The Day That Saved Us

by Mindy Hayes

  When she looks at me she asks, “So, you call her Pete?” The nickname has a tendency to throw off anyone who doesn’t know us.

  “Peyton Parker. Peter Parker. Spider-Man,” I explain the progression. “So I call her Pete. I started calling her that when we were really young, and I was obsessed with superheroes. Spider-Man in particular.”

  “Ah, yes. As most young boys are. So, I hope you were telling her all good things about that girlfriend of yours.” She sucks on her bottom lip nervously, and my eyes are drawn straight to her mouth. She’s got to stop doing that or I won’t be able to control myself.

  “Well, aside from the way she eats her Kit Kats and hate mornings, only good things.” I grin. Brooke smacks my shoulder. I pull her face to mine and get lost in the peppermint and a new life.

  I’M STRAPPING MY surfboard to the top of my Patriot when I hear the Parkers’ garage door open. I don’t care that it’s technically my dad’s and Olivia’s now; that house will always belong to the Parkers. It’s too early for either of them to be up on a Saturday. Then I spot Peyton walking around Olivia’s brand new Audi before sliding her surfboard into the open trunk. She turns around and stops when she sees me standing in my driveway, watching her.

  I don’t know why I was assuming she would stay in North Carolina with Tyler after Christmas. No one told me she was coming back. They probably assume Peyton and I talk all the time. As her best friend, I should know these things.

  “You’re staying with our parents?” I ask. While we’re all amicable now, I know that’s the last place she’d want to stay for long periods of time. It occurs to me that I have no idea what she has planned until she gets married.

  “Just until the wedding,” she calls back and walks across her driveway toward the bushes at our property line. I meet her there, at the edge of my driveway. “I needed to be home with my mom to plan. And Tyler is helping in his dad’s office to gain some experience until we get married. We figure the more money we can save before the wedding, the better.”

  I don’t know what I thought, but I didn’t expect Peyton and me to ever live next door to each other again. It might only be three weeks, but I’m already dreading it.

  How does my mom do it?

  “That sounds like a party,” I say, and she laughs.

  “Every day. You heading out on the waves?”

  “Yeah, I thought I’d check out Folley. Surf looks pretty decent.”

  “Care if I join you? I was heading that way too.”

  We haven’t talked since Harper and Skylar’s wedding. I don’t know if she hates how we ended that night as much as I do, but to me, it feels like she wants to make it right. Our lives are infinitely connected, so we might as well try to make it work. We couldn’t do it before, but maybe this time will be different. She has Tyler. I have Brooke. Maybe we can go back to the beginning.

  “Yeah,” I say. “Grab your board. I’ll drive.”

  THE DRIVE TO Folley Beach isn’t as uncomfortable as I imagined it might be. We talk about the last year and all that we’ve missed. The things short phone calls and texts to make sure the other is still alive don’t cover. She tells me about all the classes she’s relieved to be done with and the teachers she was sad to leave. She talks about her borderline sexual harassing boss who she is incredibly grateful to be rid of. If he weren’t in Columbia, I’d put this surfing trip on hold and walk right into that restaurant to kick his trash. She never mentions Tyler, and it’s the best part of the conversation.

  Peyton asks me about Boston, and we talk about all the things I would’ve told her about the job had we been on better terms. We talk about Carter and what a mess he is, though I say it with all the brotherly love that I have for him. He’ll find out quickly or the hard way that partying through college won’t get him very far in life. She asks about Brooke and how things have progressed since we last talked about her. Gosh, I can hardly remember the last time we talked about Brooke. It could’ve been when Brooke and I very first started dating.

  They would get along better than I think either of them realize. I’m not sure I’m ready for that. I’d never win with them together in a room.

  I clear my throat. “She’s coming to Boston with me. I mean, since I kind of sprung it on her before Christmas, it’ll be a month before she can get out there with me, but I think it’ll be good for us.”

  “Oh. Yeah. That’ll be great for you two.” Her tone is difficult to decipher. If I didn’t know any better, I’d think it was hard for Peyton to hear the news, but I know I’m misinterpreting it. This must be her excited voice now. Maybe Tyler has changed that too.

  “I think so. We need a fresh start. Since neither of us has family or any connections in Boston, it’ll be an adventure for us both.”

  “What’s Tate going to do?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Well, with you in Boston and Carter out of the house. Is she really going to stay in that house?”

  “She hasn’t told me otherwise.”

  “She’s braver than I am.” Peyton’s voice drifts off as she stares out the passenger window. There was a time when I could ask her anything and she’d answer. Honestly. I want to ask what she means by her comment, but I know she’d never tell me the truth.

  ONCE WE’RE OUT on the waves, we fall right back into the groove we once had. Salt water is our cure. There are no words. We don’t need them. Only ocean waves and wind lapping against our ears. When I look to Peyton, straddling her surfboard on top of the water, and she smiles, it feels like all our bitterness and distance is washed away. Her face is free of makeup, letting her freckles show. We’re back to being Peyton and Brodee. Best friends. We get to begin again.

  HEARING BROOKE’S VOICE reminds me how excited I am to move to Boston with her. It’s easy to fall back into the comfort of Charleston and home, especially after being on the water with Peyton today. I was beginning to second-guess my decision to up and relocate. Boston is pretty far away, and my mom could use the support here, but I know it’s the right decision.

  Maybe these next couple weeks won’t be so bad with Peyton next door after all. If I can keep my focus and forget about the past, Peyton might let me back in. We can pick up the pieces of our deteriorating friendship.

  “So, I gave my two-week notice to my boss.”

  “Already?” I ask.

  “Yeah, I’ll be able to move to Boston at the same time as you.”

  “Brooke, that’s awesome! I really wasn’t looking forward to trying to figure out what to do in the city until you got there.” I laugh.

  “And now you don’t have to. I’ve done some research. There are tons of places I want to visit and explore. There’s this place called the Back Bay, and Jamaica Pond, and the Esplanade. Did you know Cape Cod is only an hour from Boston? We have to go. And I think a Red Sox game is a given. Promise you won’t judge me for being a tourist in the beginning.” It’s likely she hasn’t yet taken a breath while talking.

  I laugh again. “We can be tourists together. You just name the places, and we’ll make it happen. So, your family is good with you moving to Boston with me?”

  She pauses briefly. “It’s taking my parents a little getting used to the idea, having me so far away, but they’ll be okay. Honestly, I don’t need their approval. I want to be with you.”

  Those words are the only ones I need from her. “I love you, Brooke.”

  “I love you, too.”

  I’VE JUST FINISHED helping my mom fix the garbage disposal when Harper’s number lights up my screen. Why is she calling me?

  “Hey, Harp, the honeymoon phase can’t be over yet.” I tuck my phone between my shoulder and ear as I dry off my hands. “You miss me that much?”

  “Ha. The honeymoon phase will never be over.”

  I chuckle. Sounds about right. “Well, to what do I owe the pleasure of your call?”

  “Oh, you know…”

  I wait. “No, I really don’t. Is everything okay?”


  She sighs heavily into the phone. “I tried keeping my nose to myself, but she’s my best friend, and her business is my business.” I think I know where this is going. “Peyton can’t marry Tyler, Brodee.”

  I exhale and release my humorless laugh. “Tell me something I don’t know.”

  “Tyler’s no good for her. He’s such a jerk, and she doesn’t even see it. He’s not the same guy from her summer flings.”

  I toss the dishtowel onto the counter and begin to pace. “Again, you’re going to have to be more specific. I agree with you one hundred percent, but I have a feeling my reasons are a smidge different than yours.”

  “Didn’t you notice how different she was when you came home? Cutting off all her hair and dying it platinum blonde. Not to say it isn’t cute, but I tried getting her to dye her hair for years and she refused. Then all of a sudden she’s engaged to Tyler, and she gets a hair makeover after twenty-one years? She looks like a freaking Stepford wife.”

  “Maybe she just wanted a change. We’ve all needed a little bit of change recently.”

  “It’s not just that,” she counters. Once Harper is on a roll, there’s no stopping her, so I listen patiently. “Did you notice how she quietly remained by his side all night long. Or how about the amount of food she ate. Did you see how he talked her out of that piece of cake? I nearly punched him. And that’s not even the first time I’ve seen him do something like that.” I can hear her noises of disdain on the other end. She sounds like she ate a bad piece of seafood. “He doesn’t want her to gain any weight. The man needs the perfect trophy wife since he’s going to be Doctor Hamilton, you know. I once heard him say, ‘Better stay skinny for me’ as she was eating a bowl of pasta and then smacked her butt. Like, he thinks he’s being funny or trying to play off his rude comment as a joke. But I heard the tone in his voice; it was nothing but condescending. Most of all, Brodee, it’s my gut. I feel it. He’s no good for her.”

  I was praying the cake was a one-time incident, that Peyton would be smarter than that. It’s not like her to let anyone make her feel embarrassed for what she eats or how much she could eat. Peyton needed all that food to feed her energy, to fuel all the gymnastics and surfing. She could out-eat me any day. I once witnessed her eat an entire pizza. Not a personal pan size, but a large, feed-an-entire-family kind of pizza. It was impressive.

  “I tried talking to her at the wedding, but she brushed it off, said he was trying to help her keep her weight goals for the wedding,” I tell Harper. “The gentleman that he is, he was trying to help her out so there didn’t need to be extra alterations to her wedding dress.”

  “That’s such…” Harper let’s out a string of expletives. “She doesn’t see it, Brodee, but he’s a controlling codfish. Almost like he wants to change everything about who she used to be, so she can be his Barbie doll and no one else’s.”

  A sudden wave of nausea knocks me in the gut. “Is he physically abusing her? Has he ever hit her? Because I will kill him.”

  “No,” she says with certainty. “At least not that I know of. I don’t think she’d stick with him if it got that bad. But just because he’s not physically abusive doesn’t mean the mental or emotional manipulation is any better.”

  “No, of course not. I just want to know what we’re dealing with. How much control does he really have?” Her physical appearance, clearly. “Is there anything else I should know about?”

  “Do you know how many times I saw her last year?” Harper doesn’t give me the chance to answer. “Twice. I needed my best friend and maid of honor to help me plan the wedding, but she just couldn’t manage to get a single weekend away after Skylar and I got engaged. Does that sound like Peyton to you?” Not at all. “He wouldn’t let her come home on the weekends or visit without him. She’d say it was because he was busy with school, and she didn’t want to leave him behind, but I know it’s because he wouldn’t let her come. He doesn’t want her out of his sight. He’s so possessive, to the point that it scares me, Brodee.”

  I can’t see straight.

  Harper continues, “Even if it’s not physical now, what if it becomes that way? Whipping her into shape to be the picture perfect family. Did you know that after he graduates, they’re staying in North Carolina to be near his family? And while things aren’t great with Olivia and Nick, I know Peyton would much rather stay close to home. But it’s like he wants to isolate her, keep her from everyone who knows and loves her. And maybe he’s not overly controlling yet, but I see him inching in. Every time I talk to her or see her, it’s worse. I think Peyton’s been with him for so long, he’s slowly dug his claws into her, and she doesn’t even see how she’s changed for him.”

  “Have you talked to her about this?”

  Harper sighs. “I tried once, but as soon as I started to hint at his controlling tendencies she got defensive, told me I was being ridiculous and jumped down my throat, throwing out instances where Skylar has said something controlling to me. Skylar couldn’t be controlling if he tried.” I snort. If anything, the roles are reversed, but I don’t dare say that to Harper. “I don’t want her shutting me out more than she already has, so I’ve kept my mouth shut.”

  “So, it’s not like Peyton’s crying for help. She doesn’t even see it or want to believe it,” I conclude.

  “I just thought maybe you could try talking to her. I know things have been a bit strained between you two, but if she’ll listen to anyone, it’s you.”

  “What am I supposed to say? You’ve been with her more than I have. Peyton and I are just beginning to gain our friendship back.”

  “Do you still love her?” I exhale and choose not to respond. I think I’ll love Peyton for my whole life. She’s my first love. It won’t be a choice. Like the ache after losing someone, the grief never leaves, but it ebbs. Other people in life may become bigger parts of the heart, while a first love inhabits a protected corner—secluded—but never forgotten.

  “I’ll take that as a yes,” Harper says, because I don’t respond. “Use that to your advantage. Woo her away from him with your love.”

  “Harper,” I groan. “It’s not that simple. I’m with Brooke. I’m in love with Brooke. I’m moving to Boston with her, and I’m not going to screw it up. I can’t just go throwing around the L-word with Peyton. I’ll talk to her, but I’m moving on. I have to.”

  “What does it matter if you love Brooke? Peyton needs to know you love her, too.”

  “She does know, and it doesn’t matter!” I regret snapping as soon as the words are out of my mouth. “I’m sorry,” I say with a lowered voice.

  Harper is silent for a moment. “Have you told her recently?”

  “No, but she knows. I’ll never stop loving her.” I shake my head, pinching the bridge of my nose. “But that changes nothing. I asked Brooke to come to Boston with me. Peyton made it clear that nothing will ever come of us. And I’m okay with it. I want a fresh start with Brooke. I deserve happiness, too.”

  “Okay,” Harper accepts. “Then, at least as a brother or a best friend or whatever you’re calling yourself, talk to her.”

  “I will. And it’s best friend. I’ll let you know how it goes.”

  “I’ll be waiting. Don’t take too long. Tyler is supposed to come visit next weekend. Talk to her before then.”

  Why can’t he just stay in North Carolina? “Okay.”

  IT’S BEEN A couple days, and I’m still thinking about my conversation with Harper. Tyler will be here in two days, and I haven’t figured out the best way to approach Peyton. Any way that comes to mind makes me sound jealous or insane. Maybe I’m both. I don’t even know anymore. In no way can I allow her to think I’m jealous of Tyler though. I’ll have to call her. This won’t work in person.

  “Hey,” she answers on the first ring. “Is everything okay?”

  “Yeah. Why wouldn’t it be?”

  She pauses. “You just haven’t called for no reason in a long time. And since I’m right next door,
it’s weird. Why didn’t you just come over?”

  Because I don’t know how to do this. Our dynamic is all screwed up. I don’t know how to talk about this in person. I’d have to look her in the eye to tell her Tyler isn’t good enough for her. In person, I can’t hide facial expressions and reactions. I don’t come up with a good response fast enough.

  “Brodee? Is there a reason you called?”

  I also hate that I have to have a reason. We used to talk just to talk. Now I can’t even call her without getting the third degree. “Just wanted to chat. See how the wedding planning is going.”

  Honestly, I’d rather gouge out my eyes with a hot fire poker than hear her talk about the details of her upcoming nuptials, but I’ll have to suck it up this once.

  “Oh.” She isn’t buying it. “Really?”

  “You set a date yet?”

  “April 9th.”

  I nearly choke. It’s January 6th. Three months. She wants to get married in three months? “You weren’t kidding when you said it would be a short engagement.”

  “Yeah, well, Tyler begins dental school at the end of April, and we want to get married before that so...”

  “Right. Can’t mess around. I bet Olivia is freaking out trying to get everything put together.”

  “Yeah.” She laughs, almost getting pleasure out of Olivia’s pain. “Kind of. But like I said…it will be a small wedding, so she doesn’t have to worry about much. And Tyler’s mom doesn’t have a daughter, so she’s more than willing to get in on all the wedding planning. They’ve split a lot of the preparations to get it done.”

  “That’s cool.” I try to think of something to add. “Harper and Skylar’s wedding give you any ideas?”

  “That wedding was very Skylar and Harper, let’s put it that way.” She laughs.

  “So you have the what-you-don’t-want list.”

  Her amusement continues. “Definitely, yes. Though Harper did have some good ideas, I don’t want to copy her. Our wedding should reflect us, not Harper and Skylar.”