Текст книги "My Butterfly"

Автор книги: Laura Miller

Chapter Twenty-Nine
Wedding

“Will, I’ve been looking for you.”

I turned around in the bench to see a young woman, dressed from head to toe in white, and immediately, it made me smile.

“Hey, Mona, do you need something?” I asked her.

Mona had always been like a little sister to me, and now, she seemed all grown up all of a sudden.

“No, no,” she said, laughing. “I just saw you talking to that girl over there.”

“What girl? When?” I asked.

“Taylor,” Mona said. “The petite girl, auburn hair, you know? She’s a friend from college.”

“Oh,” I said, habitually rubbing the back of my neck.

“Uh, yeah, she’s requesting a song,” I said.

Mona flashed me a mischievous grin.

“She asked if I would dance with her when it plays,” I continued.

“And you said?” she asked.

“I said I would, but it’s just a dance, Mona,” I said.

She shook her head.

“She’s the one,” she said, pointing at me. “Taylor’s a really nice girl, Will.”

“I just met her, Mona,” I said, through a patient smile.

“She’s the one,” she said again.

I gave her a disbelieving look.

“Just give her a chance, Will, for your little cousin on her wedding day,” she said, with a pleading smile.

“Mona, Taylor’s the one…,” I started but stopped short, as my eyes caught a familiar silhouette and my heart momentarily took a break from its beating.

“Julia,” I said, quickly sitting up.

“Hi, Will,” she said.

Jules planted her eyes in my gaze for a moment and then turned her attention to Mona.

“Hi, Mona,” she said. “You look beautiful.”

Mona shot me a suspicious look and then set her eyes on Julia. I, in the meantime, tried to relax my shoulders and to not look so obvious.

“Thanks, Julia. I’m so glad you made it,” Mona said, wrapping Jules into a big embrace. “And we’ll have to catch up, but right now, I’ve got to find the groom. They’re making us take more pictures, and this guy’s been holding me up,” she said, pulling away from Julia and gesturing toward me.

I sent Mona a puzzled look, but it didn’t seem to faze her as she hurried off to somewhere else and left Jules and me alone.

I took a second before I spoke.

“I wasn’t sure you’d be here,” I said.

“I wasn’t either,” she replied.

She smiled and caught my stare.

The shock of my heart suddenly stopping moments ago was starting to fade, and my smile was returning.

“How long are you here?” I asked.

“Just tonight,” she said.

I glanced around.

“You here with anyone?” I asked.

“No,” she said, shaking her head.

I cocked my head to the side.

“No,” she quickly said again, seeming to read my mind. “Brady had to work.”

“Oh,” I said. “You two still…”

I couldn’t even finish the sentence, damn it. I felt my mood changing fast. I tried to hide what I was sure was obvious disdain, as she nodded her head in confirmation.

Of course.

I sucked in an audible breath and then sat back.

“How is everything?” she asked.

I met her eyes again. Did she want me to be honest?

“It’s fine,” I lied.

She nodded her head again as her lips went back to a straight position on her face. But she held her eyes in mine. I could tell she was thinking something, but I couldn’t tell what it was.

Then, I watched her carefully slide off her shoes and then tiptoe over the grass toward the bench I was sitting on and take a seat.

I glanced at the space in between us. It wasn’t the close I was used to associating with Jules, but it was a couple thousand miles closer than I got these days. So, in the end, the ten inches that separated us made me smile again.

“You look nice,” I said.

She looked up at me, and I watched as her lips broke into a sweet, sideways smile.

“Thanks,” she said. “You don’t look so bad yourself.”

I felt my grin growing wider, and suddenly, it didn’t matter that she was leaving again the next day. At least I had tonight.

I thought of something then – something I had been waiting to tell her.

“Hey, remember prom night our senior year and you said that you only had one wish in life?” I asked her.

She laughed.

“For New Milford to get a pizza place,” she said, bobbing her head.

Her gaze was straight ahead, and a pretty smile lingered on her lips.

“Well…,” I said.

“No,” she exclaimed, quickly angling her face back toward mine.

“Yes,” I confirmed.

She shoved my shoulder. It moved me only slightly, but it did cause my smile to grow wider.

“I can’t believe it,” she shouted.

“Believe,” I said.

“Where?” she asked.

“Downtown, next to the movie theater,” I said.

Her mouth was slightly frozen open. It looked sexy and playful all at the same time.

“Have you been?” she asked.

Her excitement made me laugh.

“I have,” I said, nodding my head. “It’s good.”

“I have to go,” she exclaimed and then paused.

I watched her stare fall to the shoes dangling from her fingertips.

“Next time,” she said, as her wide smile began to fade.

I nodded my head and felt my grin vanishing too.

“Next time,” I softly agreed.

There was silence for a moment again. And my eyes fell onto the dress she was wearing. It was green. It matched her pretty eyes. But it also reminded me of the green dress she wore to homecoming our junior year. We stayed up all night that night – her in my arms – and watched the sun come up in the morning.

“You’re in too many of my memories, Jules,” I said, as a grin fought its way back to my lips again.

Her eyes instantly fell into mine. And then, slowly, her eyebrows drew closer together and one corner of her mouth faintly rose.

“I have that same problem,” she said, softly laughing into the subtle breeze.

I held my gaze in her eyes, until her stare broke and returned to her hands and her shoes, now slowly swaying from side to side. Then, I sucked in a deep breath of cool air, and at the same time, felt my smile wane.

“How do you like it out there?” I asked.

I watched as her chest rose and then fell.

“It’s beautiful,” she said, sending me a quick glance.

A wide smile had returned to her face.

“But a different kind of beautiful than here,” she continued. “I mean, there’s a lot of traffic and a lot of people. But the ocean is perfect, and there are mountains, and there’s an orange tree in my neighbor’s front yard.”

“An orange tree, really?” I asked.

Her pretty eyes were big.

“I know, that’s what I said,” she exclaimed, nodding her head.

She looked so happy all of a sudden.

“And school?” I asked.

She laughed.

“It’s school – on steroids,” she said. “I just never thought that I could cram this much stuff into my brain at one time. It’s so much stuff.”

She emphasized the so, but she was smiling as she said it.

“You like it though?” I asked.

She nodded again.

“I do,” she said.

She paused then.

“What about you?” she asked. “How’s the job going?”

I nodded my head before I spoke.

“It’s great,” I said and meant it. “There’s always something going on. I like that about it.”

“Please, God, tell me there hasn’t been any more close calls,” she demanded.

I watched her eyelids fall over her eyes and her hand rush to her chest and cover her heart. Then, I softly chuckled to myself.

“No,” I reassured her. “No close calls, knock on wood.”

I knocked on the wooden arm of the bench.

“But I’ve also got my guardian angel,” I said, touching my hand to my heart.

She found my eyes again and smiled.

“There you are,” a voice suddenly called out from behind us. “You ready? You promised. This song.”

My eyes traveled toward the voice, as a girl with auburn hair planted her feet directly in front of Jules and me. She was smiling wide, and her head was cocked playfully in my direction. I glanced back at Julia and then back at the girl. And in that time, the girl’s eyes had fallen on Jules.

“Uh, Taylor,” I stuttered, trying to remember her name again. “This is Julia. Julia, this is Taylor.”

I watched as Julia’s eyes widened a little and her lips fell slightly open.

“Taylor,” Julia repeated then, as if she were remembering something.

Taylor extended her hand.

“Nice to meet you,” she said, in a Missouri-Bootheel twang.

Julia raised her hand to meet Taylor’s. Her smile was poised.

“You ready?” Taylor asked again, quickly redirecting her attention to me.

Everything in me was shouting no, as I stumbled onto Julia’s eyes again.

“Go,” she whispered, so softly that I was sure Taylor couldn’t hear it.

“The next one?” I asked her.

Jules smiled.

“Next time,” she said.

I hesitated. There was something in her voice that made me feel as if there wouldn’t be a next time. A sudden sadness took hold of my chest then and squeezed it tight. I almost told Taylor that I couldn’t leave Julia, but I didn’t. Julia was happy; I could tell. And there was a part of me that wondered if my interference would somehow shatter that happiness.

I reluctantly returned my gaze to Taylor. She shot me a wide grin, and then I slowly lifted myself up from the bench. But when I was on my feet again, I turned back and met Jules’s eyes one, last time. She smiled her beautiful smile, and I tried my best to force a smile too. Then, I begrudgingly followed Taylor to the dance floor.

* * *

The song ended, and immediately, I searched the faces on the dance floor for Julia. I didn’t see her, but I did see Rachel.

“Rach, have you seen Jules?” I asked, when I got close enough for her to hear me.

Rachel turned and met my eyes.

“She had to go,” Rachel said. “She’s got an early flight tomorrow – gotta get back to her big-city life. She doesn’t have time for us small-townies anymore.”

She elbowed my arm and giggled.

“God love her,” she went on. “Maybe she’ll take me with her next time.”

She eyed her boyfriend and deviously smiled.

Jon stared at her for a second. Then, without warning, he shrouded her in a big bear hug and squeezed her close to his side

“You’re not going anywhere,” he said.

Rachel giggled again and then dramatically sighed.

“Maybe another life then,” she said, staring back up at me.

I tried to force a smile, but in the end, I just didn’t have the strength. Everything in me was focused on Julia and on the one thought that was swirling endlessly around in my mind: How could I have let her get away again?

Chapter Thirty
One Step

“Is this the first time you boys have ever been inside a recording studio?” the thin man asked in a half-serious, half-joking tone.

We all looked at each other.

“Yes, sir,” I eventually said, nodding my head.

“Okay, well, you ready to record a song then?” he asked.

“Yeah,” Chris excitedly yelled.

The rest of us only nodded our heads and smiled wide.

“All right, let’s do it,” he said. “Drums first.”

We each took turns recording our own tracks, until it finally came to the vocals.

I stood there playing with the big headphones that threatened to engulf both sides of my head. I couldn’t hear anything in them except for the thin man’s voice, which would muffle through every once in a while.

My eyes eventually turned down, and I caught a glimpse of metal peeking out from in between my fingers. Her guardian angel was tightly pressed against my palm.

“Okay, Will,” I heard the man’s voice again. “I’m going to start the track.”

I looked through the glass to where the thin man was sitting and nodded my head.

A few seconds later, the music trickled through the big headphones, and I slowly brought my lips to the funny-looking microphone. I felt the words then grow in my stomach and then climb into my chest. They stayed there for a moment and then finally fell from my lips one by one – just like they had a hundred times before:

 
“I’m famous in this small town
For a ghost I cannot shake
They all know I’m talkin’ to you
But of it – I don’t think they know what to make
But they don’t see what I see
They don’t see you dance on the river walk,
Underneath the street lamps
With those stars in your eyes
They don’t see you
Lying next to me
Tellin’ me your dreams,
Planted somewhere up in those big skies
No, they don’t see what I see
Because I see
A rainstorm in June
Just before the sun
The black of night
Just before the stars
And, girl, I see your ghost
Just before our dawn
And tonight I’ll see you again
Just like every night before
But they don’t see what I see
What I see is more
Because I see
A rainstorm in June
Just before the sun
The black of night
Just before the stars
And, girl, I see your ghost
Just before our dawn
And, girl, I see your ghost
Just before our dawn.”
 

My lips hovered in front of the microphone as the last words of the ballad hit the black mesh and disappeared. But the music still played inside my big headset and filled my ears. I closed my eyes and took in each note, as a deep breath invaded my lungs. The song meant something to me, and I couldn’t sing it without feeling something too. I fought back the tightness in my chest as the small room eventually grew quiet again.

“That was great, Will,” I heard a muffled voice say into my ears. “I think we’ve got your single.”

A smile scurried to my lips. Those words sounded better together than I had ever imagined they could. I squeezed my fingers tightly around the guardian angel in my hand again, and suddenly, I felt one step closer.

Chapter Thirty-One
District 9

“What’s this all about?” Chris asked when he entered the room.

“Not sure,” Matt said.

Daniel, Matt and I were already seated around a big desk in a small office. There was a window that overlooked the street behind the desk. And on the desk, there were office gadgets resembling every piece of the music industry you could dream up – including a guitar that was also a tape dispenser and a microphone that moonlighted as a lamp. I took a deep breath. The room smelled like a mixture of that cologne Jesse always wore and some kind of weird smell that came from an air freshener contraption on a shelf filled with little glass trophies. The contraption made a noise every couple of seconds and then puffed out a misty fog. I watched the fog now as it followed a path to the desk and then eventually disappeared. Then, I caught Matt’s stare. He held his gaze on me until I shrugged my shoulders and sat back in my chair.

Jesse flew into the room seconds later in perfect Jesse fashion – quick and dramatic. He looked as if he were in a rush; but then again, he always looked as if he were in a rush.

“How’s it going, guys?” he asked, falling into the leather chair behind the big desk.

He always asked the same question. But we knew not to answer it. There was never enough time from when he asked it to when he started talking again.

“I’ve got this band that’s interested in having you guys as the guest artists on their album,” he quickly went on. “Have you guys ever heard of Ren Lake?”

We all looked at each other like this guy was suddenly going to grow a snout and wings and fly out of the room and take the dream with him. This went on for a few seconds.

“Is that the knock-off of the real Ren Lake or something?” Chris eventually asked, chuckling to himself and sending us a quick glance.

We all kind of snickered, but Jesse just smiled and lowered his eyes to a spot on the surface of his desk.

“Good guess, but no,” he said, lifting his eyes again.

“Wait, you’re not telling us it’s the real Ren Lake?” Daniel asked.

Jesse’s mouth started to slowly turn up at its edges.

“I’m telling you there’s only one Ren Lake, and they want District 9,” he said.

The room instantly grew silent then. We all seemed to be studying the slender man facing us. Even I watched his every move: his every eye blink, the way he kept biting his bottom lip and furrowing his brow – as if he didn’t quite know what to make of our silence.

“Wow,” Chris eventually shouted. “Well, what did you tell them?”

Jesse paused for a moment.

“Well, I told them that I would have to talk to you guys first but that I think it would be a great fit.”

“Hot damn,” Chris shouted again.

He held his hand up in the air in front of Daniel, and Daniel high-fived it.

“So, what does this mean exactly?” Matt asked.

“Well, it means that you guys will be a part of Ren Lake’s new album, which means a lot more exposure for you. And we can never tell for sure where that exposure might lead, but the hope is that there will be more and bigger gigs, and in the future, possibly an album.”

“An album!” Chris shouted.

“Now, it would also most likely require significantly more time from you guys,” Jesse continued. “And I know you have the firefighter gig. I don’t know if, need be, you could take a leave of absence or something like that or even think about music as a career.”

Jesse sat back in his big, leather chair and smiled. I found Matt’s stare and then Daniel’s. Then, Jesse sat back up and shuffled some papers around his desk.

“But we can cross that bridge when we get there,” he said. “So, you guys in?”

We all looked at each other one more time. I tried to hold back a smile, but I couldn’t. And Chris and Daniel were already smiling when the corners of Matt’s mouth started to twitch upward.

“This only happens maybe once in a lifetime,” Chris said, his eyes big.

Matt shrugged his shoulders.

“We can figure the rest out as it comes, I guess,” Matt said.

I glanced at Daniel. He was nodding his head in agreement.

My eyes fell back onto Jesse, who had since abandoned the papers on his desk and now seemed to devote his full attention to the four of us.

“I think we’re in,” I said to him.

Jesse slowly nodded and then smiled.

“I thought you would be,” he said.

Chapter Thirty-Two
Reunion

“I mean, really, is this really necessary?” Rachel asked, as she elbowed me in the arm. “I see these people almost everyday. And if I wanted to see them at night, I could do that too. The keyword here is if.”

“Oh, come on, Rach,” I said. “It isn’t that bad. Your five-year high school reunion only comes around once in a lifetime.”

She glared at me with narrowed eyes.

“The invitation said, ‘no guests,’” she continued. “What kind of a party do you go to that you can’t bring any guests?”

I shrugged my shoulders.

“I didn’t make the rules, Rach,” I said.

I grabbed two drinks from the counter, and at the same time, noticed a big guy in the opposite corner of the room.

“Wait, Rach, isn’t that Jon over there?” I asked.

“Hmm?” she asked.

She seemed disinterested.

“Jon,” I repeated.

“Oh, yeah, I brought him anyway,” she said, flipping her hand in the air.

I stared at her for a second as she walked away. Then, I smiled and followed her to a table in the corner of the room. We sat down, and I slid her a drink. She took a big gulp of it and then set the glass down.

“Great,” she exclaimed then, under her breath.

“What?” I asked.

“Don’t look back,” she said. “Maybe she won’t see us.”

“What?” I asked.

“Rachel! Will!”

I turned in my chair, but before I could get all the way around, a woman was already wrapping one arm around my back and hooking her hand onto my shoulder. She smelled of strong perfume.

“Janette,” Rachel said, in a hollow and unenthused tone.

I caught Rachel’s glare and smiled, knowingly.

“I didn’t know you two were going to be here,” Janette exclaimed, pulling up a chair and squeezing in between Rachel and me.

Rachel looked at me sideways. I shrugged my shoulders and smiled back at her.

“It’s our class reunion, Janette,” Rachel said. “Who did you expect to see here?”

Janette hadn’t seemed to have heard Rachel’s question, and if she had, she ignored it.

“Now, what are you two up to these days?” Janette asked in a high-pitched voice.

Rachel let out an exasperated puff of air.

“I’m teaching…,” Rachel started.

“That’s right,” Janette interrupted, as she tossed back her head and laughed. “That’s a silly question. You’re in Hartsville, and Will, are you still fighting those fires?”

She winked at me, and at the same time, she dug her long, red talons into my bicep.

“Yes, Janette,” I said, smiling up at Rachel.

Rachel scowled at me.

“Have you heard that my boyfriend just got a job at the bank?” she asked. “He’s in the accounting department. I don’t think you’ve met him. He went to Northwest Missouri, graduated near the top of his class.”

I watched as Rachel’s lips twitched but then finally formed a fake smile.

“He’s probably going to propose to me at any moment now,” she continued. “We’ve already talked about buying a house here in town, and he wants two kids. But we’re going to start off with a dog first, you know. We’re going to skip the plant. God knows we can take care of a plant,” she said, laughing up into the air. “That’s just a waste of our time. Time’s a tickin’, you know.”

Janette paused and smiled at Rachel.

Rachel forced her fake smile higher up her face and slowly shook her head back and forth.

“It’s a tickin’,” Rachel repeated. “But sadly, not fast enough,” she added under her breath, while flashing me an impatient glare.

Suddenly, Janette’s purse burst to life then with the help of some off-beat tune, and immediately, Janette’s attention flew to the bag. I watched her root in the purse for a second before I noticed Rachel’s eyes on me again. They were big and telling, and I just knew she wanted to strangle Janette or run or something. I chuckled to myself and lowered my eyes.

Janette eventually rescued her phone and pulled it from her purse.

“Oh, it’s just my mom. She probably wants my recipe for those blueberry muffins I made the other night,” she said, still staring into her phone’s screen.

Rachel’s narrow eyes flashed back to Janette. I quickly cleared my throat and garnered Rachel’s attention again. She met my eyes and gave me a pleading look but then eventually forced another counterfeit smile.

“By the way, Will, where’s Julia?” Janette asked, after poking a button on the phone and throwing it back into her purse.

Rachel’s eyes fiercely darted back toward Janette, and this time, there was nothing I could do to stop her. Instead, I just swallowed hard and uncomfortably shifted in my chair.

“Uh, Janette,” Rachel said, regaining Janette’s attention. “I heard that Ben, uh, knows a guy who went to Northwest and might know your boyfriend.”

I furrowed my brows at Rachel. She caught my gaze and shrugged her shoulders.

“Does he really?” Janette asked.

She sounded excited.

“You know, I bet they were in the same fraternity,” Janette said. “They’re all so close, you know?”

Rachel smiled and lifted her shoulders again.

“You know, that’s probably it,” Rachel said.

“Where is Ben?” Janette asked, as she pushed herself up from her chair and craned her neck around.

Rachel pointed to a burly-looking guy across the room, and just like that, Janette was gone.

“Thanks,” I softly said.

“Don’t mention it,” Rachel said.

There was a silent moment then as Rachel and I both watched Janette run over to Ben and say something and then Ben look at her as if she were crazy.

“Priceless,” Rachel said, proudly smiling.

“So, how is everything going?” Rachel asked, planting her eyes on me again. “What do your parents think about the band and everything?”

I smiled.

“They seem to be getting used to the idea,” I said. “I really don’t think they knew what to think of it at first. But you know them; if I’m happy, they’re happy.”

Rachel shook her head and smiled.

“I bet your mom’s ecstatic,” she said.

I chuckled a little to myself.

“Yeah, I guess it was Dad that I had to more or less convince,” I said.

“Oh, I’m sure it didn’t take much convincing once he heard you guys play,” she said.

I smiled, bashfully. Then, it was quiet for a moment again.

“So, have you talked to Julia lately?” I asked.

Rachel found my eyes and gently smiled, kind of like a mom would smile at you right before she told you that your hamster didn’t make it through the night or something.

“She’s doing well,” she said, slowly nodding her head. “She has a test or something and couldn’t make it tonight, but she’s doing well.”

I nodded my head too as my eyes turned down and searched for a spot to rest on the table’s surface in front of us.

“Can you believe Janette?” Rachel asked, quickly changing the subject. “I mean, you’re practically a rock star, and she’s sitting here talking about her accountant boyfriend like he just found some medical cure.”

I lowered my head and laughed.

“I’m not a rock star, Rach,” I said.

“Well, you’re gonna be, and Little Miss Tickin’ Blueberry Muffin is going to drop one of her two kids into her perfect recipe’s batter when she sees you on television someday,” she said.

I chuckled some more.

“Rachel, you’ve got a wild imagination,” I said.

Rachel laughed, found my gaze and then rested her hand on mine.

My eyes darted to her hand and then met her eyes.

“Call her,” she said, softly. “There’s no reason you guys should be strangers.”

I forced a smile and nodded my head. Then, I felt her hand slowly pull away from mine again.

“Rachel,” I said and then stopped.

I glanced around us. Nobody was within an ear’s shot, so I continued.

“It’s been five years, and it just doesn’t seem like we’re ever in the same place,” I said. “There have been times when I’ve wanted to say things to her.”

I paused and looked around again.

“But it just never happened,” I went on. “There’s a part of me that feels like she might prefer that we just be strangers.”

Rachel softly smiled.

“Her dad was a cop,” she said.

My eyes instinctively narrowed. She had said the words as straightforward as you could say words. I cocked my head and furrowed my eyebrows. Then, I watched her close her eyes briefly and nod her head.

“St. Boni Police Department for fifteen years,” she said. “He quit the force when Julia was eight.”

I was speechless for a second.

“What?” I eventually asked.

She sighed and met my eyes again.

“Evidently one night, he didn’t come home, and Julia’s mom went crazy trying to find him,” she said. “Eventually, she found out that he had been shot by some guy he had pulled over that night. The guy had a warrant and thought shooting her dad was the only way to get out of going back to jail. Her dad was in the hospital for a week, until he recovered and went back to work. Julia’s mom, on the other hand, never really recovered. Julia told me that she remembered waking up to her mom screaming the nights following the accident. He retired soon after that.”

I sat back in my chair and stared up at the wall.

“Why didn’t she ever tell me this?” I asked.

Rachel softly smiled.

“Because she doesn’t talk about it – no one in her family talks about it,” she said. “I just so happened to stumble across a photo with him in a uniform one day, and I forced her to explain. It wasn’t a very happy time for Julia, and her dad must have loved the force, but he must have loved her mom more.”

She met my eyes again. I knew my face was some kind of blank, and my lips were stuck on a word my mind couldn’t seem to think to form.

“I’m only telling you because I think the eight-year-old girl inside of her is running from you,” she said.

She took in a big breath and let out a sigh.

“But you can’t ever tell her I told you,” she said, in a pleading voice.

I shook my head.

“I won’t,” I softly said.

I slid farther back into my chair and let its back catch me.

“Rachel, what guy do I know that knows Janette’s boyfriend?” Ben interrupted, as he pulled a chair to our table.

Rachel flashed me a sly half-smile before she turned her attention to Ben.

“I just needed a break,” Rachel said to him. “Wait, how did you get over here so fast?”

Ben chuckled.

“I just told her Jeff’s the one who knew him,” he said.

Rachel and Ben laughed. I was too preoccupied.

“How’s Jon?” Ben asked Rachel, after their laughter had faded.

I pushed my chair back and stood up.

“Well, I think I’m going to take off,” I said.

I didn’t even try to make up an excuse.

“Oh, okay,” Rachel said.

The pause in her voice told me that she understood.

“You leaving already, buddy?” Ben asked.

“Yeah, I think so,” I said.

“Okay, well, have a good night,” he said. “I’ll be taking off here soon anyway. I swear I’m having déjà vu. I mean, didn’t we just see all these people Friday night?”

Rachel dramatically nodded her head and found my eyes.

“See!” she exclaimed.

I forced a smile and tipped my cap to Rachel, and her proud smile turned soft again. Then, I walked to the door, pushed it open and hastily made my way to Lou in the gravel parking lot. My pace picked up with each step, but it was still as if I couldn’t get behind the wheel and out of there fast enough.

Within a few minutes, I pulled in front of the high school and turned off my truck. I could see through the windows that the lights were off and that no one was inside. I got out, closed the door behind me and made my way around the building and to the back. When I came to a couple of metal doors, I reached above them and found a key under a layer of dust on the ledge. I slid the key into the door and pushed it open. Once inside, I closed the door behind me, shoved the key into my jeans pocket and took in a deep breath. It smelled like a mixture of unwashed basketball jerseys, old books and that wax they used on the gym floor every year. I waited for my eyes to readjust to the darkness inside. Then, I shuffled to the gym and switched on a light that illuminated the path in front of me. Four concrete steps later, I was on the stage. It was empty except for a couple of stray balls, a questionable ladder and an abandoned sweatshirt. I walked over to the far side and pulled on a narrow rope, which forced the heavy stage curtains to part. When the rope wouldn’t move anymore, I hurried over to the edge of the stage and looked out onto the court. The light from behind me was just bright enough that I could see what I needed to see. My eyes immediately fell onto a rafter in the corner of the gym near the stage. And in the rafter, I spotted two balls.

A disbelieving laugh fell off my lips next.

“She was right. Nothing ever leaves the rafters,” I said to myself.

I swiveled around on my heels and spotted the ladder first. It was clearly not tall enough to get me directly to the ball, but if I stood on it and used one of the other balls lying on the stage, I just might be able to knock it down.

I rushed over to the stepladder, picked it up and carried it down another four steps to the other side of the stage. Then, I positioned it slightly under the ball imprisoned high in the ceiling and then ran back and grabbed two, rubber balls.

Once I reached the stepladder again, I carefully climbed up its wooden planks. The old ladder had definitely seen some better days. I got about three quarters of the way up, waited for it to stop swaying, and then I balanced my weight against its frame. Next, I took the first rubber ball, arched it back and sent it flying into the air toward the volleyball. It hit the ball but then fell right beside it, and in the end, only helped to wedge the volleyball even tighter into the rafter. I took the second rubber ball then, arched it back and then sent it into the air as well. It hit the volleyball and knocked it so that the volleyball was now balancing on both the beam of the rafter and the other ball. I waited for the second rubber ball to come tumbling back down to the floor. Then, I carefully scurried down the ladder and over to where it had rolled into a dark spot under the bleachers. My hand felt for the ball under the wooden seats, then quickly recovered it. And before I knew it, I was hurrying back to the ladder again. Then, one more arch and a launch later and the rubber ball and the volleyball were both plummeting back down to the hard gym floor.