Edgeli Addison
I got off the bus and the place looked exactly as it did when I left 5 years ago. It was a run down bus station that was never going to renovated or repaired.
My phone rang with a specific ringtone and I instantly picked up, "so you there now?" Skye asked me. He'd been checking in on me the whole journey from Fort Lauderdale to Neptune Waters. This was the furthest apart we'd been since we'd started dating. We always worked the same areas during charter season and were usually on the same yachts.
"Just got off the bus, I'm supposed to meet my brother out the front of the station," I told him, "then the funeral is tomorrow afternoon," I said as I walked towards the exit.
"You sure you don't want me there?" He asked me, "there's still time for me to get on a flight and get out there," he offered and that was sweet of him but I needed to do this on my own, and there was a lot of my life that I hadn't told Skye so I didn't want here coming here and learning things I never wanted him to know about me or where I came from if I could help it.
"I'm okay, I'll probably have to stay out here a few weeks anyway to sort through Dad's affairs with Easton anyway and you'd get bored out here so quickly," I assured him but I did appreciate that he wanted to be out here for me. I walked out onto the street and looked around for the person I'd left behind 5 years ago to save my own soul. It wasn't as run down as I expected but it definitely hadn't changed much if at all since I was last here.
"Just keep me in the loop with your plans babe," he told me and that wasn't unreasonable.
"I will, I promise," I assured him and spotted my brother, "I've got to go, I've found Easton," I said and he spotted me too, "I love you," I said and I did love him. He was a constant in my life that I needed and was lucky to find.
"I love you too," he said and I hung up on him, pocketing my phone.
"You look different," was the first thing my brother said to me after five years had past.
"I dyed my hair," I said and I didn't know if I should hug him or what I should do because we were more like strangers than siblings.
"I'm parked just around the block," he informed me and went to take my bag but instinctively I didn't let him from my years of stewarding.
"It's fine, I can carry it," I assured him and followed him towards where he'd parked.
"Where were you?" He asked me and I was confused, "you said you were out of the country, where?" He asked me.
"British Virgin Islands this time," I said, "landed in Florida late last night so my body clock is currently in pieces," I informed him.
"So Florida? Is that where you're living?" He asked me.
"Yeah ever since I left," I said, "I like it down there," I added and I really did like living in Florida in the off season. "I'm guessing you never left this town?" I asked him.
"I stayed because it was the right thing to do," he told me and I knew he wouldn't ever forgive me for leaving home but I had to leave home.
"You know I couldn't stay, EJ," I told him and he opened the trunk of his car. I put my bag in the trunk and shut it.
"But you could have called," he said and got into the car. I got in on the passenger side and I just felt so incredibly awkward around this person that used to be my idol.
"The longer it got, the harder it was to call," I admitted, "The further from Edgeli Jenessa I became," I added and I was no where near the same person who'd left at that bus stop.
"So who are you now?" He asked me, "what do you even do now that had you out of the country for two weeks?" He asked me as he started up the car and we started the reverse of my journey away from this town.
"I was out of the country for five months," I told him, "I was coming to the end of my contract when you called," I said and looked out the window at the town I'd left behind for a better life out on the seas.
"Like on super yachts?" He questioned.
"With my boating history and service industry, it was easy to get a job on a huge charter crew and I've been working on Charters ever since," I told him and I did really love my work out there. "What about you?" I asked him, curious what my brother has spent the past five years of his life doing.
"Worked a couple places around town, always came back to working with dad," he told me and that didn't surprise me. If I'd stayed, I doubted I'd have done anything different than that and it scared me that I would be trapped in this town.
His phone rang loudly, and he gestured for me to keep quiet before he picked up on speaker. "This is EJ," he said and I kept my mouth shut.
"Have you picked her up yet?" A familiar voice asked him, probably someone we'd been at school with and likely someone who I didn't get along with.
"Yeah, on our way back now," he told whoever it was, "should be at the hotel in ten," he said and hung up on her.
"The hotel, not the house?" I questioned and it seemed odd that we were going there instead of the house if we were sorting out dad's personal affairs.
"Yes the hotel, all of dad's legal and personal stuff is there and we need to sort some of it before the funeral tomorrow," he explained to me and that did make sense.
"I know you got married to Marissa after I left but you're not wearing a ring anymore," I said, being hyper-observant was part of my job description.
"We got divorced two years ago, barely married for two," he told me, "you're an aunt though," he said and I did not see that coming, "got pregnant pretty quickly after the wedding, might have actually been the wedding night," he told me, "Everard Jensen," he added and I was a little surprised by the name.
"Jensen, like Jenessa, my middle name?" I questioned, amazed he would name is son even remotely after me.
"You're my baby sister, Edgeli Jenessa, no matter how far apart we are, distance or time," he told me and that was really sweet.
"Professionally, I go by EJ," I told him as he pulled up at the hotel; it had been my way of holding onto Easton even though I wasn't in contact with him. It looked rundown, and about to go out of business. "This place....I didn't realise it had gotten this bad," I said and got out of the car. It hadn't changed since I'd left style-wise, it was just like they'd stopped caring as much.
"Mom died, he died, you left, dad just slowly stopped caring about this place, about himself," he told me and I did feel partly responsible for this place getting like this but also Dad chose to let this place go to crap all on his own. "The office is in the same place," he said and walked off.
I couldn't seem to make myself step inside. This was the first step of my running away from home forever. "Come on EJ, you're a grown ass woman, you can walk into some dumb hotel," I convinced myself and walked inside.
It looked a bit better inside but still really run down. It really hadn't been refurbished in years but there was clearly signs that EJ had tried to get him to refurbish or renovate. "Daddy!" A tiny EJ lookalike came rushing out from behind the reception desk to hug EJ's knees. He picked up the kid and I felt very much out of place in front of someone whose life I should be a part of.
"Red, this is your aunt Edgeli Jenessa," EJ introduced and I really didn't know what to say.
"It's nice to meet you," I said and the little EJ held his hand out to me, like a polite decent human, so I of course shook it because I was a well trained steward. I followed my brother and my nephew back into the office.
"That's Edgeli?" Lola Pearson questioned as I walked into the office.
"Lola?" I was shocked she was working here, for my family after everything that happened in middle school and high school.
"Wow, Edge, you look great," she said and got up from the desk she was sat at. She actually hugged me and I felt so incredibly awkward about it.
"So you're doing what now?" I asked her when she released me.
"I'm an accountant, I've been helping EJ get a handle on the mess your dad left the books in," she explained, "we've mostly got a handle on it," she added and it did look a mess in here.
After a small explanation presentation from Lola, we got down to the family business. "Have you found a copy of his will?" I asked EJ as I went through a draw in dad's desk.
"I think it's in the lockbox but I haven't been able to work out the combo," he told me and gestured to the box on dad's desk. "Were you ever going to come home?" He asked me.
"I honestly don't know," I admitted and picked up the lockbox, "the longer I stayed away, the more I set up my own life, the harder it got to pick up a phone," I told him and started thinking about six digit numbers that were significant to our father.
"I've tried his birthday, mom's birthday, grandma's birthday, my birthday, your birthday, Red's birthday, my son's," EJ listed, looking through some of the hotel's paperwork.
I knew what number dad had chosen and I put it into the lock. "Got it," I said and opened the lock box.
"What date?" He asked me.
"The date everything changed for the Addison family," I said and got out Dad's will.
"The day Red died," we both said and I handed my brother the will.
"I'm sure he left you everything and me nothing, I mean I was already dead to him anyway," I said and checked my phone. "Is there a National Savings and Trust in town?" I asked him as I looked through the other paperwork in the box, some family photos and his passport.
"Uh yeah, over on the corner of 5th and March," he said, "why? You find something for that bank to go along with all the others?" He asked me, sounding frustrated by the mess of finances he was dealing with.
"I came straight here after finishing the season, I packed a bag to travel up here, didn't unpack my boat bag, and got on a plane," I told him and got up from the desk, "so I need to make it it a bank to deposit my pay cheques," and my tips, "or I can't pay my rent back in Florida," I said and grabbed my boat bag, with both my pay cheques and my very full tips lockbox.
"I never thought you'd end up in Florida," Easton commented and he hadn't opened the will yet.
"You never thought I'd leave Neptune Waters," I pointed out and walked out of the hotel. Just because I'd come back for now and dad had died, didn't mean everything that happened between us had suddenly gone away, that our relationship was fixed but it wasn't.