“I’msorry I didn’t come in to say goodbye. Once I decided to move backhome, I sort of developed tunnel vision and wanted to get out ofthe city as quickly as possible.”
My ex-husband hadoffered to let me stay in our apartment for six months after thedivorce was finalized, as long as he got to keep it long-term. Itwas a kindness I hadn’t expected, especially considering how thingshad unraveled toward the end of our marriage, and how cruel hecould be. To this day, I’m not certain why he made the offer. Ionly stayed for four months, during which time I attempted to getmy life together before finally realizing I needed to come back toBellevue and start fresh.
“Well,you’re here now, so we’re clearly meant to be in each other’slives,” Felicity says.
Her words andwelcoming demeanor ease some of the anxiety tumbling around in mystomach. She has such a kind, open face; she and Leland have asimilar energy, despite being opposites in appearance.
I follow herfurther into the store. “That’s a nice thought. I hope we can befriends now. I wanted to spend all my free time—and money—in yourstore in Toronto, but my ex preferred a more… minimalisticstyle.”
I don’t tell herthat he thought collecting toys, memorabilia, and other fandomparaphernalia was stupid, childish, and a waste of money. Or thatmy main reason for staying away from FandomTown was because Larscultivated a bizarre ‘us against the world’ mentality and didn’twant me making new friends. It was a couple years into our marriagebefore I fully comprehended how he was trying to keep me isolatedso I’d depend on him and him alone. It’s hard for me to acknowledgethe fact it was easier to simply maintain the status quo and keephim happy, because when he was happy, he treated mebetter.
“Oh,we’ll definitely be friends.” Felicity’s confident tone bolsters meas unwanted memories of Lars cause a sick feeling to mix with theanxiety in my stomach. She stops suddenly and spins around,laughing and gripping my shoulders when I nearly plow into her.“Leland told me what happened last night, and you have my fullsupport. He’ll be back any minute, by the way. Guess I should haveled with that when you arrived.”
“Oh,that’s okay. I have all day.”
She tilts her headto the side, a flash of sympathy crossing her face and disappearingjust as quickly. “Leland mentioned you’ve been job hunting. Sinceyou have some free time, maybe you can help me sort through some ofthe boxes that just came in? You can start planning what kind ofstuff you want to collect.”
I laugh at herpersuasive tone and the way she wiggles her eyebrows.“Deal.”
Felicity shows mearound the mostly-empty space, chattering away about where shewants to put shelves and what kinds of displays she wants tofeature. We’re discussing ideas about what to feature for her firstwindow display when the back door bangs shut and Lelandappears.
“Sorryfor the delay, but I come bearing lunch.” He brandishes two largepaper bags with the Cravings logo, along with a tray of drinks.Felicity and I follow him into one of the back rooms, which isempty except for some cushions on the floor surrounding anassortment of boxes that have been pushed together to form amakeshift table. Plates, napkins, and cutlery have already been setout.
“We’vebeen improvising until my new desk arrives,” Felicity says,dropping to her knees on one of the cushions and helping Lelandunpack the bags. “Pull up a pillow. Hope you don’t mind eatingpicnic style.”
“Not atall.” I sit on one of the cushions and watch the siblings seteverything out. The way they work seamlessly around each other,talking and joking, makes me think they must be close. I supposethey’d have to be to evenconsidergoing into business together without worrying itwould damage their relationship. I love Wesley with my whole heart,but I’m not sure I could work with him every day.
Leland sends me awink when he catches me watching him. I smile and accept thecardboard cup of coffee he hands me. “I wasn’t sure what you mightlike, so I got a bunch of stuff and figured we could shareeverything,” he says. “I’ve become partial to Willow’s eggplantparm sandwich, so I got a couple of those, and there are othersandwiches, wraps, and some salads.”
“Dessert?” Felicity asks.
Leland side-eyesher. “I know better than to skip dessert.”
Isettle into my cushion and follow the siblings’ lead, filling myplate with a variety of food. I’m not sure what I was expectingwhen Leland asked me to meet him here today, but it wasn’t a picniclunch with him and his sister. I thought we’d likely have a quickconversation, maybe exchange numbers so we could plan for thereunion, and then go our separate ways. This issomuch better.
“I hopeyou don’t mind, but I told Felicity what happened last night,”Leland says. “We tell each other pretty much everything, plus Ithought she’d get a kick out of it since, well…” He looks to hissister as if for permission to continue.
“Nelletreated me and my friends like crap in high school,” Felicity says.“It’s not like this is any sort of karmic comeuppance for her, butpulling one over on her? I’m down with that.”
Ilaugh, but quickly sober when I think of the first thing she said.Nelle was always picking on anyone she considered ‘uncool’, likethe kids in band or chess club. Her targets changed from week toweek, although some stayed consistent. I never said anythingbecause I didn’t want to be on the receiving end of her vitriol,especially considering I was certain if she knew the real me—theone who lovedStar Warsand comic books and still had magazine collages ofbands on her wall—I’d be on her list of losers.
“I’msorry she went after you in high school. I wish now I had stood upto her and put her in her place.”
Felicity waves a hand as if brushing off my words. “Itwouldn’t have made a difference. Some people need to be challenged,but with Nelle it likely would have made her worse, all whileputting a target onyourback. It didn’t really bother me anyway. I hadamazing friends, and I was proud to be in the band.”
“Andyou turned your nerdiness into an entirecareer,” Leland says, his pride inhis sister evident in his voice.
Felicity laughs.“Hell yeah, I did. Here I am, building my nerdy empire one fandomstore at a time, and she’s still the mean girl she was in highschool.” She shrugs, pausing to take a sip of her drink. “I’dconsider myself the winner in all this.”
“Definitely,” I agree. I wish I could say I felt that way aboutmyself. While I’m not the same person I was in high school, I’m notwhere I expected to be at this age, either. I know as well asanyone that life doesn’t always go the way you plan, but sometimesit feels as ifnothinghas worked out for me the way I thought or hoped itwould.
Shaking that trainof thought from my mind, I sit up straighter and reach for anotherhalf sandwich; Leland was right about the eggplant parm. “So, howis this going to work? We’ll show up at the reunion together, actlike we’re together for the night, and that’s it?”
Leland andFelicity share a look that has me thinking they have the ability tocommunicate telepathically.
“What?”I ask. “What am I missing?”
“I’mnot sure it’s that simple,” Leland says. “Other than a few minuteshere and there when we’ve both been in town, we haven’t seen eachother in almost twenty years. I’m not sure we could convince Nelleor anyone else that we’re together with what little we know abouteach other as adults.”
