The Schoolhouse by Elizabeth Bromke

Author:Elizabeth Bromke
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Elizabeth Bromke
Published: 2019-08-26T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 13

Of course she’d said yes. Maybe he’d been uneasy about asking her on a date after Grandbern’s funeral. Maybe that had accounted for the awkward hug and rushed goodbye.

None of it had bothered her. For once, Becky felt like she was heading in the right direction in her life.

But once she’d returned home to Memaw and her mom and Ben and Theo, a weirdness settled over them. Her mom had to return to California and Ben to New Albany. Theo couldn’t miss another day of classes.

For some reason, their brief visit felt nearly as sad as Grandbern’s death. A part of Becky wondered if this was how it would be for the Linden family. Reunions only during funerals. Never weddings or babies. Just death. They would show up to pay the respects that were otherwise inconvenient.

She couldn’t begrudge her mom or her brother their priorities, however. And certainly not sweet Theo, who’d gone above and beyond, for an eighteen-year-old.

Becky, herself, never pushed hard enough to come back for any reason at all. Not even ancient Aunt Edna’s passing back in 2000. Relationships were two-way roads. Even crummy relationships. Maybe especially crummy relationships.

Once a few days had passed and the reality of Grandbern’s death felt more normal and a modicum of boredom swept through the empty farmhouse, Becky turned her focus to Zack, replying to his texts more quickly and with more fervor. They danced around the idea of a date, neither one committing quite yet. But neither one offering any real excuse to delay. Becky figured her reason was grief. Maybe Zack’s was his busy job.

Almost obsessively, she reflected back on their youthful relationship and fast-forwarded through the fantasy, wondering what if, what if, what if.

Like a teenager, she began to envision being with him again. Every waking moment turned to Zack. His face: older. More handsome. His body: fuller. Manlier.

One morning at breakfast, as Becky was absently stirring sugar into her coffee and building up the courage to finally dial Zack’s number rather than reply to his most recent text—Good morning, beautiful—Memaw intruded. “How’s it going with the schoolhouse?”

“Hm?” Becky answered, irritation crawling up her spine.

“You went to see about it and never followed through,” the older woman pointed out.

Becky balked. Any tip-toeing around the recent events had evaporated in the last couple days. The two women quickly fell back into their old habits of tinkering around the house and making light conversation—avoiding the hard stuff, unsure what the next morning would bring.

Becky had halted her job search, but only temporarily. She’d learned Grandbern had left a small inheritance to her, Ben, and Patsy. The day after Ben and their mom had left, Patsy called Becky and made a deal: if she was willing to stay on at the farm and look over Memaw, Becky could have the little bit that Grandbern had given her.

It wasn’t much. And it was money that came from a guilty heart. Blood money, in a way. But untethered to anything else, Becky

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.