Jamie collected her luggage from the conveyor and lugged it toward the exit. It was heavy, and going to explode as soon as she least expected it. She really needed a new bag.

Daniel is waiting to the left of the door when Jamie rushes over to hug him.

“Danny! I’ve missed you so much!” Jamie gushes. It’s been at least a year since they last saw each other. With Jamie on tour and practicing, and Daniel busy with college, there is really no convenient time to visit each other. In four or five years time, Jamie would retire though, and she would have more time for family and friends.

“Missed you too. Here, let me take your bags while you go get the rental.” Daniel suggests.

“Sure. Just be careful with the suitcase… it’s fragile.” Jamie handed over her backpack and suitcase and went back inside. The rental area was pretty empty for this time of day, Jamie noted.

While Daniel waited, Jamie paid for the rental and had someone show her to it in the garage. Once she was okay to leave, Jamie pulled around to the curb beside Daniel. He packed the suitcase carefully into the trunk, and set the backpack in the backseat.

“So how’s college?” Jamie asks as she pulls out of the airport. It would be a good hour to Dilly from here. It wasn’t so bad for a city so far out in the middle of nowhere.

“It’s good, it’s good. How’s tennis treating you?” Daniel asks. Small talk. The bane of existence in every conversation.

“Oh, you know. Bad knees and shoulders forever, right?” Jamie laughed uncomfortably. She wasn’t sure if they were just having an awkward first conversation, or if they were awkwardly avoiding the reason they were headed back to Dilly. Neither wanted to talk about it, that was for sure.

They were just leaving the big city when Daniel decided that if he didn’t say something now, he’d lose his mind.

“I know we’re kind of avoiding this conversation… and it’s not like I don’t want to avoid it. Trust me, I do… it’s just-”

“No, I know. I’ve been thinking about this since I heard about dad. He’s dead, and I don’t think any of us really know how to feel about that.” Jamie cut him off. She was saying exactly what Daniel was trying -and failing- to say.

“Yeah. I feel like I have to be sad, but I’ve felt everything but that. Angry, annoyed and maybe even a little relieved?” Daniel admitted hesitantly. A little relieved wasn’t really doing justice to how Daniel really felt about it at all.

Daniel couldn’t even explain how much he loathed himself for using his dad’s death as an excuse for more time on that stupid essay. The devil on his left shoulder encouraged him, and the angel on his right shamed him. But he was so, so relieved to have gotten extra time. And he wasn’t just relieved because of that essay either. He was relieved because receiving calls from Andy at ungodly hours of the night wouldn’t be scary anymore.

Andy could call anytime he wants and Daniel wouldn’t think anything of it. He wouldn’t think that Andy and Ryan were chased out of the house for whatever their close-minded parents deemed inappropriate anymore. He wouldn’t have to worry about his father getting out of control and hurting the twins anymore. It couldn’t happen, ever again.

“I’ve never been more relieved.” Jamie whispered. She could just barely be heard of the buzz of the rental car. “I feel like ever since I left the house I’ve been waiting for the other shoe to drop. For one of the late night calls from Andy be the one. And now the weight’s been lifted from my shoulders? How sad should I really feel for that bastard of a father?” Jamie’s eyes water as she speaks. Daniel wanted to pull her into a hug and make it all go away.

Daniel understood that Jamie and Matt dealt with the most shit from their dad. Sure, Daniel was kicked out after one semester of life-altering university. Being a democratic, animal-loving vegetarian atheist was just too intimidating for his father to try and understand. But even with all that, Daniel was never treated quite as badly as Jamie and Matt were. Daniel never got hit by his dad like they were. The image of Jamie being right hooked in the mouth by their father right before the olympics would never fade in Daniel’s mind.

He wasn’t sure about how bad it was for Andy and Ryan though. Over the years since they had gotten kicked out, Andy had called several times needing a place to stay for the night. Usually Matt’s, but sometimes he and Ryan would uber all the way to Texas State to stay with Daniel for the night. They never said why they left; they just claimed it was a fight with mom and needed space. Daniel, Matt, and Jamie all knew that wasn’t true, but didn’t push for more.

“I guess if we’re being honest, I don’t feel that sad about it.” Daniel admits. Jamie nods with a thousand mile stare out into the road ahead. Daniel pretends not to notice how she wipes away a tear that hasn’t fallen yet.

Miles and miles later, they arrive in the small town Dilly. The sign says something cheesy like all welcome signs do. And then below it, says the town’s population is at seven hundred.

Seven hundred people in the town of Dilly, and they all feel like strangers to Daniel.