“All right, Mr. Grumpy.” I reach for a rogue pen on the counter and scribble my number across another card, one for his garage.
“I’m not grumpy.” That snaps him out of his soft, empathetic mood. “I just understand what it feels like when plans go awry.”
I tap the card on the desk, humming under my breath. “See ya around, Arlo.” With a teasing smile, I head out into the cold, pulling my phone from my pocket then hitting the little icon with my brother’s smiling face. Red hair curls around his head like a halo, and a neatly trimmed beard highlights his jaw. Although he has ski goggles on, I know beneath those lenses his eyes are a brilliant green, like freshly cut grass. I always despised those eyes. I wanted green eyes and red hair. Instead, I got brown curls, freckles, and brown eyes.
Lark is a perfect blend of our family. Though I’m supposed to give credit to her biological father, I like the idea that I can see my brother in her as well.
I press the receiver to my ear, and the phone rings a few times before he picks up. “Yo, Wren, you got lost, didn’t you?”
“Of course not.” Looking both ways, I cross the street, heading toward the school. Most of the people who live here walk, so there are few cars that rumble down the streets.
“Oh, you did. How bad is it? Where are you?” I hear him moving around, probably already preparing for the worst. I can picture him packing his bags, ready to come to my rescue.
“I’m in a little town called Silent Springs.”
“Sounds like it belongs in a Hallmark movie.”
“No, it’s totally a Lifetime town.” I can just make out an old-school sign down the street that says, “Doctor’s Office.”
“Oh, do tell.” My brother’s love for sappy romantic comedies is on par with my love of all things spooky.
“Well, the backdrop is a mountain.”
“Pin your location so I can visit you.”
A surprised laugh burbles out of me. Leave it to my brother to be ready to rush off into the unknown. Don’t get me wrong, I love a good adventure—mostly because I get lost more often than not—but another part of me longs for a place to call home. “There’s a roundabout with a park in the center.”
“That seems dangerous.”
“Well, I’ve been standing in the middle of the road this entire time and not one car has passed me. Everyone walks.” I hop onto the white sidewalk, noticing an apple tree shifting in the warm wind.
“Really?” I can hear the awe in his voice. “It’s sucking you in already. I’m on my way.”
With a laugh, I decide it’s best to fill him in on our predicament. I run through every little moment, leaving nothing out as I sit on the chilly steps of the school. People gradually begin to mill about, store signs drift upward, and stalls are rolled out onto the street. The deeper and deeper I get into my tale, the more I spill my personal feelings to Robin. My thoughts and impressions about our situation pour from me as I share everything I felt this morning and last night.
All the while, the town wakes and comes alive in a way that only occurs in a storybook.
“Wren?” Robin’s voice turns soft. “You there?”
“Yeah.”
“Where’d you go?”
“This place…it’s nothing like I’ve ever seen before.” It’s as though I’ve fallen down a rabbit hole. Only in this story, I dove after a skunk and almost got hit by a tow truck.
“Ah, that’s the power of a small town and a tight-knit community. There’s magic there that you wouldn’t anticipate. We always want to dream of magic in a fairy-tale sense, but sometimes when we find where we belong, that magic unravels.” His voice, with his deeper timbre and complete understanding, eases the tension inside of me.
Not quite ready to deal with that situation, I ask, “All right, what’s the game plan?”
“It’s simple, really.”
“Nothing is ever simple with you.”
“Pin your location, and I’ll see you for Thanksgiving.”
“I look forward to it.” I miss my little brother so much that it’s like a deep ache inside of me.
“Love you.”
