ben to change cars while mine is being worked on. Do you plan to hang out with Mom?” She grabbed the stair’s banister, waiting for her sister’s response.

“I’m not sure. I think Mom is fine to take care of herself. I might return back home a little earlier than Sunday. I have a lot to do before Monday morning.”

Melanie stopped mid-way up the stairs and turned around. “Elise, don’t go back early. I was hoping to go out one night with you and Jacob. You all haven’t seen each other since high school. Please reconsider. The church social is Saturday night. And I know for a fact that Ben is going stag.”

“Why would I be concerned if he was going?” She could feel herself frowning, and imagining the grooves that were forming made her deliberately relax her face.

Melanie began climbing the stairs again. “Oh, it’s just that I heard a little birdie say they saw you together and it looked like old times with y’all.”

“Well, it wasn’t.” Elise shouted to her sister, who was now out of earshot. Who saw them together and who was spreading rumors?

Elise returned back to the sofa and settled back into the worn cushions. The television had on some silly sitcom. The volume was still audible, but Elise’s thoughts were louder as she played out scenarios of the next day in her head.