“We’re here now,” says Sophie, and she gives Joey a knowing look that tells Elena they’ve already had some time to catch up. Elena has questions, but this doesn’t feel like the time or the place. Her curiosity almost wins over her indignation, but in the end, she stays quiet.
“Let’s walk,” Sophie says, sounding flustered, maybe hoping to quell some tension. “Stretch our legs before it gets too dark.”
Before Elena can respond, the woman in the ripped jeans who was just talking to Gael jogs toward them, pushing the headset away from her face. “We’re clearing this block,” she says, tapping on a smartwatch.
“Got it. We were just leaving,” Elena says to the woman, who seems relieved she didn’t get pushback. She strides away, toward a trailer, presumably to tell others to move off the block in question too. In the distance, Gael begins to saunter over. Elena watches his familiar movements. In thirty seconds, she will have to introduce him.
“It’s so weird seeing all these people here,” says Joey, breaking the silence. “It’s like we’ve been discovered. Tourists will be next.”
“I don’t know. I think it’s exciting,” says Sophie, standing on her toes to see more of the film equipment.
“Tourists already,” says Elena, pointing an elbow toward Sophie. Elena sees Joey’s lips twitch. It’s not a smile, but it feels like a temporarytruce. Something inside Elena unwinds gently, and she lets her eyes close. She’s been Spandex-tight, fretting all day over whether coming back was the right thing. She shoved Whisper Ridge so far back into the cobwebbed recesses of her brain, she thought she’d forgotten it altogether. But this place sticks to you like gum on your shoe. When she booked the last-minute flight, she tried to convince herself she wouldn’t feel anything when she arrived. That she was just traveling to a set. But, deep down, she knew better. And she can feel this place pulling at her already.
“That woman said we have to leave this block,” Gael’s voice rings out nearby. Elena opens her eyes instinctually at the sound. He stands a few feet away, and she takes in all of him: his thin face, a wave of black hair with that enviable shine, and his enormous feet and beanpole legs.
Sophie and Joey both turn toward this new voice, and Elena can see Joey preparing her retort.“We said we were going.”But once they see who has spoken, they’re silent, stunned maybe. They were clearly not expecting a child.
Gael’s eyes bounce between the three of them. He seems just as confused as they are, and for one manic moment, Elena feels like laughing out loud.
He doesn’t say anything, just walks around Sophie to stand next to Elena to wait, not shy or bothered, just curious. For a second, none of them speak. Gael’s presence has made them incapable of continuing their conversation. Then Elena says, “Gael, this is Joey and Sophie. We grew up together.”
Sophie is the first to recover from her surprise. “Nice to meet you, Gael,” she says with the warmth of a woman who is good with kids.
“Hi,” he says, coolly. He’s unconcerned in his typical, fourteen-year-old way.
Joey offers him a small wave, then slips her thumbs behind the strapsof her backpack. Gael must deem this a sufficient introduction because he turns to Elena and says, “Food?”
“We literally just ate,” she says, referring to the two burgers he wolfed down in the car less than an hour ago. He shrugs with one shoulder as if to say,“What does that matter?”
Joey pulls her bag to her front and rummages through it, eventually producing a small wrapped energy bar. She holds it out to him, her eyes still wide with shock. “Peanut butter?” she asks.
“Hell yeah,” he says, taking it from her. “Thank you.”
They observe him tear at it with his teeth for a silent minute, like they’re watching a creature in the wild. “I guess no walk?” Sophie asks eventually, her eyes moving between Elena and Joey. Joey looks at Gael, who’s already finished the energy bar and is crumpling the plastic wrapper in one hand. Then she looks back at Elena like she isn’t sure exactly what to do.
“No walk,” says Elena, relieved that at least this part is over. “Let’s get a drink.”
8Joey
The Strike is divey.
It has that natural mountain charm that makes locals proud—warm century-old buffed wood and a stone wall lined with rail ties and fairy lights. It also offers a shot of tequila and a can of PBR for three dollars, which doesn’t hurt either.
It’s cool and quiet inside, almost like they’ve escaped down a hole into the earth. The film hubbub is audible outside the closed door, but only faintly. There’s a haze in the air, and it swirls around in the dim light from the small stained-glass windows at the front. The smell is of beer and pine cleaner.
It’s a Monday, which means there are only a few locals here besides Ken behind the bar. Joey’s nerves are jangling. She is bursting with anxiety about telling Sophie and Elena what she heard in the woods, not least because she knows how insane it will sound.
Elena’s kid is as tall as Joey’s chin and is surprisingly confident as he steps up to the bar. “Can I get a Coke, please?” he asks. Without hesitation, Ken fills a pint glass with ice and dips the soda hose inside. He shoots Joey a look that says,“Anyone above age having a drink?”
Joey thinks about getting a water, but she orders an IPA instead. Sophie gets a margarita. Elena, a whiskey, neat.
They settle into a table in a dark corner of the bar, cradling their drinks in silence and watching the fake candle pretend to flicker. Sophie places her phone face up on the table, and Joey can see a little girl on the home screen. Ringlet curls and a beaming smile. She has Sophie’s eyes. It occurs to her that they should be spending the afternoon catching up on the years they’ve missed. Sophie has a baby, Elena has a teenager,andshe’s on TV. And Joey has—
What does Joey have?
Elena pulls a five-dollar bill from her wallet and hands it to Gael, then motions to the Mortal Kombat arcade game in the corner. “Nice,” he says, and heads back up to the bar, where Ken takes his money and gives him a handful of quarters in return. Gael seems like he’s in his early teens, and it occurs to Joey that Elena must have had him not long after leaving Whisper Ridge. She wonders if Elena ever thought to tell her old friends about this enormous life change. But that was just how Elena was. Once she was gone, she was gone completely.
“Okay,” Joey says, finally, taking a sip of beer. It’s bitter but satisfying. She leans in and lowers her voice, deciding, finally, that there are things more pressing than small talk. “Thanks for coming.”
