Mabel and Everything After by Hannah Safren

Author:Hannah Safren [Safren, Hannah]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Bella Books
Published: 2022-11-17T00:00:00+00:00

JUNE

Tuesday, June 1

“You sure you have to go?”

“Yes, I’m sure, Louie. It’s not forever.”

“I know! But who is going to help me decide what flowers to use in my bouquet?” she cries. “And what color should the linens be? And what about the dessert?” She sighs dramatically. “I’m being selfish, aren’t I?”

Lou has been obsessively planning every detail of her and Max’s September wedding, down to the yellow button mums that will greet the guests and the custom pumpkin beer I’m to make during my time in Asheville.

I nod and bring her in for a tight hug.

Lou kisses my cheek and leaves Kate and me to say our goodbyes.

“So, this is it, huh?” Kate sighs.

We’re out of our lease as of yesterday. I left her all the furniture, which wasn’t much, and helped her haul it into her new apartment down the street.

“This is it.” I grab her hands. We look at each other for a moment and I wonder when I’ll see her again. Lou and Max’s wedding, probably. Will she have a plus-one? Will I?

“You’re gonna be great, Em.” She grins. “Can’t wait for you to open that brewery one day.”

I feel a pit in my stomach. Not a sad one, just nervous, and a bit overwhelmed maybe. I’m holding the hands of something that was once so wonderful and I’m going to let go of it, willingly. And I’m going to let go of my stable job, and I’m going to let go of this little town that I love so much. This whole state. I’m leaving it all behind.

I squeeze Kate’s hands and kiss her cheek. “Take care, Kate.”

* * *

It’s two coffees, a Sheetz turkey sandwich, and four hundred miles down 81 South into Bent Creek, North Carolina.

“Welcome home,” Uncle Joey says, wrapping his burly arms around me and lifting me as he did when I was just a child.

“Hi, Uncle Joey.”

Uncle Joey lived a few houses down from us for much of my childhood. At the time, he worked some high-profile government gig in DC. He’d leave before dawn each morning and get home after dinner. To this day, I have no idea what he did, but I know he owned a closet full of the same boring black suits and thick red and blue ties.

The day after we buried Mom, Uncle Joey quit his job. Dad and I went over to his place for a bonfire fueled by all his black suits, his black leather briefcase, and a whole lot of wood. A month later he had sold his property in Alexandria and headed off to hike the entire Appalachian Trail solo. “It’s time to start checking things off the bucket list!” he gleefully said.

Mom’s death brought him back to life. The irony.

After his hike, he settled, first in a camper in Fletcher, North Carolina, and now in a small wood cabin in Bent Creek. He never could let go of the camper, though. It’s been parked in the wooded area behind his brewery for the last six years.

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