“Yeah, yeah, I guess you’re right, it’s just so strange that she left so abruptly. Even after all of these years I miss her, she was our best friend.”

She was so much more to me, I thought to myself.

After the grueling work day, I finally pulled into my driveway and shut off my pickup truck.

That damn garbage disposal took me an hour longer to install than it should have. Of course it was my own fault, so I only charged Mrs. Burris for the time it should’ve taken.

I walked in through my garage into the house and was immediately greeted by the sight of my daughter and her annoying little friend sprawled out on the island in my kitchen, giggling over something on Norah’s laptop.

A deep sigh reverberated from my chest, as I walked over and placed my truck keys on the correct hook hanging on my pale yellow kitchen wall.

“And what do you ladies think you’re doing?” I questioned as I came up beside them and noticed my daughter Norah was holding my high school reunion invitation in one of her hands.

“Dad,” she immediately switched from her position of lying on her stomach to sitting up. “I found this invite, are you planning on going?”

“I plan on it, yes. Your uncle Dean called me today saying he was going to be flying in for it.”

Her face instantly lit up at the mention of Dean. After all of these years of being friends he was still a constant in my life. And once he laid eyes on Norah he was caught-- hook, line, and sinker. He was such a sucker for my baby girl.

“Do you think Mom will go?”

“That’s something you’ll have to ask her, sweetheart.” The thought of my ex-wife Kristina being in attendance was enough to make my stomach turn sour. Saying that we parted on civil terms was a complete understatement. She was a money-hungry woman; I was just lucky that she showed her true colors when she did or else I could still be stuck in a miserable marriage.

She had recently ran off with a retired surgeon named Austin and all but forgotten about Norah. My daughter deserved more than the occasional phone call and visit one week during the summer. But Kristina couldn’t be bothered to interrupt her traveling the world for her one and only child. I couldn’t handle even going a day without talking to my little sidekick.

She glanced sideways at her friend, Polly before directing her attention back to me, “Do you think Eden will be there?”

My lungs quickly deflated and I had to brace a hand on the countertop to try and catch my breath. “How do you know about Eden?”

Norah’s amused expression instantly turned deadpan, “Dad, come on, I can hear you when you talk to uncle Dean and you bring up her name, you totally have the hots for her. I guess you could call it woman’s instition,” she said so matter-of-factly, my brows quirked, disappearing into my hairline.

“Woman’s intuition,” Polly corrected.

“Woman’s intuition huh? Y’all aren’t even teenagers and definitely not women, but I’ll let it slide.” I backed up so I could lean against the counter next to the stove. “Eden Richardt was your uncle Dean and my best friend growing up. She was my everything, but I was too afraid of jeopardizing our friendship for it to become anything more.” I was really getting into reliving my past with Eden, but I made sure to steer clear of any and all talk about Norah’s mother. Thinking back to the month prior to graduation Eden was the reason I broke up with Kristina. I think she caught onto the fact that I had more than friendly feelings towards Eden and she wasn’t the least bit happy about it. I had never even told Norah that her mother and I went out in high school; she thought we started dating in college. It was just easier to avoid opening that can of worms.

Polly interrupted me during my reminiscing to annoy me in the way that only Polly can, “Wait, if you were as great of friends as you say you were, then why hasn’t she been around all of these years?”

Looking up to the ceiling and crossing my arms in front of my chest I thought about what she was asking. What did I really know about Eden’s leaving? Absolutely nothing. “To tell you the truth I don’t know. We kissed for the first time on graduation night and the next day she was supposed to meet me at my house and never showed up. When I asked her mom about it she said that she moved to Lexington already to help out with her Nana. And if Eden wanted to talk to me she would get ahold of me.”

“And you just left it at that?” Norah asked.

“Well no, but then I got together with your mom and life went on. We got married and started a family, by the time your mom and I divorced I asked Eden’s mom about her and she said she was happily married. She wouldn’t really divulge where she lived or her last name so I couldn’t look her up on that social media crap you youngsters use.”

“Dad,” Norah rolled her eyes, “seriously you aren’t that old, you’re practically still in the prime of your life. I hope she comes to the reunion, I think you two have some serious unfinished business.”

“Who are you and what have you done with my little girl?” That statement earned me another eye roll. “Oh, girl, you shouldn’t have done that. I was going to order pizza for dinner, but no pizza for you now. Only Polly and I can eat it.”

I kicked off of the counter and began making my way to the living room as I heard Norah scream “NO!” Pizza was her favorite and I loved to joke with her. But as young as Norah was, she sure seemed all grown up, and maybe she did have a point about Eden and I having unfinished business. I hoped that she would actually come to the reunion but I was going to try not to get my hopes up.

Chapter 2

Eden

“She’ll have the salmon and asparagus salad…”

Was this guy serious? He knew me all of five minutes and was going to order my food for me? And a salad that had goat cheese, fennel, AND asparagus? Oh hell to the no! I threw my cloth napkin onto the table and interrupted him while he was trying to order me some kind of rabbit food. “I’m sorry, she’ll actually have the bacon cheeseburger with fries.” I smiled sweetly at the waitress who then reciprocated with a sly smile of her own. Once she walked away from the table I openly stared at Patrick, my blind date for the evening, “A little word of advice, this is the twenty-first century, we women can order our own food.” I scoffed and rolled my eyes wondering how much longer I should stay before hastily making my departure away from this nightmare. I decided to give him the benefit of the doubt, thinking that perhaps he was just a bit nervous. After a few moments I guessed I would start the conversation because he was just fiddling with his rolled-up silverware and intently indulging in the bottle of wine that he ordered.

“So, Patrick, what do you do for a living?” When I said that he was my blind date I wasn’t kidding, I went into this entire evening without knowing anything more than his name. He was one of my co-worker’s neighbors and she assured me he was the one that I’d been looking for all of my life. I found it hilarious that people knew who and what exactly I was looking for even before I did.

“Ahem,” he cleared his throat and readjusted his loud turquoise tie, pulling it off of his neck. It was incredibly clear that he didn’t want to be here anymore than I did. He took another liberal gulp from his wine glass, which was already bordering on needing a refill. “I’m actually an Occupational Therapist.” That was a great job, it was in demand, and I began listening intently to see if he would further elaborate on his career of choice. A tear formed in the crease of his eye and he began choking on his words, “I’m sorry, I don’t know if I can do this. My wife just recently left me. You seem like a great woman and I tried everything I could to get you to run away but yet you’re still here.” Well, that’s one way to get me to straight hightail it out of there, tell me that he’s still married and then proceed to cry over it. I handed him my napkin, proceeded to grab my purse and scoot my chair back on the thin gray carpet, flying out of my seat and out the door.