The Winter Reunion

by Rhonda McKnight

  Chapter 3

  I walked to my desk and dropped into the chair. My plane ticket, car and hotel reservation were in an envelope on my keyboard. I glanced at both and then removed a printout from the local paper from my hometown.

  “The Pine Weekly.” Pine was small. It didn’t have daily news. I skimmed through the details about the reunion. There was a toy drive thing for Stephen’s foundation. I rolled my eyes and continued. There were also two evening events, the first being a meet and greet at the high school and the second night, a black and white formal dance at some banquet hall I didn’t recognize.

  “New business in Pine.” Miracles happened. I pushed the envelope into my bag. I tapped my keyboard and went to Instagram. I pulled up Stephen Pierce’s page. As expected, his profile picture was a headshot. He wore his hair long now. I’d remembered he’d been in the habit of getting a haircut every two weeks, but this looked like more than a month of growth. He could get away with it. He had the right kind of head and curls that made most women jealous. A neat mustache and goatee framed his square jaw and those eyes of his were filled with mischief. My insides shifted. I looked away from the computer for a moment and let my memory have its way. Second to his smile, his eyes were his best feature. They were dreamy, hazel distractions that messed me up every time I looked into them.

  He’d really grown into his looks. Not that he was unattractive when I was dating him. He started off nerdy, but he was good looking midway through high school. That was a miracle since he’d been a chubby kid with asthma and bad skin freshman year. He’d gone away the summer between our sophomore and junior year to visit family in Chicago. He came home forty pounds thinner with pimple-free skin his aunt, an herbal specialist, had cleared up. All the girls noticed, including me. It was the first time my childhood friend looked like more than someone to walk home with and ride bikes with and run the dozens with. And somehow, in the midst of all the other female attention, he noticed me, too.

  I scanned his page. He posted pictures from games, in airports, at restaurants, reading to kids – there were even a few taken in Pine. He had daily scripture postings and inspiring scripture based messages. Stephen Pierce had built his entire brand on his Christian lifestyle. He even prayed before, during, and after games. He claimed to be living an upright life, including being celibate, and he was heavily involved in what he called “inner-city missions work” during the off season.

  “A real saint,” I whispered. I sighed heavily. I returned to the top of the page to examine myself in that black sequined, mini cocktail dress that my pastor father hated to see me leave in. The only reason he let me out of the house was because he trusted Stephen with his daughter. I felt my eyes misting. What a mistake in judgment that had been.

  I read his status update again.

  Going home for the class reunion. It’s year 12. Hoping to see this young lady. I owe her two dollars. #timetopay

  I swallowed my rising temper, scrolled to read some of the comments.

  @theRealStephenPierce get booed up

  @theRealStephenPierce is that theRealMrsPierce

  @theRealStephenPierce if she compound interest it might cost you all that Nike #chedda

  @theRealStephenPierece she’s bae

  @theRealStephenPierce hope she didn’t get fat

  @theRealStephenPierce what’s up with the two bills #decode for a bruh…

  Time to pay. I couldn’t believe he posted that. I went to Twitter and there it was again. The same message. The same picture. He’d left me alone for all these years. And now…

  I growled. I tossed the phone in my bag, shut down the laptop, grabbed my digital recorder, and left the building. I didn’t say goodbye to anyone. I wasn’t that social anyway, but I figured I’d let them all think I was going to lunch. By the time word got around that I was headed to Stephen Pierce’s reunion because it was my reunion too, I’d be sitting on the plane.

  Chapter 4

  “Secrets and lies.” My best friend and hairstylist, Kim Haynes, released the clasp on several perm rods and freed my hair.

  “It wasn’t really a lie. A secret maybe, but…”

  “The fact that you dated Stephen Pierce in high school is a lie, girl. We have talked about men way too much for me not to know that.”

  “You’ve talked about men. I haven’t had anything to say.”

  I was glad I was out from under the dryer. I cracked my neck in between curler removals and repositioned myself in the chair.

  “True. I was starting to think you were either a closeted lesbian or your father abused you.”

  I winced at the suggestion of abuse by my dad.

  I caught Kim’s reflection in the mirror. She could see she’d made me uncomfortable. Instead of apologizing, she chastised me. “You never go home to see him.”

  “You never go home either.”

  “My mother is a cougar and her teenage husband is a drunk. Nothing to see there.”

  I shrugged. “It’s still home.”

  “The same can be said for Pine, Pennsylvania.” Kim walked around my chair and began on the other side of my head. “I’m glad to know why you don’t date. You’re Stephen’s celibate soul mate.”

  I sighed. Reached for my cola and took a few sips before saying, “There’s more.”

  “More NFL players or more to this story?”

  I frowned.

  Kim picked up her own drink. “Sorry, hun. Go on.”

  “Have you ever heard about the Stephen Pierce video scandal?”

  “Of course. Who hasn’t heard about that? The one with the girl losing her virginity.”

  I nodded.

  This time Kim frowned. “That was you?”

  I nodded again.

  “And Stephen Pierce?”

  I cocked my head and deadpanned her in our reflections in the mirror.

  Kim froze. The only thing that moved was her head as she shook it. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”

  “If you saw it, you would recognize me. But I don’t think you can find it anymore.”

  Kim reached for her phone.

  I frowned. “You’re such a perv. I’m telling you it’s gone.”

  “Nothing disappears from the Internet.”

  “Once he went pro, I’m sure he paid all the sites to take it down. Back in the early YouTube days you could do that.”

  Kim moaned. “Why haven’t you ever told me this before?”

  “Didn’t seem that important until today.”

  Kim cocked an eyebrow. “You dated a famous NFL player, made a sex tape with him, and you didn’t think it was important? Pray tell, what is important?”

  I smirked. “He wasn’t any of that when I knew him. And I didn’t know I was being taped.”

  “So, why tell me about him today?”

  I swiped my phone and went to Stephen’s Instagram account. 18,000 likes on the photo. 4000 more than this morning. I handed the phone to Kim.

  “Wow!” Kim began stomping her feet and banging a fist on the counter. “Ooo, girl!!!” She was smiling from ear to ear. I was not. Why didn’t she see that?

  “Kim, could you be less excited or at least less expressive about your excitement?”

  She shook her head. “I don’t think so. You’ve completely shocked me with the fact that one – you used to date him, two – you were the infamous video girl in his past, and now three – he’s still thinking about you.”

  “He’s being weird.”

  “He’s too fine to be a weirdo.”

  “There are fine weirdos.”

  Kim swiveled my chair around and planted a hand on her pudgy hip. “So did you date a weirdo and give your virginity to a weirdo?”

  I pointed at my screen. “Putting this picture on social media is strange.”

  “You were apparently on his mind.” Kim turned my chair and resumed work on my hair. “What’s the two dollar thing mean?”

  I rolled my e
yes. “Whenever he made me angry, he had to pay me a fine of a dollar. When I was really upset he had to pay two dollars. It was a joke thing.”

  “That sounds like a real relationship. How long did you date him?”

  “I’ve known him since we were six and we dated my last two years of high school.”

  Kim tsked. “This is unreal. The two dollar thing is cute.”

  “It’s not cute. It’s insulting. What would make him think that he could joke about what happened between us? That it’s okay to post our prom picture? To potentially stir everything up again? He had no right to do that and I’m going to make sure he knows it.”

  “I don’t know. Maybe he’s trying to reach out to you.”

  I looked at the phone. Looked at our picture. “Or maybe he’s a real jerk. Maybe I’m going to want to stab him. I already want to punch him in the throat. That video had two million views back in the day. He posts my picture on Instagram and Twitter. He’s asking for people to believe it was me.”

  Kim took my phone and looked at the picture again. “I don’t know, chica. He’s doing it in code, but it looks like he’s asking for forgiveness.”

  “There’s no forgiving what happened. I’ve lived my life with it behind me.”

  Kim frowned. “Have you really? You don’t have a boyfriend. Never have as long as I’ve known you. You don’t even date. You don’t wear makeup unless you have to. You don’t wear anything to show off that amazing body of yours. You don’t travel anymore. You don’t do anything. I’ve wondered if you were living in some kind of perpetual state of depression and now that I know you’re video girl with Stephen Pierce in your review mirror, I wonder if I’m right.”

  I released a long sigh. “I guess you’ll know soon enough. I’m going to Pine for the reunion. That’s why you’re in my hair right now.”

  Kim’s eyes bugged. “Shut your mouth.”

  “Eva assigned him to me.”

  Kim was quiet.

  “Surely you have something to say about that.”

  “I never thought I’d say this, but the Lord works in mysterious ways if He’s using that demon you work for to make you face your past.”

  “I’m going to interview him. That’s it.”

  “Uh, huh.”

  I didn’t argue with her. I might have issues, but the last person on earth I was going to let see me work them out was that phony Stephen Pierce.

  Chapter 5

  The plane ride, the car ride, pulling into the parking lot of Bethel Shelter… it was all surreal. I was here. Home. Well, almost home. Bethel was fifteen miles away from Pine. Pine didn’t have a shelter. Neither did many of the little towns in this region of the state. Bethel Shelter was the recipient of all acts of kindness. The first activity for the reunion was to wrap Christmas gifts for the children on the Angel Tree list. It was a good activity, but I felt guilty because I’d rather be getting a tooth pulled out of my head than participate in anything Stephen had planned.

  I didn’t do community service. I think I felt like I’d done enough in my life. As a preacher’s kid, I grew up being involved in toy, coat, and food drives and there was the weekly feeding of the homeless. You name it. We did it. And we did it on holidays, too. I know God probably wasn’t a hundred percent pleased with the way I checked out on serving, but reconciling it by having to face Stephen was just unfair in the cycle of reaping and sowing.

  Bethel Shelter sat on a huge plot of land, probably five or more acres just outside of Bryer, Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania, known mostly for Philly, Pittsburgh, and Harrisburg was a big mass of land that had small towns smattered throughout – some as low as 200 occupants. Pine, where I grew up, was large on the small town scale, boasting just over 1600 people. When I left, there were four gas stations, a bank, three farming and feed stores because farming and feeding were important in Pine. There were three restaurants, three public school buildings, an urgent care facility, fire department, a one-car police department, library, post office and all the typical storefronts you would expect to see in Smallville, U.S.A. Based on what I had seen of Bryer, Pine probably had not changed. Bryer was definitely in a time capsule.

  I moved my car along the path through a maze of trees that bordered the property. Feeling like I could hide under the low hanging empty branches, I took a parking space in front of a massive oak that sat furthest from the building. It was a large, Victorian style house with more trees on the left and right and thick woods behind it. Not uncharacteristic for this area. Large houses were often converted to commercial properties. If this part of Pennsylvania had anything, it was big houses and wood – tons of both everywhere.

  I stepped out of the rental car onto the snow covered, gravel parking lot and froze. The banner across the top of the building read, “Pine High School Reunion and Stephen Pierce Giving Day.” I turned my nose up so high my lip trembled. Why was his name singled out like that? He was a Pine High School grad. So what if he could run and catch a ball and do both at the same time? He wasn’t a superhero. I hated that our culture turned people like him into celebrities.

  “Tamar Johnson!”

  I turned. Pamela Cole. The mean-girl head cheerleader had gotten fat and unfashionable. I felt like Christmas had come early.

  “Pamela?” I squinted like I didn’t recognize her. I dropped my jaw for emphasis. But the sow didn’t care that I was insulting her.

  Before I knew it, her arms were around me. “Tamar, I haven’t seen you since graduation. I was starting to think you moved to Mars. How are you?”

  She released me, but she was standing uncomfortably close for someone who hadn’t seen me in twelve years. I stepped back. “I’m awesome. What about you?”

  “Still living here. You remember Aaron Wilson. We got married seven years ago. He’s a professor at Scranton U. I’m a homemaker. We have three toddlers. If you can believe that.”

  I looked at her waistline. I could believe it. She looked pregnant right now. I figured if she was, she’d tell me, so I refrained from potentially insulting her by asking her when she was due. Not that I didn’t owe this evil spawn of Satan an insult. She’d led the pack in making sure I was thoroughly humiliated when the video came out. She’d helped make those months between prom and graduation much worse than they had to be.

  “Goodness, you’re as pretty as ever and you haven’t gained a pound. You must not have any kids.”

  I hunched my shoulders. “I’m as childless as the day I was born.”

  “I didn’t know you were coming. I didn’t see your name on the list.”

  “Last minute decision. I got my ticket yesterday.”

  “Well, bless God. You’re long overdue to hang out with us.”

  I felt something shift in my soul. Hang out with those horrible, cruel people from high school? I wanted to choke Eva for making me do this.

  “So, what are you doing these days?” Pamela asked.

  Gravel crackled. Before I could answer, another vehicle arrived. The door opened and more Pine folks got out. Better folks because Pamela’s attention shifted away from me.

  “Kenny!” she yelled walking toward him and his group. Relieved, I turned toward the building and began my walk to the entrance. Before I could get to the steps, the door opened. My gaze traveled up from a pair of large, expensive boots to his face. A swooshing rush of breath escaped my lips.

  Stephen…

  My heart kicked into double-time and my knees nearly buckled. I felt weak from relief, but assaulted by his presence at the same time. Why was I relieved? Why was I glad to see him?

  Because you love him.

  I squeezed my eyes shut and forced them to reopen.

  Stephen seemed as spellbound as I was. He nodded, solemnly, like someone had whispered something important in his ear before a small smile crept over his face. He took a step forward. I took one back. Icy gravel crackled and I almost lost my footing. Within seconds, he was down the steps. Maybe he was a
superhero. He had just teleported himself.

  “Tamar.” He said my name like he had a deep longing in his soul. He reached for my hand. I wished I’d purchased those gloves in the shop at the airport – wished I had a barrier because the electric current between us was polarizing.

  We stared into each other’s eyes for a moment. His gaze dropped down to my lips and then he scanned my entire body. “God, I’m glad to see you.”

  God. He broke the trance. I pulled my hand out of his and stepped back from his heat, his scent, his power. I’d been around a few athletes over the years because of work events. Most were big. They filled up the space in a spot no matter how much space there was. But Stephen Pierce’s presence was even larger. He was like an alien spaceship hovering over the atmosphere. Instagram photos and filters did him no justice. His handsome face had improved with age. He was a mass of muscles. Even under his parka, I could see the bulk of his biceps and the full mass of his chest, the slimness of his waist.

  Perfection.

  He looked like a Greek God and I hated it. I hated that I was glad life had been kind to him. I looked past him to the door of the house. “What are we getting into in there?” I asked on shaking breath.

  “Tay.”

  I leaned away from him and folded my arms across my chest. “You’re not calling me Tay.”

  He acknowledged his foolish attempt at familiarity with a nod. But then he licked his lips. I swear my vision doubled. He still did that. It was sexy and annoying at the same time.

  “You shouldn’t have put me on social media. It wasn’t cool.”

  “But you’re here.”

  “Whatever works for you right? Manipulate Tamar again.”

  He squinted. He looked confused, so I cleared it up for him.

  “I’m not here because I want to be. I work for a magazine, Stephen. My boss saw your little game and made me come. She wants me to interview you.”

  His face registered understanding. Words slipped from his lips. “What man meant for evil.”