I don’t love you, she’d said. This...us... We’re just not going to happen.
An hour later, Grady had signed his recruitment papers down at the strip mall that was now also gone.
He couldn’t quite wrap his head around the fact that physical proof of his memories—the only thing left of him and Jessie—had been erased.
His cell rang. The caller ID read Rose Matthews.
“Hey, Mom.”
“Hey, yourself, sweetie. Where are you? Almost to town?”
“Yeah, I’m just sort of taking it in.”
“It’s a shock. Your dad and I have had a few days to get used to...well, everything.”
“Sure...”
“I do have some good news, which is why I’m calling. You remember Jessie’s parents, don’t you? Roger and Billy Sue?”
“Yes, ma’am...” He released a long, slow exhale.
“Well, they heard we’ve been staying at the shelter, and since they have that cute little guesthouse out by their pool, they asked if your dad and I would like to stay with them until our house is done.”
Grady leaned his head back and groaned. Seriously?
“Since the guesthouse is just the one room and the bathroom, Billy Sue said she’ll put you in one of their spare bedrooms.”
And Jessie? Because he could tell all the way from his current vantage that her downtown apartment building had been another of the storm’s victims. His pulse doubled just thinking her name.
“I’m not sure if you’ve heard, but your poor Jessie’s place—”
Could this day get any worse? “She’s not mine.”
“You know what I mean. Anyway, she’s staying with her parents, too, but the more the merrier, right? I know it’ll be fun for you two kids to catch up.”
* * *
JESSIE LONG RUBBED the aching small of her back.
She’d been out here for hours, sifting through the wreckage of her apartment in the hot sun. It’d rained that morning. The air was so thick with humidity and sediments from the debris that it felt hard to breathe. For the plastic tub filled with clothes and a few pictures, was this really worth it?
She knelt, tugging a taped-together plastic spoon from beneath bricks and dirt and the stainless-steel kitchen sink.
Standing, tears welling in her eyes, she held back a sob while cradling the spoon to her chest. Of all the things she could have found, this was the most precious.
The last time she’d seen Grady had been at the Dairy Barn.
They’d shared their favorite booth in the back, and though he’d ordered Frito chili pie for them to share, neither had taken a bite. As usual, he’d gotten a spoon for her and a fork for himself, but both utensils had remained unused.
After she’d broken up with him, she’d quietly cried against his chest, but he’d pushed her away, telling her that she didn’t get to use him for anything anymore. He’d fished her favorite pink Sharpie from her purse—the one she used for doodling when she got bored in class—and drew a messy heart in the bowl of her spoon.
See this? he’d said, waving it in front of her face, then snapping it in half. This is what you did to my heart. You just broke it. Like it doesn’t mean a thing. But it does, Jess. I freakin’ love you. I gave you a ring. I wanna get married and have a big family. You and me—we’ll build a house out by the catfish pond, and every night at dusk, we’ll sit on our front porch swing, watching the kids play while the sun goes down. What’s the matter with you? Why can’t you see everything as clear as me?
Stop, she’d begged, scooting off the bench’s smooth seat. I see everything, she’d said under her breath. Mostly, that you and me and all of your big dreams are never coming true. I don’t love you.
To prove it, she’d walked away—but not before taking the pieces of that spoon as one last souvenir of what might’ve been.
* * *
THE FAMILY RANCH was worse off than Grady ever could have feared. Once again, tears stung his eyes as he absorbed the full weight of what his parents had lost.
The four-bedroom home he’d grown up in was now no longer a home, but a jumbled pile of drywall, four-by-four studs and the shredded remains of the china cabinet his mom had dusted every Saturday morning.
The barn he’d done chin-ups in to prepare for basic? Gone. The chicken coop? Flattened. His dad’s workshop? A graveyard of tractor parts and mangled sheet metal.
The wreckage went on and on. It was so bad that he couldn’t really even take it all in.
Grady had seen a lot of horrible things overseas, but even the worst didn’t compare to this. Where the hell did they even start in making this right?
Hands on his hips, he released a long, slow exhale.
Off on the horizon, he spied his dad’s truck heading his way. When that storm hit, if Ben and Rose hadn’t been in Norman at a doctor’s appointment...
His stomach cramped just thinking about it.
And where were the horses?
Two chickens sat on the underbelly of an overturned car. He didn’t recognize it as belonging to either of his parents. Who knew how far it’d traveled?
A deep sense of loss overwhelmed him. He’d come home to help rebuild, but how long would this take? His commanding officer had given him two weeks, and then he was due back on base in Virginia. Two weeks wouldn’t even clear the drive, let alone erect a house.
His dad pulled up, stopping the truck in what used to be the front yard. When he climbed out, he didn’t have to say a word to convey to Grady how low he was feeling. His shoulders were hunched and his expression grim as he stepped in for a hug. “Wish we were meeting under better circumstances.”
“You and me both. Where’s Mom?”
“With that girlfriend of hers who moved a few years back to Norman. Your momma... She needed to get away from all this.”
“Yes, sir. I understand.”
His dad patted his back. “Good to have you home, son. Real good.”
Grady wished he felt good or bad, or really just anything at all besides numb.
* * *
AN HOUR LATER, once his dad left to pick up his mom, Grady bit the bullet by showing up at Jessie’s parents’. It was gonna be awkward and awful, and he’d rather pitch a tent in the pasture, but that would only upset his mom, so he pasted on a smile and strode up the wide porch steps.
“Aren’t you a tall drink of water.” Jessie’s mom, Billy Sue, sat in one of six white rockers.
Cotton, a miniature poodle who hated everyone but Billy Sue, yapped in her arms.
“Cotton, hush.” Jessie’s dad, Roger—one of two town dentists—extended his hand. “Thank you for your service to our country.”
Grady smiled at Jessie’s mom, but not knowing what to say to the man who was the father of the only woman he’d ever loved, he just stood there like a damned fool, nodding like a bobblehead SEAL doll.
“Come