Elena collapsed at the kitchen table with relief. Here was someone not from her past, who cared only for her present. “Hey, James. Thanks again for this morning. I’m sure I was a mess.” She took a breath. “I’ve had that car for a few years, but I seldom drive it in the city. I didn’t know how bad it had gotten. I’m surprised I made it here.”
“Don’t mention it. Marvin towed it. But he says it isn’t looking good.”
“It’s so kind of him to do that,” Elena said, her stomach roiling. “I’m not surprised it’s dead.”
But Elena was surprised at her own shock at small-town charm and kindness. Had she really forgotten that things could be this way? She supposed so.
She’d been gone a long time.
“Whatever you need, let me know,” James said. “I know how tricky it can be to live life without a car. I went about a year without driving recently, and I found myself stranded often enough.”
Elena felt there was a mystery behind what he told her. Why would a strong, small-town man like James not drive a car? But before she could probe for details, James went on.
“I wanted to ask about your mother. How is she?”
Elena rubbed her temple and considered whether it was right to share her mother’s business with a sort of stranger. “They’redoing some tests,” she said. “I don’t know. She seems a little confused.”
James made a soft noise. “I’m sorry to hear that. I know she’s been through a lot at the paper.”
“Thanks. Yeah. We’ll see.” Elena didn’t know what else to say. She got up, opened the fridge, and studied her mother’s products: the milk, the juice, the fruit. Her mother had always been incredibly fond of eating healthy, when it wasn’t the holidays, of course. Where had her mother been for Thanksgiving Day? Clearly, she hadn’t been here. There were no signs of baking or cooking.
What if her mother hadn’t celebrated Thanksgiving at all? Elena felt another stab of grief.
“Is there anything else you need from me?” James asked.
Elena closed her eyes and brought James’s calm and handsome face to mind. Had he been wearing a wedding ring? Unlike Maxine, he didn’t give off the air of someone who had someone else waiting for him at home. But it was strange that such a kind and compassionate man had no one. Did something happen to you? She wondered about him.
“Do you know anyone at the paper?” Elena asked suddenly. “I’d like to talk to someone my mom worked with in the past few months.”
“I only know some of them in passing,” James admitted. “But Natalie Strong has been a major player up there lately. Her number should be in the paper. I have it right here in front of me, actually. Do you have a pen?”
James read out Natalie’s phone number and email address, and Elena wrote the information down and thanked James. She reasoned that she could have found all this out herself. But something about James made her want to keep him on the phone longer. Maybe it was simply that she saw her own loneliness, reflected in him.
But soon enough, she could find no reason to continue talking to James.
“Will you be in town much longer?” James asked.
“That remains to be seen, I guess,” she said. “I’ll probably go back up to the hospital later tonight and check in.”
James made her promise—again—that she’d contact him when and if she needed anything. They said goodbye.
Elena walked the seven blocks to the offices ofThe Millbrook Gazette, watching out of the corner of her eye as Millbrook residents returned home from prosperous days of Black Friday shopping. It had stopped snowing, and the sky was like a soft bruise. When she turned the corner and saw the newspaper offices for the first time in years, she had to stop to catch her breath. How many times had she walked from school to find her mother bent over her article for tomorrow’s paper, making notes to herself, mumbling? The newspaper had been a second home. Even her father had known to come here to find both of them, trying and often failing to pry her mother away from her work.
Natalie was waiting for her at the front door. She was maybe a little younger than Elena, with curly blond hair and a nervous smile. When Elena got close enough, Natalie threw her arms around her and cried out, “I’m so sorry! I’m so sorry! It’s so awful! I don’t know what to say.” Elena felt sure that Natalie was her stand-in, as though her mother had decided Natalie was a better daughter figure than she was. Elena felt a flare of jealousy, mixed with gratefulness that her mother had had someone like this to love and be loved by.
“Thanks for meeting me so soon,” Elena said.
Natalie wiped away a tear and unlocked the front door. “Don’t mention it. I don’t have anything to do today! It’s strange. I’ve worked seven-day weeks ever since coming to theGazette. And now? What should I do with myself?” She wrung her hands as they entered the newsroom, which was filled with fifteen desks. It still had the old smell of ink and fresh paper. “I went to see your mother earlier this afternoon. They told me you’d been in. I couldn’t believe it! You came back!” She offered Elena a shy smile.
“Did she tell you how much she dislikes me?” Elena wrinkled her nose.
Natalie looked surprised, then beckoned Elena to follow her to Carmen’s office. She unlocked it to reveal an organized desk, framed awards, and a photograph of Elena receiving her journalism degree. In the frame, Elena was twenty-two years old and determined-looking, with thick, low eyebrows.
“She said you had the best instincts of anyone in the journalism world,” Natalie said, blushing. “I read some of your articles from early on in your career. I couldn’t believe it.”
All of a sudden, Elena felt crushed with grief. She’d been a natural. She’d had everything. Why had she let it all fall apart?
It was terrible to face this old photograph of her more prosperous self. What would that girl say if she learned that forty-two-year-old Elena was writing terrible freelance articles, living in Queens, and flat broke?
