3
Kinsley lifted a charm bracelet from the memories box and set it on the table near her other mementos she’d unpacked so far. She’d imagined this trip down memory lane with Jada for months now, and she hoped it lived up to her anticipation. She put too much stock on her memories. Sure she did. She got that. But she was unable to change it. Each item was precious to her. They spoke to a particular time, telling her how much this family loved her. How they’d practically adopted her when her own parents were missing in action most of the time.
So the minute she and Jada hit the cabin, Kinsley started thinking about paging through the many diaries with colorful markers they’d used to document their summers together. Holding the fun shaped rocks they’d found by the lake. Looking at dry flowers. Reading the many notes they’d written to each other, and on and on.
But it wasn’t turning out like she expected, and she couldn’t say she was especially comfortable. Not with the way Dev kept watching her every move from his perch on a barstool near the kitchen peninsula. She and Jada had been choosing items from her memory box, and if he wasn’t questioning the memory, he was just watching with tremendous interest.
She turned away to ignore him and lifted the sixties-inspired lamp from the box to place on the table.
“Oh no you didn’t!” Jada’s eyes flashed wide. “I had no idea you took one of the lamps when Mom redecorated.”
“Well…she said we could have anything we wanted.” Kinsley smiled. “I wanted something to remember the cabin the way it was when we were little.”
“But a lamp?” Dev blinked his long, long lashes at her. “Isn’t that a little extreme?”
“Extreme?” Kinsley met his gaze. “Not to me. I wanted the sofa, but it wouldn’t fit in a box this small.”
Kinsley changed her focus to Jada, and they fell into a laughing fit. When Kinsley could talk again, she looked at Dev. “If you insist on interfering in our trip down memory lane, remember the ages we were at the time this happened. That can help explain each item I kept.”
He tapped a finger on his knee. “Yeah, you were pretty young.”
Jada swiveled to face her brother. “I was only a year younger than you, and you never let me forget it.”
“You’re still a year younger than me.” He grinned at his baby sister.
“But I’m three years younger than you.” Kinsley continued to look at him. “And I don’t recall you ever harassing me about that.”
“Guess it’s a blood relative thing.” He rested his hands on the scarred Formica countertop. “You were the closest thing to a blood relative though. I’m sure you spent more time at our house than at yours.”
Kinsley couldn’t tell how he felt about that so she rushed on. “No question about it.”
“I still think it’s pretty sad your mom didn’t want kids and took it out on you,” Jada said.
Kinsley had long ago let go of the pain from that part of her past. “Trust me. It was no hardship for me. Your mom is the best, and I was the one who really benefited from my mom’s disinterest.”
She would’ve loved to have gotten to meet their father too. He died far too young.
“Why so serious all of a sudden?” Jada’s eyes narrowed with concern.
“I was just thinking about your dad. From everything you all said about him, I wish I’d gotten to meet him. I know you all miss him a lot.”
Jada slid down the couch and drew Kinsley into a hug. “He was great. If he lived, he would’ve been a second father to you.”
Kinsley leaned back and glanced at Dev, his expression sullen.
Was it because she brought up his father, or was he still thinking about them staying at the campground?
She was glad Jada had agreed with her about staying here. She appreciated the support. But had she been too hasty declining Dev’s offer to stay at his compound all because she didn’t want him telling her what to do?
Whenever she made decisions, decisions that she’d prayed about and then had peace afterward, she knew it was the right decision. But without peace, she continued to look for the right thing to do.
She didn’t have peace tonight and couldn’t help thinking that God could be trying to tell her something. That it was time to devote herself to prayer, and time for her to listen and look for that peace with her decision.
Listen or she could die.
Dev sat at the table next to Kinsley and stared at her Facebook post on his laptop. Thankfully, he’d had his computer in his SUV, so he could prove his point.
Kinsley was right about one thing. The last image she posted was simply a picture of the box she’d brought along with her, sitting on a bed in an open room. Or at least it looked like a simple picture, but he knew looks could be deceiving. Once a photo was enlarged from the size you might see on a phone or iPad, it could display damaging information.
