Just Rose

Chapter Twenty-Nine

(Recap, since it's been forever since I updated)

"You had a long day. We're saving going out to eat until Monday. For now, we made a birthday cake for you. Your birthday was a few days ago, on the 13th!"

Everyone was standing around a cake. Josh was lighting some candles. Timothy stood in the corner of the room, talking with Christopher and explicitly ignoring me.

"Ready, everyone?" Lisa asked. "One, two, three..."

Everyone joined in. "Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you..."

 +#+#+#+

I woke up confused the next day, Easter Sunday. It took a few minutes for things to fall back into place, and even then they felt strange. Timothy was angry at me. Josh and I had maybe sorted out all our differences, except maybe not. I wasn't really sure. And Lisa and Julie and Krista were all sisters. And Jane, my sister, hadn't actually said anything to me yet. And I could remember everything now, which was incredibly overwhelming.

 We all went to church a few hours too early for most of us. There was no way that we could all fit in a row, or even in two rows, so we decided to split up by family. I hesitated outside Julie's before Lisa suggested I go sit with James.

Ella insisted I sit next to her and Jane smiled at me when I sat on the bench. "I'm glad you're here," she whispered.

The smile that appeared on my face vanished within seconds when I saw the back of Timothy's head. He was so happy... without me.

***

"Well if you think about it, you've been happy without him for more than six months," Sarah pointed out that afternoon while we were at the park. The entire extended family was having a picnic in the soccer field but Sarah, Veronica, and I had moved to a quieter end where we could talk.

"I know, I know," I said, lying down on the grass. "It shouldn't bother me so much. I've been away from him almost as long as I knew him. I just hoped he would be excited to see me again. I mean, once I remembered he existed. And remembered how well I used to know him. This is all so confusing," I mourned.

"You're telling me," Veronica said, laughing. "I'm still trying to piece together what you've been doing with my cousins for the past few months. But Tim will come around. It'll just take time. It's like how it took time for him to realize he wasn't going to be able to join the military, but now he's okay with it. Did you know he's starting at UCLA for the summer semester?" she asked.

"I'd forgotten that college was even a thing," I said. How was that going to work for me? "Good for him. I guess his leg isn't bothering him too much anymore?"

"Oh, it's bothering him. He's just determined to go to college," Veronica said.

"Impressive," Sarah said. "Look, here come Josh and Kiana. Where's Max?" she asked them as they came to sit down by us.

"He's talking with Tim," Josh said. "I think he'll be over in a little bit."

"Timothy?" I asked, hopeful.

Josh glanced at me. "No. Max. I don't think Tim's interested in coming over."

"You talked to him though, right Joshua?" Veronica asked.

Josh rolled his eyes. "Yeah, we talked."

"What did he say?" I asked.

"It wasn't about you," Josh said.

"Oh."

***

I was about halfway through reading my journal by Monday morning. Someone knocked on the door to the guest room. "Come in," I said, closing it and placing it inside my bag.