Oops, I've Fallen

In fact, it’s probably the reason I’ve never dared to go out on the long-term relationship limb in the first place.

Scrubbing a hand down my face and blowing out a huge breath to get ahold of my runaway emotions, I return my focus to the street around me. Immediately, my eyebrows draw together.

I don’t…what’s going on? Isn’t it Monday?

Every few houses, a trash can sits at the curb, a shallow pool of water on top of the lid from an apparent rain shower.

Beyond that, at some of the landominiums, the trash can sits outside of the garage or at the side of the house, a violation of the code of Sunny Creek and then some.

What in the hell is going on?

After one more turn, I’m on my dad and Stella’s street, and my heart kicks into overdrive. Beyond the hope to see Carly again, every foot I drive feels like it comes with its own memory. The original showdown. Watching Carly with Betty through the window. The walk from the clubhouse, the toilet paper, the first time we kissed. The hot sex we had in the gym.

All of it’s here, in the quiet independent living community that boasts a motto of “Calm waters and clear skies for the rest of your days.”

What I wouldn’t give for the next couple of days here to grant me that kind of serenity.

Slowing the Yukon to a crawl, I pull gently into the driveway of my dad’s place, careful not to hit the trash can at the curb on the way into it.

Under any other circumstances, I’d think the thing with the garbage something of a coincidence or timing discrepancy, but with the way things were when I left—in complete anarchy as to the chain of command of this community—I have to believe there just might be something more to it than a simple slip of the mind.

I put the car in park and shut off the ignition, and Stella and my dad both step out onto the stoop of Stella’s house, obviously having heard my arrival. They wave eagerly, and I smile back, feeling a seriously surprising amount of happiness at seeing them again.

They drive me crazy. But somehow, still, they seem to make everything better.

“Hi, son!” my dad greets, breaking away from Stella to meet me halfway between the rental and her front door. He wraps me in a big hug, and I welcome it with a backslapping clasp of my own.

“Ready to be a married man again?” I ask with a smile, and Sal laughs.

“Like you wouldn’t believe, Ry. Like you wouldn’t believe.”

I have to look down at the ground and suck my top lip into my mouth, an unexpected pang of emotion hits me so hard in the chest.

I don’t know what it is about the way my dad says that that makes me miss Carly even more, but it does.

As a means of distraction, I jerk my thumb over my shoulder to the can at the street.

“What’s with all the cans? Trash day different now?”

Sal laughs boisterously and leads me across the lawn toward Stella, who waits with open arms. “No, no. Pickup is still Thursday. The cans, I reckon, are a message of solidarity for your dear old dad and Stell.”

“Against Betty?” I ask eagerly. I never, ever expected myself to be a man of gossip, but I think a part of me has been forever shifted by the time I spent here.

“Oh, yeah. Betty’s persona non grata around here now. Seems people don’t take too kindly to having their rules enforced by a certified breaker of the law. Stell’s been the most popular lady in the clubhouse every time we go over there.”

Words of someone’s social demise never would have brought me any joy before my extended stay at Sunny Creek, but the way they hit right now, I honestly think I could shed a tear if I let myself.

And I know it’s all because of one stubborn, foolish, ballbusting, rule-breaking woman and the absolute ache with which I miss her.

I swallow hard against the emotion in my throat and steady myself. I don’t want to sound desperate when I ask the one question I want the answer to the most. “When is Carly getting here? She’ll be thrilled to see the change.”

My dad’s eyes soften considerably, and a hand comes up to squeeze my shoulder, but thankfully, he doesn’t confront me with his obvious awareness aloud. “She won’t be here until the day before the wedding. Called Stell just this morning to let her know.” He glances to Stella, whose smile has lost a substantial amount of its luster. It’s hard to look happy and pity someone at the same time. And by the way she looks at me now, it’s more than a little clear that’s what’s going on. “Seems she’s pretty busy at home with ski season right around the corner and really can’t be gone for more days than necessary. She and her sister Willow are flying down together.”