“Sure thing, buttercup.”
I stuff my phone into my purse and run out the front door to my minivan. “Sorry, girls.”
My tires squeal and slide as I punch the gas with the hopes my kids don’t get another tardy on their record.
Little did I know my day was about to get worse.
Posey already has the door open before I have a chance to fully stop the van in the elementary school drop-off.
“Pos!” I slam on my brakes and Mandi and I fall forward.
“Seriously?” Mandi says.
I roll my eyes, but it’s the tapping of something on the hood of my van that causes me to look up.
“You’ve got to be shittin’ me,” I mumble, but from Mandi’s huff, she heard me.
“Oh my God! Is that really you?” The blonde woman acting as traffic director beelines it from the front of the van over to my window.
“I’m going. Love you, Mom!” Posey says.
I look back to say goodbye, but the van door shuts. I watch as Posey’s backpack swings right and left as she runs to the doors of the school. I move to put the van into drive, but a pearly white smile plastered to my window reminds me of the hell I’m in right now.
I press the button to lower the window.
“Mom!” Mandi screeches. “I can’t be late.”
Her reason for not wanting to be late isn’t the same as her younger sister’s, but I get it. I was a tween once too. She doesn’t want all eyes on her when she walks in after the bell.
“It’ll only be a minute.”
She throws herself back in her seat and lets out a long annoyed sigh. “Whatever.”
“I heard you were back in town, but Bill and I took a vacation together in celebration of the kids starting school, so I haven’t bumped into you.” Donna Demonte in the flesh. The girl who should’ve been voted biggest flirt senior year.
I force a smile.
Her hand reaches in and she pets my shoulder like I’m a cat. “I heard about what happened with Jeff. I’m sorry.”
I nod and glance at Mandi, who’s lost in her phone—or pretending to be at least. “Thanks. We’re good though. Happy to be back.”
She laughs. “Sunrise Bay has always been your home. I think I speak for the town when I say how happy we are to have you all here. I hear there’s a football player in the family. He’s going to have a challenge on his hands.”
I nod before my mind actually processes what she’s saying. “What?”
“Jeff was always sharing all those videos of your oldest on social media. He’s a quarterback, right?”
“Um… yeah.”
Jeff did always post things about Jed. But that’s Jeff. He’s a bragger and into one-upmanship.
“Do you know Hank’s son, Cade Greene?”
She pronounces Greene as if I’m not aware of the other half of the Greene family in this town. As if Hank and I weren’t in the same grade. As if we never… I shake my head from going down that particular memory lane. Then it all clicks—I forgot that Donna was Hank Greene’s high school girlfriend until our senior year.
“He plays quarterback,” Donna adds.
“Well, if Jed wants to play, he’ll have to hope they have a position for him to fill.”
She laughs. “And Jeff would be okay with that?”
“Mom!” Mandi whines.
“I really need to go, Donna. We’ll have to catch up another time.” I shift the van into drive.
“Definitely. Maybe we can go shopping or something.” Her eyes zero in on my sweatshirt.
I finger-comb my hair as though she won’t notice me doing it. “Sure.” I ease off the brake. “Bye, Donna.”
I drive off without waiting for her to say goodbye.
“She’s a bitch,” Mandi says.
“Mandi!” I scold—but how can I reprimand her when I’m thinking the same thing? The woman had it out for me in high school and I know for a fact she couldn’t be happier that my marriage fell apart.
“Come on, Mom, talking about Jed and Dad?”
We drive out to Main Street and into the middle school parking lot, since the schools are minutes away from one another. The lack of cars in the drop-off lane says Mandi’s going to be late. Her hand is already on the handle of the door before we come to a complete stop. Must be genetics.
“I’m sorry, Mandi. Last tardy, I promise.”
Surprisingly, she nods and nothing smart comes out of her mouth. When the door shuts, I close my eyes and relish the silence. Until a honk behind me startles me and I put the van in gear, driving back to my parents’ house.
The thought of Hank Greene makes my stomach flip. Although he and Jeff are cousins, they might as well have been strangers. After Jeff’s side of the family moved to Arizona with us, there were no more shared holidays or occasions for all of us to get together. Jeff’s dad never had a close relationship with Hank’s dad. When Hank’s father died, we discussed moving our side of the family back up to Sunrise Bay, but it never happened. Jeff paid for my parents to visit us so we wouldn’t have to come up here, which suited them fine since it was a mini vacation of sorts with a big house, pool, and warm weather.
I’ve always felt as though there was unfinished business between Hank and me, although we never truly dated. After his wife, Laurie, died tragically—only a year after his dad—I wanted to reach out on the phone, but I was a chickenshit and resorted to a plant and a sympathy card from our family. For months, my mom told me how sad the town was. How everyone was on the meal exchange for the Greenes and she had arranged a babysitting routine so Hank could work.
I drive down my parents’ street. They live way too remote for my liking. I love Alaska, but I’d rather live in a
