Page 2 of Bring me Back

I glanced down at the paper she gave me with a rough sketch of what was needed for this year’s set. I was a woodwork teacher with time to spare. Helping her came easily to me, but now she was asking too much. I scratched my beard, cursing myself. I should’ve nipped this in the bud. I knew the stage; Iknew the budget. An interconnected scenery wasn’t achievable in Bluehaven High.

“There must be a smart way to go about this, Daniel. Can you at least have a look if anything from last year can be converted?” It was what she said after handing me her ambitious sketch. I should’ve refused right there.

I searched my brain for a miracle. Juliet’s old balcony stood exactly where I left it last year. It wasn’t just the style that was completely different. It was the fact that Helen wanted a full Athens set as much as she wanted the woods. Wood panels, paint and time was I all could offer, I wasn’t in the business of miracles. I knew it was impossible from the second she thrusted her folded paper of dreams in my hands. But now, as I turned around the stage, reminded of how small it actually was, I understood it was up to me to crush her dreams.

“Sorry?”

The feminine voice spoke behind me and took me away from my racing thoughts. Turning toward the theater’s double doors, I tried to make sense of the silhouette arriving. I never bothered with the lights that far back, so I could barely make sense of the last row of chairs where she was standing by. But slowly, the newcomer walked to me, making her way to the stage.

My eyes traced from head to toe; jeans, loose white t-shirt and thick black hair piled on top of her head. I squinted, her face was still obscured.

“Can I help you?” I asked.

“Is Mrs. Carr around?” She took a step forward, finally coming to the light.

I gave myself a second to register her features. Heart-shaped face, deep dark irises and fuller bottom lip. I narrowed my eyes, trying to jog my memory, but I couldn’t place her anywhere. And I’d never forget a face like hers.

“Who’s looking?” I tipped my head up, trying to get a name out of her. The backpack over one shoulder played with the possibility of her being a student, but she looked older than seventeen. She looked young, but not a kid.

I waited for her reply, but it never came. Her eyes scanned over my face, lips parted, but they never uttered a word. Eventually, I lost my patience. “She’ll be here soon. You can wait if you like.”

I didn't add that I wanted her to stay. That I wanted a name, too.

Her forehead formed a crease, and she blinked away from me. I did not know what she was thinking, and I figured I would never find out as - still in silence- she turned on her heels and left.

I stared at the theater’s double doors as they closed quietly behind her. She spoke two sentences and almost made me forget myself. Shaking it off, I went back to the stage and Helen’s impossible dreams.

“Going out this weekend?” My brother asked from across the state, calling to annoy me as he usually did.

“Nope.”

“You should.”

I sighed and glanced at the ceiling. Mark had taken over the role of helicopter parent from mom since my divorce. Mom called and asked all kinds of questions, but when she didn’t believe I was being truthful, Mark called to do her bidding. We lived far, but since Kelly left our home and Bluehaven, Mark started making trips over for absolutely no reason. When he wasn’t here, he was calling to ask about my goddamn day. Then, of course, his wife was trying to set me up with women.

Since my divorce, I tried once and it was enough for me to see that maybe being alone wasn’t that bad. There were no fights over the remote control, no conversations about what we were going to eat.

Being single wasn’t that bad, even though it was new to me. I was with Kelly since we were teenagers, when I was young and dumb enough to believe in forever. No, I was good the way I was. My half-baked attempt at a relationship six months ago taught me that. I just needed to survive in this town. I needed to find a reason to stay and wake up every day, and that reason needed to be me. Not some woman.

But my older brother was eternally in love with Abby and raising my two nieces. He couldn’t begin to understand solitude.

“Why don’t you move here? Set a shop or something?” Mark tried again.

“I’m good where I am, Mark,” I replied quickly, before he started with his old dream for me: my own furniture shop. It almost happened, but since moving to Bluehaven…

I sighed. There was no reason to dwell in the past. Moving wasn’t the answer. Furniture shop wasn’t the answer. I needed more. I just had to find out what.

“How are the girls?” I tried to change topics.

“They are ok.” Mark took my bait. “April is saying hi.”

I smiled. April was Mark’s youngest. She was eight while her older sister, Rose, was ten years old. They were the greatest and the only reason I’d ever considered moving close to Mark.

“Say hi to her. Are they ready for the school year?”

“Yes. Had to buy three hundred colorful gel pens as I’m told they’re essential material.”

“She’s not wrong. I’m a teacher, believe me,” I said, taking a swig of the beer in my hands.