What was the point?
That was the question I was asking on day three of the family reunion. I had only talked to Dad and Charlie, said a few words to Aunt Darlene, and somehow never said a thing that I wanted to. Three days of silence; three days of being ignored. I was just lucky that I was going home that day.
I was pretty much waiting around for Dad to drive me back to campus from the time I woke up. My bag was packed up and in the hallway. Not that I'd ever unpacked. That was the last thing I wanted to do in that house. Unpacking meant I was going to be there a while. I wanted to leave as soon as I set foot in there.
Not because I didn't like the place. No, I loved it. The house was huge and beautiful and the time of year we went was one of the best. I could sit outside reading for hours. The lake was gorgeous. I wanted to one day bring my family there and have a photo shoot. Though that day was probably still a long ways off.
I checked my phone for the umpteenth time. It was now nearly lunchtime, and I knew that if the family wanted my dad to stay for lunch, I'd be stuck here another hour or two. Sighing, I got up and walked towards the living room where they were all gathered. My dad looked over when he noticed me waving. I pointed to my wrist and shrugged.
"Well, Aunt Darlene, I'm going to go ahead and head out," he said as he stood. "My son is waiting on me. I'll see everyone next time." He gave everyone a round of hugs and kissed his aunt. "Take care!" He waved at everyone as he left the room. "Ready?" he asked as he passed me.
"Of course." I grabbed my suitcase and followed him out to the car. He popped the trunk and I lifted it. To my surprise, he'd already loaded all of his things in the car. When had he done that? Curious, I fit my luggage alongside his and got in.
We started the journey home, and I turned up the radio. He turned it back down. "Talk to me," he said. "It's a good thing to do. We can learn about each other. Tell me about something you did on our visit."
I scoffed. "You mean other than be laughed at and ignored? Oh, I went fishing. That was as bad as I anticipated. Can I never come back here again?"
He frowned as I spoke, but smiled over at me when I finished. "You're going to work for me this summer. Part-time, and mainly in the office, but you're going to work for me."
My eyebrows rose. "Seriously?" He'd had me come in before, but not as a paid worker.
"Seriously. You'll be making minimum wage, and I can promise that you won't have an end to things you'll need to do."
I smiled at him. "Thanks, Dad."
"You know, most kids aren't that happy to work. Weirdo." He laughed as I punched him playfully in the arm. "Seriously, though. I had Charlie work some at one of my stores as a stock boy, and he was one of the worst employees I had. I ended up getting someone to convince him to quit. It wasn't hard."
"Probably played up his ego," I said bitterly.
"All it took was someone telling him he was too smart to work in the stock room, and he was gone." We both chuckled, though there was no humor in it. "You, though, I have high hopes for you. You're going to do just fine. I'm sure of it."
"So what will I be doing specifically?"
He shrugged. "Some stocking, since we kind of need someone else to help. Right now, there's a young lady and a couple of guys doing it on rotating shifts, but we need someone else once in a while to help out. The young lady often ends up stocking by herself. Other than that, my store does payroll in house and prints off checks for each employee. You would be helping out with that for the most part."
I nodded as I watched trees slide by outside. "Sounds like it won't be too hard."
"It's not bad. Time consuming, but not bad." He reached over and pat my leg. "Those people don't know you like I do. You're the best person for the job. Always have been, always will be."
Tears stung my eyes, so I looked out my window. "Thanks, Dad."
---
Graduation week. The week of parties and my roommate trying to pull me out to everything happening on campus - and off camps - and me refusing. I'd been part of that scene before, but it wasn't me.
I wasn't graduating at the top of the class, but I was close. Unlike Charlie. He was graduating cum laude. But I told myself after that trip that I wasn't going to keep on comparing myself. It didn't make any sense to do it. After all, we were raised entirely differently. We were different people, too. He was the party boy that everyone loved and had charisma oozing out of every pore; I was the loner who preferred books over people that the family practically disowned and could only awkwardly show I cared about people.
Yet, none of those things stopped Charlie from calling me the night before graduation to gloat. I hung up on him while he was talking to someone else.
I was done with him and caring what he did. He didn't care about me, so why should I care about him? Or any family other than my parents, for that matter.
As quickly as it came, graduation week went, and it was time for me to move back home. My mom picked me up from campus, helping me load everything into the back of her car. She kept a one-sided conversation going the whole two hours from campus to home. Listening to her, I found out that I'd be staying in the guest room as my room had become an office, but I was welcome to make the guest room my own. Unless I wanted to stay in the guest house? That way I could practice being independent.
"Mom," I finally said as we neared the house. "Thank you for giving me options, but I think I'd like to stay in the guest room. Is there any way I can just bring everything in and then crash a bit? I'm pretty tired."
She glanced at me, looking surprised. "Why, of course. I won't be starting dinner for a while, so I can help you sort through your things."
I sighed and smiled at her. Not what I wanted, but I knew she meant well. "Thanks." I knew she was talking about going through my things while I rested, but I didn't honestly want her to do that. Not because there was something I didn't want her to find, but because I wanted things to be a certain way, and I knew she'd put things in places that made sense to her.
"So, I haven't heard any girlfriend news yet," she said as we turned onto our street.
"Because there isn't any." I groaned inwardly. I didn't really want to talk about that, especially since I hadn't dated anyone in college and she was worried about having grandchildren.
"Now, now. I know college girls are pretty. You had to at least have had your eye on someone."
This wasn't really something I wanted to talk to my mother about. "I really didn't. My friends were pretty much all paired off already." Which wasn't far from the truth. Three of my closer friends had a girlfriend, and my other two friends had boyfriends. Only one other guy in my group didn't have a girlfriend, and that was my roommate. He was content on chasing girls at parties instead of chasing a long-term thing. I never could understand it.
"Aww. Well, maybe you'll meet someone in Rapid Falls." She turned into our driveway. It felt good to see my old home again. "There's always people coming and going. You never know. There's also a really sweet girl working for your dad. Wait until you meet her."
I didn't really want to meet her. The last place I wanted to stay was here in Rapid Falls. There wasn't anything here for me. Growing up, I never really thought about it. Never really thought about the houses and businesses that never changed, the growth that never happened, or how everyone knew everyone. Never thought about all the people that came and went, why they left and never seemed to stay when they moved in.
Not until I left and saw other things for myself. That was when it clicked for me. When I realized I didn't want to be here for the rest of my life.
"I'm looking forward to it, Mom." I gave her a smile and got out when she parked.
Between the two of us, we managed to get all of my things in the house. I lugged my suitcases to the guest room and began putting my clothes into the bureau. Mom carried in a couple of boxes and proceeded to decorate the room in a way that, for once, wasn't too different than how I wanted it.
Feeling settled in was something that was kind of foreign at that point, but was very welcome. I put the last of my things away and looked around the room. Even with all of my belongings in it, the place looked like a stranger lived there. How did I have so little? It was like I left home with just two boxes of belongings and never added to it.
Which, I suppose, wasn't too far from the truth. However, it wasn't like I could just run out to the mall and buy anything I wanted. Rapid Falls was definitely in the middle of nowhere, so there was no mall to grab a table lamp from. You were more likely to find a sack of flour than anything for the house.
I stood and stretched. My body had gotten stiff from the repetitive movements, but at least everything was now in my dresser and on my bookshelf. It felt better to have everything put away. I walked over to the window and looked at the guest house in the backyard.
The guest house had a second driveway that went to a covered car port. Underneath sat my old car that I'd gotten in high school, but chose to leave behind when I went to college. It wasn't much, but I liked it. I knew my dad went out and drove it once in a while and kept it up while I was gone, but I missed it. Besides, I kind of wanted to go check out the grocery store.
"Mom!" I shouted, walking to the door. "Where's my car keys?"