by Tiffany Foxe
Elsa awoke the next morning to find Alice packing her bags.
“What are you doing?” she asked as she sat up in bed.
“I’m going home.”
***
Alice arrived home to find the house exactly as she had left it. She touched her finger to her lips then tapped a picture of Sarah and her in the hallway as she passed it. The trip home was exhausting. She threw her luggage on the floor and went straight to bed.
The next morning she tried to write only to find herself in the same predicament she had been in before her trip. She sighed.
She got up to check the mailbox. The phone was ringing when she came back in. She answered.
“Hi, Mom.”
“You’re home?! Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I did tell you. I texted you, yesterday.”
“It’s not the same.”
“Okay…” she acquiesced, too tired to argue.
Alice proceeded to tell her about her trip knowing she’d never be allowed off the phone until she spilled it.
“You can’t really believe that you caused Sarah’s accident, do you?”
“No. No, of course not. I just…”
“What? You think you’re bad luck. You of all people should know. Accidents happen. It nobody’s fault. It’s not part of some plan or bad joojoo.”
“I know. I just can’t help but feel…”
“Responsible? Afraid? That’s part of the package, honey. When you love something, you’ll always be afraid to lose it. And you’ll always feel responsible for its welfare. You didn’t cause what happened to Sarah and you didn’t cause what happened to Elsa, either. Heck, it sounds like you saved her life.”
“She almost died, Mom. I can’t. I can’t handle that, again.”
“But, she didn’t...Are you going to throw away a good thing based on something that could happen? You lost someone very special. It’s shitty and I’m sorry. But, you’ve gotta get out of that shadow. What you’re doing now...it isn’t living.”
They were silent for a moment.
“You know, I’ve always wanted to visit overseas. It’s a shame I don’t know anyone over there to stay with,” she hinted.
Alice smiled.
***
Alice stood in front a house with white siding and a small front yard. She gazed upon it anxiously, took a deep breath and walked to the front door. She knocked and waited. Alice was caught off guard by the unfamiliar woman that answered the door. The woman waited for her to speak.
“Is...Elsa home?”
“No,” she said.
The woman began to shut the door when Alice put her hand out to stop her.
“When will she be back?”
The woman glared at her for a moment. A dog barked in the background.
“Ugh,” said Linn as she rolled her eyes. “Go home, Alice.”
Linn stepped away from the door. She was surprised to learn this stranger knew her name. She peered inside from the doorway. The woman walked through the living room to the back door. Alice slowly stepped inside. She watched as the woman opened the back door and let in a grey and white husky. It happily pranced around the room. The woman turned around and jumped back, startled to find Alice inside the house. The dog ran up to Alice and vied for attention. Alice knelt down and patted his head.
“You shouldn’t be here. You broke her heart, you know.”
Alice stood up.
“Please, tell me where she is.”
Alice stood silent and filled with guilt.
“You’re too late.”
Alice nodded and slowly exited through the front door. She felt a rush of wind as the door slammed behind her. She sullenly advanced toward the street.
“Are you looking for Elsa?” asked an older woman next door. She was shoveling snow out of her driveway.
“Yes.”
“She’s at the gallery for another couple of hours. Then, she’s going out of town.”
“The gallery?”
“Yes, the art gallery downtown.”
“Thank you!” Alice said gratefully.
She jolted down the sidewalk to the gallery to find Elsa.
“She’s gone,” answered a man at the gallery. “She was supposed to be here, tonight for the show, but I got word yesterday that she was going out of town.”
“Do you know where she went?” Alice asked with earnest.
The gentleman shrugged.
Alice sighed with frustration. She checked her phone to see if Elsa had returned any of her calls or texts. She hadn’t. Alice looked around the room as she tried to figure out what to do. She noticed a painting on the wall that pulled her in. She scowled and walked over to it. It was a painting of the inside of a bakery. The scene focused on a tiny table near the wall which harbored a plate with a partially eaten cinnamon roll and two cups of coffee. It was where they had first had breakfast, together. She glanced around at the other pictures that lined the walls. One showed a dark, snowy night on the street corner of the bar where they had first kissed. She looked at another. It was a scene of the inside of Stan’s cottage. The small dining table stood in the background with two steamy cups of coffee and her laptop. In the foreground lay the bed. The white sheets were partially pulled back and twisted. All of the painting were of places they had been to together.
Her eyes wandered around in the gallery in despair. Elsa had cherished their time together just as much as she, if not more. And now she was gone and she hadn’t a clue where. She plopped down on a bench and moped.
***
Elsa arrived home after a week out of town. The trip away from home had done nothing to quell her affections for Alice, but the time had dampened the blow a little.
She walked up and slipped her key into the front door. She was swiftly greeted by Rocko, her dog. She bent down to say hello and continued inside. She set her things down on the kitchen table and floor. Rocko bounced about the room merrily, begging for affection. She had carried the mail in with her which had accumulated into a hefty stack from a week’s worth of deliveries. She sifted through them as she waltzed into the living room. Something on the wall caught her eye and she had to do a double take. She looked at the living room wall to find her painting of the cottage hanging on it. She looked at it quizzically. She had been informed that it had sold. And even if it hadn’t, it should still be at the gallery, awaiting her pick up.
“I had to pay double for that one,” came a voice from behind her.
She turned around. Alice stood in the living room before her.
“Took me three days to track it down.”
She took a couple of steps forward and planted her palms in her back pockets. She gazed upon the painting with a scrutinizing eye.
“Joke’s on him, though. I would have easily paid ten times that.”
Alice’s eyes wandered around the room. Elsa followed suit. She noticed that all of her paintings were there. Every single one that marked each little adventure, her most treasured moments. She covered her mouth in astonishment.
“I thought they all sold,” Elsa uttered in disbelief.
Alice nodded in acknowledgment.
“You’re looking at the proud new owner of her first collection.”
Elsa stood in shock. Her heart was melting.
“I call it Solace in Switzerland. I don’t have my own place to put them in, yet, so I borrowed yours. Hope you don’t mind.”
Elsa searched Alice’s eyes.
“Linn said you talked to her. She told me about Sarah.”
Alice nodded.
“I’m sorry.”
Alice sighed.
“Listen, I...I’m sorry I Didn’t tell you in the beginning. It was something I was trying hard to forget. Then, I got here and I met you...and...I felt something I hadn’t felt in a long time. Something I didn’t think I could ever feel, again. And...I felt guilty. I felt like...like I didn’t deserve this. I was alive. That should be enough. That was more than she got…” her voice br
oke. “But, I got home and I realized that everything I missed was here. Everything that made me happy…” she trailed off. “...and I hadn’t felt that way for a long time. I can’t stop thinking about you. And, as much as I’m afraid of losing you, that doesn’t mean I can give you up.”
She stopped and looked down at the ground.
“And though I tried...I can’t stop loving you,” she quivered.
Tears welled up in Elsa.
“You’re my home,” said Alice.
