I wasn’t in mourning. I didn’t have sorrowful feelings about my father’s passing, but I didn’t think it wise to reveal that to Aunt Melissa. She was obviously more concerned about my father’s reputation in town than I was, no matter how misguided. “Maybe… but I swear I saw someone standing back there just the same… whatever.” I wasn’t going to waste any more time thinking about it. I had a ton of work to get done and my work schedule already had a huge hole in it thanks to this funeral. When I left Chicago, I told myself I would work from here, at least stay on top of priority projects. It hadn’t happened, too many ghosts were vying for my attention and right now the only thing I wanted to focus on was Scotch.
I stood up to freshen my drink and Aunt Melissa looked at me, her eyes almost pleading. “You’re at least keeping this, aren’t you?”
I shrugged and looked at the box. I took one of the photos out of her hand and glanced at it. “Doubt it.”
“Aedyn Dell Cumberland,” she scolded. “This is your past, your childhood. Isn’t this one of you and your best friend, Garret, in high school?” She smiled, gazing at another photo. “Look at all that hair. What ever happened to that hairstyle? You don’t see that anymore. Wasn’t it called a mullet?”
My aunt’s outdated fashion sense made me laugh out loud and it felt good to release that burst of air. She always had the ability to see my emotions, no matter how well I thought I hid them, and knew when to cheer me up. “Aunt Melissa, that hair style went out years ago.”
“Well, look at this. Here’s a picture of you and Lauren Mitchell at the high school science fair. Didn’t you two date or something in high school?”
She handed me the picture and I stared at it, Lauren’s youthful face beaming out brightly from its aged and faded surface. “Dated? No, not really.” Crushed my heart into a million pieces? Yes. Humiliated me in front of the entire French class when she turned me down for prom? Absolutely.
Lauren had been a cheerleader, in with the “cool” kids. I wasn’t. Back then, Lauren was out of my league. “We worked on a project for the science fair together while I secretly dreamed about her being my girlfriend. But that’s all it was; she dated the captain of the football team.”
“She looks pretty happy there standing next to you. Why didn’t she partner up with her boyfriend for the project?”
I raised an eyebrow and tipped my head in her direction. “Are you kidding me? Football players aren’t the brightest. And back then, I was a geek—remember?”
I tossed the picture back onto the coffee table, wishing my feelings were as easy to dismiss. I had wanted Lauren as my girlfriend more than anything in the world, but she wouldn’t give me the time of day except when she needed a good grade on her science project. Any serious consideration as boyfriend material—no way. It was best to leave those feelings buried.
I headed to the kitchen to refill my usual choice of self-medication. I would need more numbing if I continued this trip down memory lane. Before I reached the threshold, I paused and turned back. “I saw Lauren; ran into her at the sandwich shop.”
Aunt Melissa put the pictures back into the box, closed the lid and set it on the coffee table. Her eyes asked the question, “Oh really?”
I didn’t want to open that old wound any deeper in front of my aunt so I tried to play it off as casually as possible. “Yea, right after the funeral home; the first day I got here.” I shrugged and said, “Whatever” and walked into the kitchen.
I wished thoughts of her were as easy to walk away from, but they’d been poking at my mind from the very moment my limo drove into town. Unwelcome thoughts I swore to myself I was too disciplined to have. Yet, every time I came back here, I wondered if I might run into her, so I’d stay as briefly as possible.
Now, it had finally happened and I’d acted like a nervous schoolboy. Shit. Who was I kidding? She was probably married with children by now. I didn’t talk to her long enough to find out. I didn’t want to take the chance that talking with her would trigger old feelings again.
Fuck. I was still kidding myself. Seeing her had stirred up those feelings and it pissed me off. I wasn’t that love stricken schoolboy anymore. I was a successful businessman, sought out by the ladies and yet… yet… that woman could still turn me into a puddle on the floor.
I needed to get her out from under my skin and running away obviously hadn’t prodded her out. Hell, I’d fucked dozens of women since those high school days and this was still the one I focused on. Was it because she was the one that got away?