If I ever see the nosy lady from the bus again, I’ll be sure to thank her.This will be the perfect place to catch my breath and figure out just what the hell I think I’m doing.
After taking a quick shower, I slip into bed and try to get some rest, but my body’s not cooperating.I toss and turn and can’t get comfortable, even though the bed is as nice as it looks.I throw off the blankets.“Fine.Meatloaf, it is.”
The diner’s doing a bang-up business for the middle of the night.As I walk to an open booth, I’m seeing a lot of meatloaf on three tables.
“I thought I might see you here.”I turn in the direction of the familiar voice and find my nosy friend.She’s seated at a booth by the window, her plate full of meatloaf and mashed potatoes.“Come join me.Don’t let an old lady get lonely.”
I sit at her booth because truthfully, I’m probably feeling as lonely as she claims to be.
“Hey, Mary?”the lady calls out to the waitress.“Another special for my pretty dining companion, please?”
She puts her hand out to me for a shake.“My name is Leah.”
“Summer.”
“What a lovely name!Let me guess—your parents were hippies?”
I chuckle.“Not so much.I think they were just caught off guard that they were going to be parents.They had to come up with a name, and since it was late July when I was born…”
“Well, luckily for you, you weren’t born in the winter, which wouldn’t be nearly as cheerful.What brings you to Lompoc?Although, I bet I can guess.”
I don’t know why, but I decide to tell her the truth.Actually, it’s not a decision on my part.It’s more like an uncontrollable response, like blinking.I spit out the truth when I can, and besides, I’m too tired and too hurt to go to all the trouble of playing stupid games.
“I haven’t seen my parents in ten years, but I got on the bus today to visit them.”
She nods.“At the prison.”
“Yep.”
She waits for me to continue, and since I don’t know her and will never see her again, I decide to go for it.“They were addicts and dealers.Weren’t afraid to get violent when they thought they needed to.And they’ll never win any awards in the parenting department, if you catch my meaning.”
Leah raises her hand and clutches at the air.“Caught it.Why now?What made you get on that bus?”
“I need to understand why I’m the way I am.”
“What do you mean by that?You seem pretty great to me.”
I shrug.“Walled off and alone and miserable isn’t pretty great.No offense.I know you’re alone, too.”
She laughs and takes a big bite of her meatloaf.“No offense taken, Summer.I’m a mother of seven and a grandmother of twenty-three.You caught me in my first alone time in eons.Sometimes I crave it, along with meatloaf that I don’t have to cook or clean up after.”
“You’re blessed to have such a large family.”
The waitress brings my meal, and Leah urges me to get started.She watches me eat for a moment.
“So, that’s it,” she says.“Family is your problem.It’s most folks’ problem, if you look close enough.”
I nod and shovel in more meatloaf.The guy at the motel wasn’t kidding—this is almost as delicious as what Emma throws down.No—I can’t think of Emma’s cooking.I remind myself that I can’t think of anyone or anything at Yosemite Ranch because I turned my back on all of it, and for a very good reason.
Leah cocks her head and smiles sadly at me.I put down my fork.“I had a really great family—not the one I was born into, but the one I found.They sort of adopted me, and I fell in love with one of their sons.”
“Sounds like you’ve been blessed.”
“Yeah, but I let him down and I couldn't stay.”
“You’re still wearing your wedding ring, I see.”
I stop chewing and look at my left hand.Holy shitballs, she’s right.I make a mental note to take it off when I get back to the hotel.Or maybe I’ll get a chain so I can wear it around my neck.I want to keep it, but I don’t want people to comment on it.
