I think a part of her always expected us to get married. Like all hopeless romantics, she wanted to believe that our story would be one for the ages. And I’m sure at some point we had one of those silly little pacts where you promise to get married if you’re still single atfifty.For all intents and purposes, I’m pretty sure we were still engaged, and Esme was just his hot bombshell of a mistress.
My grandmother had been more than a little disappointed when Isaac had announced that he had a girlfriend–one that was not me–despite my protests that Isaac had and always would be thebrotherin my story and not the love interest. Upon meeting Esme, she’d instantly fallen in love, as most people did. She was sunshine, sugar smiles, and never failed to make me laugh. And whilst I loved Isaac, having Esme in my life was something I wouldn’t trade for the world.
“How are your parents doing?”Maura asked Isaac as my grandfather cleared away our plates.
There was something so heart-warming about chicken pot pie and being in the kitchen I grew up in with the people I loved most. The back of my wooden chair creaked softly as I settled into it. With every passing minute, I seemed to slip further into my food coma until I couldn’t resist placing a hand on my full and slightly bloated stomach. Unlike the fuss and noise that usually came with being pregnant, my food baby just made me feel content and relaxed.
I looked up at Isaac and found him doing the same, catching his eye before we both descended into uncontrollable fits of laughter.Chicken pot pie for the win.
“Yes, they are good,” Isaac mumbled through his words as he wiped his tears away. “Dad is busy working, I think he's in New York this week for something or other. And Mom ismom.Always very active in the Darling community…and apparently everyone else’s business too.”
And whilst Isaac didn’t sound overly enthused about his parents’ lives, they were, for the most part, a true reflection of the people who had raised him. His father was always off traveling for work, and Isaac’s mom? Well, she was the epitome ofa busybody.She embodied the phrase utterly and completely. I’d often ruminated about whether she might have it tattooed somewhere on her body. Whether it was running or Pilates or a new modern class that they were offering at one of the new gyms a few towns over, she was always on the move. And even though we were no longer at school, she was also head of the PTA and other faculty teams pushing for more community events.
Growing up, Isaac hated it. His Mom was always around but never truly present, which did nothing but remind him of how absent his father always was. It was why he’d spent many an evening and weekend at my grandparents’ dinner table just like he was now. I got that being a parent was hard, but my grandparents seemed to get it right from the very beginning, and I felt very lucky for that.
“You’ll be up in the Big Apple with that MBA soon enough.” My grandfather smiled as he settled back into his designated seat on the other side of my grandma and opposite me.
Isaac was sitting in the very coveted and honoured guest seat that may as well have been his, given how often he had found himself in it growing up.
“Do you actually think you’ll move to New York?”
Isaac shrugged, although I knew him better than to buy into the nonchalant bullshit that he was currently selling.Bullshit for a dollar, bullshit for a dollar! Buy one shrug, get the second one free!
“I’m undecided. I’m going to try out for the NLL.” TheNational Lacrosse League.
“Isaac,” I beamed at him. “That’s amazing! TheBlack Wolveswould be lucky to have you.” The Black Wolves are the Connecticut NLL lacrosse team. Darling and the surrounding towns were situated clustered at the very corner of the state. We pretty much lived in our own world, but we weretechnically inConnecticut, with most of the town living and breathing the sports teams. An appointment on the Black WolvesNLL team was a fast track to the Darling Hall of Fame. One that would sit Isaac along with that one soap opera actress and the guy who ate fifty pies in under ten minutes at the county fair.
His brow furrowed for a second before he looked up at me with weary eyes. “I’m not trying out for the Black Wolves. I’m trying out for the Philadelphia Wings.”
Oh.
“It’s just closer to New York. So, if I ever need to go into the city for interviews… It’s just easier.”
Right.
Merriam-Webster'sdictionary describes abest friendas one’s closest and dearest person. A person who, despite their annoying quirks and their endless lacrosse references, you could be completely yourself around. A person you could tell anything to. And in the drop of my smile and the flicker of uncertainty on my face, we felt like the furthest thing from that. For a beat and then two, I stammered to get my words out, not really knowing what to say.
It wasn’t because I wasn’t proud of him, because I was so incredibly proud of everything that he had doneand how hard he had worked, but there was still a part of me that wanted us to stay in Darling. The idea of him leaving was painful to think about. In hindsight, it was an obvious one, but it felt bittersweet. Other than his father’s lake house, all our memories were of Darling. And I was loyal to this place to a fault. But I couldn’t help but feel disappointed and dejected that Isaac didn’t feel the same way.
I knew he had always felt a certain way about his upbringing. One that I couldn’t blame him for. I’d always known that there was a possibility that he would leave Darling behind, in the hopes of letting go of the ache that seemed to linger in his chest. Maybe I was taking it personally, but I couldn’t help but feel like, after everything, he was letting go of some of the good, too.
Despite my feelings, I pressed the biggest smile to my face, hoping for his sake and mine that it reached my eyes. “I completely understand. Philadelphia isn’t too far away anyway, so we will definitely still see each other!”
A grin tore across his face at my response. “I just knewyouwould get it. Darling just isn’t for me. I mean, I know we grew up here and have some amazing memories. But I’m just ready for a change, you know.”
“You don’t have to explain yourself to anyone,” my grandfather said, patting Isaac on the shoulder. For a boy with an absent father, Horace Sterling had been a lifeline for Isaac, the way he had been for me. “We are proud of you. Not easy work playing lacrosse and doing an MBA.”
“And all whilst being so handsome and charming,” my grandmother said as she relished in the blush creeping up Isaac’s cheeks.
“Christ alive, Maura.” I chuckled. “Grandpa is sitting right there.” I made an overexaggerated display of cocking out my thumb and motioning across the table.
Isaac laughed to himself before looking at me. An almost misplaced seriousness settled onto his face. “You’ll talk to Ez? She hasn’t spoken to me in three days since I told her. She’s being really bitchy about it.”
For the entirety of our young adulthood, the three of us were inseparable. We’d never had any issues because we abided by a set of fundamental rules that had kept our friendship going as long as it had. These rules had been even more crucial for me in particular when their friendship had blossomed into a budding romance.
Rule number 1. The other party must agree not to get involved when the other two parties are having a disagreement.
I let out an exasperated sigh and a weary smile.Do not get dragged into their bullshit,I told myself. Unlike a comfortable and homey bowl of chicken pot pie, whatever was simmering between them and threatening to boil over was going to leave a chaotic mess in its wake. And I, for one, was not ready to be caught in the crosshairs. “What’s rule number 1, Isaac?”
