Tartosan Sun: Journeys

Chapter Five:

Liberty pulled up to the curb. It had been a long, tedious day and she was feeling all of it. The enormous truck parked a short distance up the street drew her eye. She was tired and hungry but she took her time fumbling for her purse while she kept her eyes on it. She spotted a man standing near the back. He was almost half a block away but Liberty could see him clearly enough. There was something familiar about that face. He looked around for a moment than disappeared behind the truck again.

Then her mind connected the dots. “You’ve got to be kidding me” she said to herself. She let out a little laugh. The kind of laugh that happens when you’re not sure if the universe is mocking you or trying to entertain you. Oh. My. God.” she said out loud as she lifted her purse off the floorboard. She sat there for another minute hoping to get a better look at the man’s face. When he didn’t appear again she finished gathering her stuff and went into the house.

Foundry Cove and The Promenade were connected by Willow Creek’s streetcar service. It was Danielle’s favorite way to and from work. There was something romantic about it, and the areas of town it passed through. All of it fed her imagination. As usual she was a few minutes behind Liberty arriving home after work. As she turned the corner she spotted the moving van too. It was impossible to miss after all. She was starving and couldn’t wait to get changed so they could head out for pizza. Halfway to the steps, a man appeared from behind the truck. It took him a second to register her presence and her gaze directed at him. He turned on his heel and started back behind the truck. Danielle was briefly left in mute disbelief. “Shut up!” she said to nobody in particular as the spell broke.

Liberty had just settled on the sofa after changing outfits when Danielle burst in. “You’re not going to believe who I just saw” Danielle said.

“Would that be Travis by any chance?” Liberty said as she patted the sofa. “He was the last person I expected to see. I’m curious what Summer’s reaction is going to be.”

Danielle plopped down next to Liberty. Their usual small talk was momentarily replaced by talk about Travis. Or the new neighbor who bore an uncanny resemblance to Travis. “Yeah I was just thinking the same thing.” Danielle said. “There’s an awful lot of bad memories there.”

 Danielle excused herself to go change after exchanging thoughts with Liberty. When she returned the conversation quickly turned to sharing the interesting news and gossip from their day while they waited for Summer. LaFitte’s had been short staffed on the day shift. Summer was covering until they could hire some more cooks. It was nice to be able to go out on a Friday night with her girlfriends, but dinner service was where you built your kitchen cred. She took the assignment in stride, where some would’ve seen it as a demotion. It was a chance to see another side of the restaurant and work with a completely different menu. 

She got home just as the movers left. When the truck pulled away from the curb she got a glimpse of the new neighbor as he disappeared into the house. She couldn't believe her eyes. She lingered for a second trying to make sense of what she thought she saw. “Evening ladies. Umm…” she said as she turned to look out the window towards the little green house across the street.

“Am I seeing things or…” her face reflecting her confusion “… does our new neighbor look a lot like…“

“…Travis” all three said in unison.

“I don’t know if you’re seeing things hun” said Danielle, “but if you are, we’re all having the same hallucination. If it’s any consolation.” She scooted over to let Summer have the middle seat.

They became friends with Travis after he transferred to their school in the eighth grade. Things were good until teenage romance got in the way. Travis had dated both Danielle and Summer. The relationship with Danielle had been short. All of her relationships were then. She was still struggling to understand her increasingly intense attraction to women. She tried to make things work with him but it was no use. She couldn’t make herself feel anything romantically towards him.

A little over a month into their relationship Danielle broke things off. She wanted to go back to just being friends. It wasn’t a lie. It was simply a version of the truth that left out the part where she said “I’m a lesbian”. Nothing in the world was going to make her fall in love with him.

Summer hooked up with Travis during their junior year. She fell hard for him. Everyone commented on what a cute couple they were.

With Summer it was Travis who broke things off. It was near the end of the school year. Out of the blue, he told her they should see other people. He never said why he felt that way.

 The break up was hard enough for Summer but the ghosting made things worse. He didn’t speak to them at all after the break up. The last time they spoke was at graduation.Just long enough to say goodbye and good luck. The conversation was awkward at best. He’d made no effort to communicate with them in the years since.

“So what are we going to do?” Liberty asked. “It’s not like we can avoid him.”

“I know he saw me. I’m sure he recognized me, and turned his back. He has to make the first move” Danielle offered. “All of this started after he dumped Summer. I don’t know what got into him, but this is entirely his mess.” Danielle reached over and gave Summer’s hand a squeeze. “He has to fix it.”

“I know both of you are worrying about me. There’s no need” Summer said. “I moved on a long time ago. It was a silly high school romance that didn’t work out. Yeah I was a wreck afterwards, but that was then. I admit I’m not happy about having him as our neighbor. The way he ghosted us is what makes me upset. He was a friend. Or so we thought. You don’t do friends that way.”

“Sorry Summer” Liberty said. “I can’t see him and not think of what he did. Somebody hurts one of us, they hurt all of us. I haven’t forgiven him for the way he acted. Knowing now that he’d been cheating on you with the head cheerleader at Newcrest High at the time. I can’t imagine what a spoiled rich girl like her ever saw in him.”

“He can be really charming and funny. You all saw it.” Summer said. “Look, I love that you care enough to worry.” Summer said giving each a warm smile. “It means a lot. You are my sisters as far as I’m concerned. Ok, so I wanted to wring Danielle’s neck a few times during that first year at Foxbury.” Danielle’s constant reorganizing on Summer’s side of the room had sparked more than a few arguments.

“Yeah I know the feeling. Like when she does her makeup in the bathroom.” Liberty said with a wink.

“Oh please. I told you, that won’t happen again” Danielle said with mock outrage. 

“I bought a lighted makeup mirror.” She paused for effect. “By the way it wasn’t the one you texted me the link to on Sephora. I found a better deal at Ulta. But thanks anyway Lib.” That got a round of laughs.

“I love you two, and this situation with Travis worries me a little” Liberty said. “I remember when we tried to talk to him at graduation. Clearly he wanted to get rid of us as fast as he could. We haven’t heard anything since. Where’s his head at? If it was anybody else moving in I’d be tempted to go say hi, welcome to the neighborhood. Danielle’s right, he has to be the one to come say hi. And I feel like we should be extra careful now and give him plenty of space. Just in case.”

“Yeah. We keep our eyes open and look out for each other” Danielle added. “I don’t think he’d do anything but you never know.”  

“Agreed. Ok, that's enough talk about Travis” Summer said. “I believe we were going out for pizza and a movie. I need to go get changed first.” 

A few minutes later Summer caught up with them. She'd swapped out her chefs outfit for shorts and her lucky top. “Where are we eating at, Valentino’s or Enzo’s?” Liberty asked.

“Enzo’s” Summer said without hesitation. “Trust me, I’m a chef. I know about these things.”

Meanwhile, nearby.....

“Way to go Travis” he said to himself.

 “Hundreds of streets in this city and you had to pick this one.”