Sweet Tea Sunrise

by Rachel Hanna

  "I just want to see where everything is, Mom. I'll meet up with you in the front of the school in a little while. Just text me."

  "Fine. But be watching your phone," Kate said, a warning tone in her voice.

  Evie nodded and then walked away. As she made her way around the school, she tried to memorize all of the spaces. The last thing she needed was to get lost on her first day and be the one late for class that everyone would stare at when she walked in the door.

  She found the gymnasium, complete with basketball court and bleachers. It was smaller than her high school back in Rhode Island, but still pretty nice.

  Around the corner from that was the science lab and then the library. It was way smaller than the one she was used to, but then she wasn't one to go check out books anyway.

  Finally, she found the cafeteria. It was about the same size as the one at her high school with the same long, boring brown tables that had the attached seats.

  The high school she had gone to in Rhode Island had all different types of food with little windows for each. There was international, the pizza station and even one for vegetarian kids. Nobody ever got anything from that area.

  This cafeteria was much less formal or complex. There was one line for everything, so she hoped that she liked the food. If not, she might be begging her aunt Mia to pack her lunch every day.

  She walked over to one of the tables and sat down. Everybody was milling about, chatting around the room. Some parents were signing their kids up for lunch card while others were catching up with old friends.

  "Fancy meeting you here," Dustin said as he plopped down beside her.

  "Geez, are you my stalker now?"

  "You know, you might be nice to me since I seem to be your only friend in town."

  "Oh, you're my friend now? I literally met you in a tree for like thirty seconds."

  "Have you met any other people in trees lately?"

  She rolled her eyes. "No. Just you, unfortunately."

  "Listen, I'm well loved at this school. I've been living here my entire life, and every parent, teacher and student knows me."

  She stared at him. "Are you running for office or something?"

  "No. But I would win. Totally."

  She shook her head. "I don't think I've ever met anyone as ridiculously cocky as you are. And that's not a compliment." She stood up and started walking back toward the hallway. Dustin jumped up and followed her.

  “Okay, fine. Maybe I’m overly confident. But, you're new at the school, right?"

  Evie continued to walk. "You know that I am."

  "Well, I'd like to introduce you to some of my friends. You don't want to start school and not know anyone, do you?"

  She didn't know what his motivation was, and she questioned it. But there was another part of her that wanted to know people before she started school. She didn't want to be that weird girl that nobody knew.

  "Let's just say that I'm interested in meeting some friends. What exactly are you getting at?”

  "We're having a back to school party this weekend. A bunch of us are going to meet up over at Miller's Point."

  "Miller's Point?"

  "It's one of the coves on the lake. There's a big cave over there, and we do bonfires. It's also near the old water tower."

  "I think I know where the water tower is."

  "Good. Be there Friday night, seven o'clock. BYOB."

  "Beer? I'm 15 years old."

  "Not beer. Burger."

  “Burger?”

  "Everybody brings a pack of hamburger meat. It's a cookout. We cook over the fire.”

  Evie shook her head. "I don't understand this place."

  Dustin laughed. "That's why I'm here to help you." He smiled one more time before trotting off again into the crowd.

  She wasn't sure if this party was a good idea or not, but then again, she’d never been one for good ideas.

  Chapter Four

  Mia pulled the pot roast out of the oven, worried that she had let it cook a little too long. She liked the crunchy black edges, but the last thing she needed was for dinner to be as tough as shoe leather. She needed to get it on the table and get out of sight before she had an interaction with Travis.

  Her history with him had been mostly beautiful, a high school romance for the ages. Never had anyone made her feel so loved and cared for, even at that young age.

  Travis had great parents, a mom and dad who truly loved him. And they had welcomed her into their family from the very start.

  For two years, they had dated, making plans for their future together. They would get married, have a passel of kids and sit in their rocking chairs one day.

  And then Travis had changed his mind.

  All throughout high school, his passion had been photography. He worked on the school newspaper and even did wedding photos on the side. He loved capturing the majesty of the Blue Ridge Mountains, and the beauty of the wildlife surrounding the area.

  Many times, he had taken pictures of Mia, bemused by the way the light danced on all of the features of her face. She loved to spend time with him in the dark room his father had built for him off of their laundry room. It always amazed her how he saw things, how he could see the beauty in something that seemed so average at first glance, including herself. Teenage girls don’t always have the best self confidence.

  But then, he was offered a photography scholarship to school in New York City. She hadn't even known that he applied there, and suddenly he was leaving.

  Their break up had been harder than anything she had gone through up until that point. Her mother had tried so hard to ease her broken heart, but not much helped. She wanted to be with him, and he wanted something else.

  Knowing that she would never leave her mother, Travis left, cutting off all communication. She waited, checking the mailbox every day, hoping that he would send her a letter or postcard. She had hoped he would show up and say he made a mistake.

  He never did.

  It had been so many years since the day he drove away, and not once had she heard from him. Not one time. Not a Facebook message or a letter in the mail. Absolute radio silence.

  That was what hurt the most. The years had only made it hurt worse, knowing that he had so easily moved on with his life. She imagined that he’d been traveling the globe all these years, taking pictures of rare flowers and dangerous wildlife. She imagined that he had dated a bunch of super models or gotten married to a beauty queen.

  The truth was, she didn't know what his life had been like since high school, and she didn't want to know. All she knew was that when she looked at him, it brought back a level of pain she hadn't expected. It made her want to smack him across the face while simultaneously kissing those full lips of his.

  Which was why she had to get dinner on the table and make a quick exit before she had any chance of running into him.

  "Sorry I'm late," Kate said, as she came around the kitchen island. "School registration went way longer than I thought it would."

  "I'm so glad you're letting Evie stay for school. I think she's really going to do well here," Mia said, stirring the mashed potatoes one more time.

  "I hope so," Kate said, putting an apron over her head and then tying it behind her back. “Has Travis come down here yet?"

  "No, which is why I want to get out of here as quickly as I can. I'm just going to make myself a plate and sneak up to my bedroom."

  "How long can you keep this up?" Kate asked, taking the yeast rolls out of the oven.

  "As long as I need to. He’s staying here indefinitely, until something happens one way or the other with his father. There's really not much I can do to speed up that process, and I wouldn't want to. I actually like his father."

  Kate smiled. "I think you like Travis too. And I think it's making you very uncomfortable."

  "Well, thankfully I don't have time to get into all of the emotions of it. I just need to make my plate and…"

  "Hey," Travis said from behind her.


  Mia froze in place. Why had he come downstairs early? She hesitated to move, considering for a moment acting like one of those animals who didn't move as a way of making the other animal think it was dead. Would he buy that considering she was standing upright with her spoon firmly stuck into a bowl of mashed potatoes?

  "Hi, Travis," Kate said, breaking the tension. "Dinner isn't for another fifteen minutes."

  "I know. I'm sorry I came down early. It was just that I thought maybe I could offer to help out. Set the table or something?"

  Mia turned around quickly. "We've got it. But thanks." She knew she was glaring at him, and she wanted to say that it was unintentional. But it wasn't. She’d been wanting to glare at Travis Norton for many years.

  Evie, who had entered the room quietly, stood there. She stared at Mia and the man she was looking at.

  "Hi. I'm Evie. You must be a new guest here?" she said, reaching out her dainty little hand.

  "Hi. I'm Travis. I'll be staying here for a while. I'm an old friend of your aunt Mia's."

  Mia laughed under her breath and turned back around to stir the mashed potatoes. They didn't require more stirring, but it was better than grabbing a butcher knife and flinging it across the kitchen at him.

  "I think you're using the term friend rather loosely," Mia said quietly.

  Kate cleared her throat. "You know what, Travis? I could actually use a hand setting the table, after all. Do you mind putting these plates over there? It will be the four of us plus two more."

  She handed him a heavy stack of white restaurant ware plates and then turned back to Mia when he was out of earshot.

  "Have you lost your mind? I'm not eating at the table with Travis."

  Kate put her hands on Mia’s shoulders. "Look, above all else, we have to be professional. We have two other guests staying with us right now, and they are kind of strange as it is. I am not going to be left down here with your old boyfriend and two very odd strangers by myself."

  "You have Evie!” Mia said.

  "Oh yes, my fifteen-year-old daughter is a wonderful conversationalist."

  “Hey! I am a wonderful conversationalist!" Evie said.

  "Fine! But I cannot be responsible for what I might blurt out during this meal." Mia took off her apron and wadded it up before tossing it on the counter.

  "You have to be responsible. This is our business now, Mia. Do you really want our guests to think that you're a raving lunatic?"

  “Not nice," Mia said, cutting her eyes up at Kate. She really hated that she was so tall sometimes.

  "Look, I get it. This is very uncomfortable. But he's just a guest like any other guest. Don't let him get under your skin."

  "Impossible," she said, rolling her eyes as she picked up the pot roast and walked over to the table.

  A few minutes later, everyone had finally made their way into the kitchen. The new guests, Sylvia and Jack, sat on one side of the table with Mia and Kate at either end, and Travis and Evie on the other side. They were like one big, strange dysfunctional family.

  "So, where did you guys come from?" Kate asked Sylvia as she took a bite of her potatoes.

  Sylvia, looking uncomfortable for some reason, cleared her throat. "We actually live in Tennessee. Near Nashville."

  “Beautiful area from what I hear. What do you do for a living?" Kate asked, trying to get some kind of conversation going at the table. At the moment, all she had to focus on was the fact that Mia kept staring at Travis, Travis kept staring at Mia and Evie looked like she was a rabbit caught in a trap between them.

  "I work for a pharmaceutical company, and that's where I met Jack. He's the head of finance."

  "Interesting," Kate said, knowing full well that it wasn’t interesting. Nothing about pharmaceuticals or finance sounded very entertaining to her.

  "It's actually not interesting at all," Jack said. She was surprised to hear his voice, deep and rough as it was. Very few people came through the B&B that were taller than Kate, but this guy towered above her by several inches.

  "Then why do you do it?" Evie asked, in typical Evie fashion.

  "Evie!" Kate said, shooting her a look.

  "It's a good question," Jack said, smiling slightly. "Young lady, sometimes we make choices in life for other people instead of ourselves. It never leads anywhere good."

  "Now, Jack, we've had a wonderful life together. We have a beautiful home, a nice boat…"

  "Sylvia, having nice things has nothing to do with having an enjoyable life."

  Looking uncomfortable again, Sylvia looked down, picked up her fork and filled her mouth with pot roast, obviously in an effort not to say anything further.

  "So what brings you to Carter's Hollow?" Travis asked.

  "Well, my wife brought me here, and I still don't really know why."

  "I guess wives will do things like that sometimes," Travis said, laughing nervously.

  "Oh? Is that how your wife is?" Mia asked, sarcasm dripping from her voice.

  "I don't actually have a wife… anymore."

  "Divorced?" Sylvia asked.

  "Deceased," Travis said, looking down at his food.

  Mia felt horrible. As much as she was mad at him, she didn't wish losing a loved one on anyone.

  "I'm sorry to hear that," Mia said. Travis nodded slightly, and then looked down to continue eating.

  "Jack was actually raised near here," Sylvia suddenly said. He looked at her, aggravation on his face.

  "Oh yeah? Whereabouts?" Travis asked.

  "Just a few towns over," Jack said, obviously not wanting to get into it.

  "Mia, this pot roast is wonderful," Sylvia said.

  "Thank you," she said. "It was my mother’s recipe. She passed away recently."

  "I'm so sorry to hear that. You must've been devastated."

  "Yes, it's been very hard."

  "And Kate, you’re Mia's sister, right?"

  "Yes, I am. But I didn't know our mother. She died before we found each other."

  Sylvia cocked her head to the side. "Found each other?"

  "We recently did our DNA testing online, and it connected us. We didn't know the other existed."

  Sylvia's eyes widened, more so than a stranger just asking a simple question. It was odd.

  "So… Do you have the same father?"

  "Sylvia! That's none of your damn business," Jack said. He looked between Kate and Mia. "I'm so sorry. Sometimes she's a little too nosy for her own good."

  "I'm sorry," Sylvia said.

  "It's fine," Mia said, her southern hospitality showing. "We don't know our fathers. It's a long story."

  The truth was, she didn't know any of the story. All she knew was that her mother was greatly in love with Kate's father, and her father didn't seem to exist.

  The rest of the meal was rushed, with each of them wanting to get up from the table. Mia couldn’t remember a more awkward moment in her life.

  "Dinner was great," Jack said. "But I think I'm going to head out to the lake and do a little fishing this evening. Probably won't catch as much as I would have in the early morning, but I'd like to try."

  "Mind if I join you?" Travis asked.

  Jack nodded. “I’d enjoy the company."

  As everybody cleared their plates, Mia watched Travis and Jack walk out toward the lake, fishing poles in hand, and wondered just what the deal was. When had Travis been married? What exactly did she really know about his life?

  Travis leaned back against the old wooden chair. He swore these were the same chairs that were there when he and Mia were teenagers. They used to love to sit out by the lake, although the dock wasn't built until years later. Some of his fondest memories of his childhood involved sitting there, casting his fishing line out into the still waters, surrounded by the blue colored mountains. There wasn't a more peaceful place on earth.

  "So, your wife said you grew up around here?" he asked Jack. So far, Jack had been pretty tightlipped. He seemed like a nice enough guy, but very s
tiff and uncomfortable. Why anyone would want to go on vacation and then seem completely miserable was beyond him.

  "Yeah, just down the road a ways. I haven't been back here in decades, though."

  "I've been gone a while too. I grew up right here, fished in this lake a lot as a kid. But, after high school, I went off to chase my big dreams."

  "Is that why Mia seems so upset at you?"

  Jack was perceptive, he would give him that.

  "Oh, so you picked up on that?" Travis said with a laugh.

  "I have a wife who is often upset at me, so I recognize the signs," Jack said, a slight smile on his face. He was a tall man, towering above Travis by several inches. He was thin, lanky even, with salt and pepper hair and bright blue eyes. But he looked sad, like he was detached from his current reality.

  "Mia was my high school sweetheart," Travis said. Jack cut him a look.

  "Oh yes, I had one of those."

  "So it wasn't Sylvia?"

  "No. We've only been together for a little over twenty years. She's a good woman. I love her, but those high school sweethearts sure are hard to get out of your mind."

  "Yes, they are. And trust me, Mia doesn't want me here in the slightest."

  "Then why are you here?"

  "Because I've spent so many years thinking about her that I couldn't handle it anymore. She was the one who got away."

  "Why don't you tell her that?"

  "Because Mia takes a little more… finessing… She’s a hard nut to crack.”

  Jack chuckled. "In my experience, young man, you should never let a woman hear you say that you're finessing her. That will not go over well for you."

  Travis laughed. "Then let's just keep it between us. I came here to see my parents, for one thing. But I'm staying here at the B&B because I want to try to talk to her. I want to make it up to her."

  "What did you do?"

  “We were really in love. I thought she'd be the woman I spent the rest of my life with. But she was really involved here at the B&B, helping her mother. I knew she wasn't ever going to leave this place, and I had all of these big dreams. I got a photography scholarship in New York City, and off I went, barely looking back. I broke her heart."