Page 128 of Chasing Home
James claps and points at me. “That’s exactly it! See, Bernie?”
“Don’t tell me you prefer salty to sweet too?” she asks, humour colouring her words.
“Guilty.”
“That’s what I like to hear. But back to the ketchup chips. What brand do you prefer? And know there’s only one right answer.” James grins.
I don’t hesitate with my answer. “Old Dutch. Hands down.”
He claps again, grin spreading wider. “That’s right.”
“We’re not supposed to be fixating on chips, James,” Bernice says.
Sobering at her tone, he sucks in his laugh. “Right. Ask your questions, please, Rory.”
“Okay. How well did you know my mom?”
Bernice is the one who answers. “Not well enough. We met her a handful of times, but once they left Cherry Peak, Lee didn’t like coming back.”
“You’re the second person to hint at him hating it here. Why didn’t he like it?”
“Because here, nobody cares who you are. Sure, there’s a shock factor to coming back, like I’m sure he’s experiencing walking around town now, but it isn’t because of his fame or success. It’s because he abandoned this town and his family for a taste of the good life. Cherry Peak wasn’t big enough for him. He wanted more, and he burned every relationship he had in this town to get it. The one he had with your mother especially,” James explains coolly.
Nothing he’s said surprises me. I believe every word. “You truly didn’t know my mom was pregnant then.”
“No! If we had, we would have been there. She would have been taken care of. You both would have been,” Bernice says, voice shaking as she lifts her shirt sleeve to the corner of her eyes. “Thirty years, Eliza said. We lost out on thirty years with you.”
“It’s not your fault.”
“Maybe not. But pain doesn’t care who’s at fault,” she says with that same soft, motherly tone that Eliza has. “You’re so beautiful, Rory. You’ve got Rose eyes. That deep blue that draws attention everywhere you go.”
“It was the first thing I noticed when I saw Lee.”
“I’m not surprised. They’re usually the first thing everyone notices about us,” James adds. His eyes are just like mine and his son’s.
Bernice releases a breath. “What else do you want to know, sweetheart?”
And so starts a two-hour conversation about anything and everything from what my great-grandparents’ names were, what James and Bernice did for work before retiring, to if Lee is their only child.
He is, but Bernice has three sisters, all of whom had three children of their own. That was only the tip of the iceberg. Turns out that I have more cousins and second cousins than most people have members in their entire extended family times three. I lost count after the second set of names.
It’s an information dump in the best way. I ingest the information with greedy nods and even more questions. The two of them don’t hide anything from me or ignore any part of my curiosity.
I slowly let them in, and by the time we finish, I grow to hate my decision to leave that little bit more.
41
JOHNNY
My feet hit the ground hard enough for my ankles to hurt when I jump from the tractor. With a slap of my hand, I shut the door and leave it parked between two others. It’s been at least six months since I was behind the wheel of a tractor, let alone to do something as time-consuming and boring as moving bales, but it was therapeutic.
I hate how quiet it is around here today, like everyone’s made themselves scarce around me. I’m antsy, so full of nervous energy that I feel like an over-shaken bottle of Coke with the lid starting to loosen.
“You need somethin’ to do, boy?” Wade shouts, appearing with his hands on his hips in a power stance.
“Please.”
“That fence you seem so damn set on? I ordered the materials last week, and they just showed up. Load ’em up and get started.”