Discombobulate

Chapter Five

When Denise returned inside, Andy had already been to the store and back. She had a white-handled broom in her hand. She was sweeping the glass shards into a pile. 

"Hey, there you are. I saw you out back when I drove up to the house. I decided to let you alone. I figured you were thinking. Can you hold this?" 

She handed Denise a plastic yellow grocery bag. Denise held it while Andy swept the glass onto a black dustpan. She poured the pile of shards into the bag. 

"I forgot to get trash bags. I guess this is what you'll have to work with for now." Andy took the heavy bag from her friend and placed it on the knob of a lower cabinet. "Did you think about my offer?" 

Denise folded her hands in front of her. She rocked back and forth on her heels. "I appreciate you offering to stay, but I can't accept that." 

"Why not?" Andy folded her arms over her chest. 

Denise sighed, "I want to be alone. I know you mean well, but I bought this cabin so I could be alone. I think I should be alone for a while. I'm content with my isolation. Not to mention, you hate this town." 

"This is not a good way to live," Andy pointed out. "You're becoming a hermit." 

"And I'm completely fine with that." Denise walked over to pick up another box. She pulled out her house key and ripped through the top of the taped box. "I'll live how I want to live." 

"Would you, at least, like me to stick around town for a month or two?" 

Denise sucked in a breath, "I would rather you didn't. I'm supposed to be writing more and you need to find another steady job. You're not going to find that here." 

"I could find one here," Andy insisted. "Maybe one a few minutes out of town. I could make it work." 

"Andy," Denise lifted a frying pan out of the box. "You need to go live your life. You can't continue to worry about me. I'll be fine. Didn't you want to be married by thirty?" 

"I'm willing to move that obligation back to thirty-three." She placed the broom up against the wall. "My best friend is more important to me than marriage. I haven't even found a boyfriend yet." 

"Go back home, Andy." Denise waved the frying pan around in her hand. "Seriously, go back to living with your parents. They haven't seen you properly since you started working at Nathan's. Go back to your parents and enjoy the time you have with them. You can call me and you can write me letters. You don't need to stay here." 

"But..." Andy trailed off. 

"No buts. You can visit me if you want to. Go find your version of happiness. You're not going to find it here and I refuse to hold you back from that. You deserve to be happy." Denise's voice softened, "are you crying?"

Andy sniffled and wiped the back of her nose with her hand. "A little bit, yeah. I haven't seen you in so long and now your family is gone. I'm worried about you. I don't want anything bad to happen to you." 

Denise rolled her eyes, "are you kidding me? I'm a peach. You'll be the first to know if I'm not fine. If I'm not fine, I'll go to your parent's house. I'm sure they both miss me and would love to have me over." 

Andy laughed through her tears. "You have no idea how much this destroyed my mom. She sent your mom letters all the time."

"Seriously?" Denise placed the frying pan on the counter. 

"Yeah, didn't she tell you? They were gossiping about the towns they live in. Plus, your mom had been bragging about you. My mom was probably bragging about me too. They probably talked about how lucky they were to have us." 

"My mom never told me the two of them were talking. I guess I should have known about it. She was always writing letters to her other friends. She never mentioned your mom." 

"I didn't find out about it until I came home. My mom met me at the front door of her house sobbing and she squeezed me in a tight hug. I thought my dad died. She told me about you and I left to come back to Brimington." 

"You didn't have to do that." Denise wiped her sweaty hands on the sides of her jeans. 

"Are you kidding me? If I still would have been working at Nathan's, I would have quit and visited."

Denise let out a small chuckle. She started to dig through the box full of pots and pans again. "I miss them. I miss my mom and my sister a lot." 

"Did you have a memorial service?" Andy asked. 

Denise shook her head. She squatted down in front of a lower cabinet. "I didn't want to see anyone. They're already buried at the cemetery. Maybe that's selfish because they had a lot of friends." 

"That's not selfish. You were prioritizing yourself and your feelings. Did they want a memorial service?" Andy handed her the frying pan. 

"I don't know, we never talked about it. Everyone dies, but you don't think it'll occur so soon. I know people are mad at me because I never publicly honored them, but I don't get it." 

"You don't get what?" Andy handed another pan for her to put away. 

"Nobody was there for me. Nobody came to the house and checked on me. I didn't get sympathy from anyone besides you. There were no sympathy cards, no casseroles, nothing. Not a single person showed up and offered their condolences. Does the town hate me that much?" 

"Didn't you mention that people thought you killed them?" 

"Yeah, but if someone would have checked on me, they would have known it wasn't me. I looked like a wreck and I still am a wreck. Why would I kill my own family?"

Andy shrugged, "people are dumb." 

Denise stood up and slammed the cabinet door. "They posted their obituaries in the newspaper. People know where their graves are, they're both decorated. I paid for everything by myself. There has never been any sympathy towards me and I'm still alive." 

"Maybe you should move," Andy offered. "Come back to my house. Stay with me for a while. My parents wouldn't mind." 

Denise shook her head again, "I just bought this cabin. I love it, but I wish it was in a different area." She let out a sigh. "I wish people cared about my feelings. I've known people here for years. I'm not the monster they think I am. They should know that." 

Silence engulfed the two of them. The only sound that could be heard was the slight hum of the kitchen fan above them. 

"What do you want for dinner?" Denise changed the topic. 

Andy shrugged, "what do you want?" 

"Subway?" Denise questioned. "Can I show you something after that?" 

"Absolutely," Andy agreed. "Of course, you can." 

"I'll drive, but let me get my hoodie first." Denise disappeared from the kitchen and came back a moment later. She had shoved on a dark green Brimington Beavers hoodie.

"You still own that thing?" Andy let out a laugh. 

"It's the only one I have and it fits perfectly. Let's go." 

Andy led the way to the door. Denise grabbed her new cabin keys and her car key on the way out. 

It was the first time the pair was going to hang out in over three years.