“So, you settling in ok?” Duncan shoved his hands in the pockets of his jean jacket as we walked up to Chestnut’s one and only Safeway.
Yeah, I caved. I called and asked him to show me around–even though I knew I didn’t need anyone to show me around. I had been to the Safeway a million times–as the Dawson kid. But not as Liam. And while I could have pretended to find it myself… I don’t know. I had a soft spot for Duncan. I always had.
I shrugged. “Yeah, guess so. It’s a little weird.” I grabbed a stray shopping cart and pushed towards the entrance.
“You’re there to work on the house, right? So Dawny can sell it?”
The small talk was stiff. Awkward. Not like the nights they stayed up until dawn chatting on Skype. But that made sense. Duncan and Dawny had years of history.
Duncan and Liam… were strangers.
“That’s the idea. Tons to do, though.” The automatic doors slid open, and the cool air conditioning rushed outside to greet us. It was mostly how I remembered it inside. The neat isles, the flashy displays, the mini Starbucks on the far right side.
“Really? I always thought the house was pretty nice. But I guess I don’t have a trained eye.”
I hummed, starting to make my way to the pasta aisle before remembering to pause and at least try to look like I didn’t know where I was going. “It’s not that the house is in bad shape,” I clarified as I searched the signs with my eyes, “just in need of some modernization. Some spots on the floor that need repairing… I haven’t finished going through everything yet, I’m sure I’ll find more as I go.”
“Oh. And… What about the Dawson’s stuff?” Duncan slowed his pace, pointedly not looking at me. He cleared his throat. “I mean, according to Dawny, she isn’t coming back, and I just…”
I slowed my pace as well, matching Duncan. My chest tightened slightly. My fathers’ smiling face flashed in my mind. The feeling of my mother’s hugs. The sound of them screaming when everything went south.
I shook my head, trying to shake the guilt slowly pilling in my gut.
“Dunno yet. It has to go somewhere. Storage, maybe?” I sighed, raked my fingers through my hair. “It’s going to be hell, boxing it all up…”
Duncan blinked, suddenly stopping in his tracks. “Wait, you’re boxing everything up?”
And somehow, it only dawned on me then that that was probably weird. I shifted on my feet. “Well, yeah. I’m the only one here. Part of the job.”
“Won’t Dawny want to go through things? There’s gotta be sentimental stuff she will want.” Duncan furrowed his eyebrows, a deep frown settling into his features.
I turned the cart sharply, going down an aisle I didn’t intend to go down–but maybe I could be the guy who enjoyed carbonated energy drinks. Trying to hide the fact that my little detour was a result of my discomfort surrounding this conversation, I grabbed a random box of something or other and shoved it into the cart. “You seem very invested in all of this.”
Duncan’s footsteps picked up behind me in an attempt to keep up. “Well, yeah. I was close to the family. I don’t want all their stuff to rot away in storage.”
I clicked my tongue. My heart twisted. “Well, take that one up with your friend. I’m just the help.”
“Why do I get the feeling I’ve stepped on a landmine?” Duncan let out a half-laugh, his mouth turned up on one side in a crooked smile. His eyes weren’t smiling, though. They were wide and crazed–filled with worry.
I guess I wasn’t doing the best job at hiding my annoyance. “Sorry, it’s not that. It’s just I’m not at liberty to discuss my clients. And you haven’t exactly shut up about ‘Dawny’ the entire time we’ve been together.”
Duncan blinked. “Oh.” A soft pink began to creep up on his cheeks, and he quickly turned away before I could see whatever his expression was about to do. “Sorry, I didn’t realize.” He cleared his throat and rubbed the back of his neck with his hand, then turned to face me again–since he had collected himself. “I guess I just thought… You know, since we both know her and all… It would be something we had in common.”
I hummed, turning down another aisle to look for food I actually wanted. “Well, then we should find something else we have in common. As people tend to do when they make small talk.” I shot him a playful look to hopefully convey that I was making friendly banter and not trying to be rude.
He let out a strained laugh in response. “I guess I’ve lost a lot of my small talk skills over the past several years. We don’t exactly get a lot of new people around here–it’s kind of like the people you went to school with and the people you work with are the people you know for life.”
“Well, then I know what we don’t have in common.” I plucked a box of whole-grain pasta off the shelf and inspected the ingredients. “That’s what I love about the city. You’re always meeting new people. And more often than not, you just… blend in with the crowd. As long as you don’t lock eyes with anyone, you’re almost guaranteed to be ignored.”
“Is that what you want? To blend in? Be ignored?” Duncan eyed the box of pasta, made a face when he noticed WHOLE-GRAIN in bold letters, and turned his attention to the variety of pasta sauces.
I shrugged slightly before putting the box back and picking up a different brand, then repeating the same process of inspecting the ingredients. “Better than standing out. People bother you less.”
Duncan nodded slowly, like he was trying to understand. “I guess that’s true. I’m just so used to how friendly it is around here. Everyone knows everyone… Everyone has a connection. There’s a real sense of community.”
“If that’s what you want to call it,” I grumbled, struggling not to let my bitterness seep into my voice. I never had been very good at that.
Duncan raised an eyebrow. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
I sighed and dropped the box into my cart, moving on to the next item on my list. Sure, Chestnut was a community. If you fit the norm. Anyone who strayed was destined to be excommunicated–and the worst part was everyone knew everyone. So once one person got dirt on you…
It spread like wildfire.
“It just seems like a lot of pressure, is all. I can’t imagine living my life trying to please an entire town.”
Duncan scrunched up his nose, his eyebrows furrowing. “What does that have to do with anything?”
“A small town like this? The only way you get to be a part of the ‘community’ is if you’re exactly like everyone else. I hate that.” I pulled a jar of alfredo off the shelf and inspected it, trying to get a handle on the brand and if it was high-quality ingredients or not.
“Now hold on a minute-”
“Oh my god, no way.”
Duncan and I turned around swiftly as a shrill voice from down the aisle cut through the air. Standing across from us was a tall, well-dressed woman, right around our age. She flipped her long, bottle blonde beach waves over her shoulder and grinned, her ruby red lips clashing against her teeth. Her brown eyes shined as she looked right at us.
“Is it really you?”
Comments (18)
See all