After All

by McLaughlin, Heidi

  For the past year, her father had commuted between Seattle and his new office, not wanting to uproot Brooklyn from her life in Seattle. He had taken the job as the town’s pediatrician, which had soon turned into him becoming a primary care doctor for everyone. The hospital was nearly fifty miles away, and the town needed someone close.

  At first, her dad was home on the weekends, arriving late on Friday nights and leaving after dinner on Sundays. After a few months, every weekend became every other weekend, and then slowly became once a month, if that. Sometimes, he’d come home and leave the next day. He suggested that Brooklyn and her mom travel north for the weekends, but Brooklyn was busy with basketball, softball, and whatever else she had going on, so only her mother would go when Brooklyn didn’t have a tournament or other obligations. It wasn’t until she found her mother crying softly one evening that she realized she was the source of her mother’s heartache. Her mom was lonely, and Brooklyn could change that. She hated the idea of moving away from her friends, from the life she was living in Seattle, but her heart hurt for her mom. She had given up everything to raise Brooklyn, tending to her every need, driving her to every event on their calendar. Her mother’s life revolved around Brooklyn. Maybe it was time for her to give back.

  One weekend when her father could finally come home, Brooklyn proposed they move, never fully expecting her parents to take her up on the idea. At first, she could see the confusion on her mother’s face, but that confusion quickly turned into elation, and the following Monday, their house was on the market. She wasn’t, however, prepared for things to move so quickly, but they did.

  She spent her last summer in Seattle with her team and friends. None of them had cars yet, but all promised they would visit, especially since Brooklyn was moving so close to the water. A few even said they would sail up with their parents for the tulip festival the following spring. The friends made plans, and Brooklyn would make sure they stuck.

  Now she wished she were back in Seattle, walking arm in arm with her best friend, Renee—who went by Rennie—as they entered their school. Their freshman year had been rough. The seniors loved to haze, and the girls had become the butt end of one too many jokes. Sophomore year was better, but it would be their junior year where they made their mark, where they showed everyone that their group ruled the school.

  When Brooklyn told Rennie that she was moving, they cried together. Best friends since kindergarten, there hadn’t been a first day of school they hadn’t walked in together until now. Rennie had begged her parents to let Brooklyn live with them, and Brooklyn had done the same when she realized she didn’t want to leave her friends behind. Neither set of parents would agree, leaving the girls no choice but to say goodbye.

  Rennie would already be in class, moving on without Brooklyn by her side. She tried not to have those thoughts, but it was too hard to ignore. To make her mother happy, she had made herself miserable.

  “Are you going to stand outside all day?”

  She turned to her left to find a boy standing there with his hand clutching the shoulder strap of his backpack. The first thing she noticed about him was his height. He towered over her, making her five-foot-six frame seem small instead of average. He tilted his head to the side and smiled. Her eyes instantly caught the bright red line across his chin.

  “What happened?” she asked him, pointing to the scar.

  His hand rubbed against the spot, and he winced. Almost as if he forgot he had hurt himself. “Bad casting.”

  “Casting? Are you in a movie?” His comment confused her, and she was sure her face showed him as much. He laughed, and his hand went back to holding the strap of his bag.

  “No, a fishing hook caught my chin.”

  She covered her mouth. Even though she had grown up near the ocean, she had never been fishing. It wasn’t a hobby of her dad’s, nor any of her friends’. Brooklyn reached out to touch the mark, her fingers coming close, until she dropped her hand. She had no right touching this boy, a complete stranger. She cleared her throat and asked, “Did it hurt?”

  “Hell yeah, thirty stitches later and I’m good as new.”

  “Oh.” She briefly wondered if her father had been the one to stitch up his chin. She leaned closer as if she were admiring the precision it took to put the boy’s skin back together. His scar was healing nicely and probably wouldn’t show if he grew a beard later in life.

  “I’m Austin Woods, local fisherman, resident heartthrob, and late for his first day of junior year.” He smiled and stuck his hand out to shake hers.

  Brooklyn giggled and quickly covered her mouth. She hadn’t meant to do that, but he’d made her laugh, and she thought he was cute with his russet-colored hair and rich brown eyes. She caught him staring and felt her body temperature rise. She took a step forward and placed her hand in his. “I’m Brooklyn Hewett, new girl and late for her first day as well.”

  Austin stepped toward her, holding on to her hand a bit longer than what would be deemed socially acceptable for two people who just met. Brooklyn didn’t mind, though. She liked the way her hand felt in his. In Seattle, she’d had guy friends and had never given them a second thought. Yet, in a matter of minutes, she had developed a crush on this boy, the self-proclaimed resident heartthrob who liked to fish.

  “What do you say I walk you in? I’d love to be your tour guide.”

  “What if we don’t have the same classes?”

  He chuckled, shook his head, and turned to stand in front of her. Her heart raced, the beats thundering in her chest as Austin stared down at her. “There’s like eighteen kids per class. You’ll be easy to find. Besides, now that I’ve found you, I’m never letting go.”

  Inside, he showed her where her locker was, which as luck would have it, was right next to his. This excited her. She told herself it was because he was a familiar face in a sea of peers looking at her, wondering who she was and where she came from. At her former school, when someone new came, you heard about it through the rumor mill, unless the new person was in your class. Here, you were front and center, like you were on display.

  By lunch, she was frazzled. Peppered with questions throughout her first set of classes, she walked cautiously into the cafeteria, clutching the orange plastic tray that held some semblance of food. She decided she would ask her mom to make her lunch from here on out, especially since leaving campus wasn’t allowed.

  “Brooklyn!”

  She looked around for the source calling her name. She had met a few other classmates earlier and was surprised when Austin wasn’t at his locker when the lunch bell rang. She’d fully expected him to be there, waiting. At least, she had hoped he would be.

  When she spotted him standing on a chair with his arms waving wildly in the air, she smiled. She hadn’t meant to, but it was like her heart had taken over her senses. Love at first sight was what Rennie would say if she were here. Brooklyn wanted to agree.

  She made her way through the small crowd, apologizing for bumping into people as she walked by them. The table where Austin sat was full, but that didn’t stop him from giving up his chair for her.

  “Where will you sit?” she asked after setting her tray down.

  “Next to you.”

  Again, she felt her heart race, gallop, and skip. It was doing so many different palpitations she couldn’t pinpoint just one.

  “Brooklyn, these are my best friends, Bowie Holmes, Grady and Graham Chamberlain.” He pointed to the two guys sitting across from her. “And that’s Jason Randolph and Monroe and Mila Whitfield. Roe and Mila are sisters, and I’m pretty sure you figured out Grady and Graham are twins.” Brooklyn glanced at Austin, who adjusted his baseball cap. She had, in fact, realized they were twins. It was really obvious, but she didn’t want to call Austin out and embarrass him. Plus, she’d already met the girl he called Roe. The guys mumbled some sort of hello, and Roe pointed out that they had English together. Mila smiled, sort of, and offered a small wave.

  “Where are you
from?” Jason asked.

  “Seattle.”

  “Why would you move here from Seattle?” Mila asked. There was a bit of snark in her voice, something that surprised Brooklyn. So far, everyone had been pleasant to her, but Mila seemed put off by her presence.

  Brooklyn had been asked this question multiple times already and was wondering if there was something wrong with the town. She found the town to be cute, a little quiet, and completely opposite of what she was used to, which her mother loved.

  “My dad is the town doctor,” she said.

  “I’m going to be a doctor,” Jason added. “The University of Washington is where I’m headed.”

  “It’s a really great school.”

  “Go, Huskies!” everyone except for Brooklyn and Mila said loudly. Brooklyn caught Mila staring. For the most part, she felt as if she fit in with everyone here, especially at this table, but Mila had a different vibe. She wondered if Mila had a crush on Austin and thought maybe she should find out before her own crush turned into something more. The last thing she wanted to do was come between a close-knit group of friends.

  The rest of her day went as well as her morning. Each time she’d stop back at her locker to put her textbook away, Austin was there. They ended up having three classes together, one of them being physical education, where they partnered.

  Once the final bell rang, Austin led Brooklyn through the parking lot and to his truck. He took her bag and set it into the cab and held out his hand for her to use as leverage to climb in. “It’s okay,” he said when she looked at him questioningly. “I’ll never let go.”

  Brooklyn wiped the tears from her face as she sat at the top of the cliff overlooking the sound. She held her knees to her chest, rocking back and forth. Being back here brought on a barrage of emotions she wasn’t ready to face. Everywhere she went, Austin was there, reminding her of the love they once shared. He had been her best friend, her constant companion, her first love. He had been her everything until they were both left brokenhearted.

  “Did you let go, Austin?” she asked, directing her words toward the ocean. He was out there, somewhere, doing what he loved best.

  Her phone rang, and she pulled it out of her pocket, smiling down at the screen. After sliding her finger over the screen, she rested the phone against her ear. “Hey,” she said.

  “Are you there?”

  “I am.”

  “And? You know I’m dying for all the details.”

  Brooklyn sighed and dropped her head. “Carly closed the inn,” she said, shaking her head. “I can’t believe I’ve been so determined to stay away from here that I had no idea. I should’ve peppered Brystol with questions.”

  “What she does isn’t your business, Brooklyn.”

  “I know, Rennie, but I can’t help but think I had something to do with it. If I had stayed and raised Brystol here—”

  “Stop,” her best friend barked into the phone. “Just stop with the nonsense. You had to do what was best for you and your daughter. You couldn’t stay there, not with everything that had happened. You would’ve never escaped the stigma of being Austin Woods’s girlfriend.”

  “I know,” Brooklyn said quietly.

  “I can come up this weekend, if you want.”

  “Don’t you have plans with Theo?”

  “Meh, they can change. Besides, he’ll be in Seattle midweek; we can take a weekend off.”

  Brooklyn stood and walked toward her car. Over the years she’d missed the Pacific Northwest, its beauty and everything it offered. She could ski in the morning and be at a beach by sunset, enjoying the best of both worlds.

  “I may take you up on your offer, Rennie. I don’t know how much longer I’ll be able to keep everything bottled in.”

  “Don’t worry, I’ll be there. Before I hang up, have you seen him?”

  Her question gave Brooklyn pause, and she almost stumbled over a protruding tree root. “No, and I don’t plan to.”

  “Sure, ya don’t.” Rennie giggled. She said goodbye before hanging up, leaving Brooklyn with a scowl on her face. She glanced behind her, along the path that she and Austin had once walked, hand in hand, and tried to wipe her memories clean. She needed to move on, to bury the past and let it go.

  Her phone chimed in her hand, a message from Rennie. She opened it, and her heart lurched. Staring back at her was a group photo from prom. One of her friends had asked Rennie to go with him, which had pleased Brooklyn. Brooklyn expanded the picture and studied herself, Austin, and the guy standing on the other side of her. Inseparable was what they used to be.

  FOUR

  Bowie went to knock on the wooden door, something he’d rarely done when he was growing up, and paused, his fist suspended in midair. He tried to come up with a valid excuse why he hadn’t been around, why he hadn’t stopped in to check on his best friend’s mother, why he hadn’t thought to bring his wife around and introduce her to the woman he used to consider a second mother. He came up with nothing.

  He dropped his hand and contemplated returning to his truck. As much as he needed the job, he wasn’t sure if he could face the person he had become after Austin’s death. He was a shell of the man he used to be, but that was no defense for abandoning the woman who had taken care of him as if he were her own child.

  He turned around and walked toward his truck. He had no business being here. As far as he was concerned, the job needed to go to someone that cared about the inn and the people who lived there. That wasn’t him.

  “Leaving so soon?”

  Bowie stopped at the sound of Carly Woods’s voice. He turned slowly to find her leaning against the doorjamb with her arms crossed over her chest. Aside from graying hair, she looked no different from what he remembered. He hung his head in shame and desperately searched for the words to tell her how sorry he was. It had taken him years to get over the passing of his friend, and most of the time, it still haunted him. His actions surrounding that day were never far from his mind.

  “The answer is no, Bowie,” she said, pushing away from the doorjamb. “Come in; we have business to discuss.”

  His steps were heavy as he made his way to the house. He shut the door quietly behind him and let the feeling of being in her home again settle in. Everything was exactly as he remembered. The flowered wallpaper still hung; he used to pick at the corners when he was little, and Carly used to call him an imp for it. He shifted his weight and smiled instantly at the familiar creak the floorboard made. No matter how many times he and Austin would try to sneak out, this piece of wood gave them away. He closed his eyes and with vivid clarity recalled sliding down the banister of the staircase. He could hear the laughter of his friends, the adults in the house telling them to knock it off even though that never stopped them. He could smell freshly baked cookies, could even taste the warm chocolate as it hit his tongue. There were many hours spent here while growing up. He fell in love here for the first time, with someone who never saw him for who he was until it was too late.

  The sound of coughing pulled him from his daydream, and he followed the noise into the other room, where he found Carly bent over and her longtime housekeeper rubbing her back. Simone must’ve heard him come in because she met his gaze, offered a sad smile, and turned her attention back to Carly.

  “Is there anything I can do?” he asked. Simone shook her head.

  “This will pass in a moment. Why don’t you have a seat in the dining room? We’ll be there shortly.”

  Bowie continued into the other room. Instead of sitting down, he walked along the edge of the room, bouncing on his feet. He was feeling for weak spots in the foundation out of habit and taking mental notes of what would need replacing if he were to take the job. Oh, who was he fooling? He would take this job. Not because he needed the money, but because he owed it to Carly . . . and to Austin’s memory. He decided then he would repair the carriage house for no additional profit. He’d do the work himself, bring the homestead up to code. It would be his way to mak
e amends.

  “Sorry for keeping you waiting, Bowie.” Carly appeared in the archway. She forced a smile. The usual glint she had in her eyes, the one he remembered, wasn’t there. She pointed toward the table, where he pulled the chair out for her and she sat. He walked around the table and took the seat directly across from her.

  He cleared his throat. “I’m sor—” He stopped when Carly held her hand up.

  “There is no need to apologize. Besides, if you do, I’ll have to as well.”

  “For what?” he asked, shaking his head in confusion. What could the woman who’d nurtured every single one of her son’s friends need to apologize for?

  “For being vacant after Austin.” She paused and drew in a deep, shuddering breath. “I should’ve been more welcoming to his friends. Not so shut off. Not so hidden. I could’ve easily reached out to you, and I didn’t.”

  “It’s understandable.” And it was. Not only had she lost her son, but her husband as well, many years before. When Austin died, the town changed. Everyone suffered that loss. He was, and remained, such a beacon in the community.

  “After being prodded for years, I’ve decided to reopen the inn. However, as you can imagine, the state of it is undesirable and in need of a more modern touch.”

  “It’s historic,” he told her. “I bet people will clamor to visit, to stay here.”

  She thanked him but shook her head. “The mattresses are lumpy; the fixtures leak. There’s rust in the pipes. And it’s dreary. This inn needs life; it needs love. I want people to come here and be happy, forge new memories which aren’t marred by . . .” Carly didn’t have to finish her sentence; he already knew what she would say . . . death. “I want the guests to come here and feel like they can escape reality, and maybe find something they love in the sunset they see outside their room—a safe, comfortable place where they can find the answers they’re seeking in their life. I know new linens, paint, and furniture can’t change everyone’s outlook on life, but it could point them in the right direction.”