Chapter 6

CHAPTER SIX

Rage shopping wasn't exactly an activity I was experienced in, but I was giving it my best shot. My buggy shuttered as I practically slammed a box of sugary cereal into it. It creaked as I dropped a thing of maple syrup in it. Typically, I wasn’t this violent of a shopper, and I hoped the cart didn’t think too poorly of me.

“What the he—” I was muttering under my breath as I stalked the aisles. “Is he actually insane?” A few shoppers were probably starting to stare, but I didn’t have the energy to care at the moment. “ You’ve GOT to be kidding me…”

“Leah? Oh my gosh!” a familiar voice came over my shoulder, one I hadn’t heard in years.

I turned around, probably looking a bit like a goblin hunched over my cart and startled like I was. To my great relief, the voice belonged to one of the few people in this town I trusted not to judge me for looking silly.

I was met by the comforting visage of a thirty-something year old brunette in a purple top, my sometimes childhood babysitter, Melody Williams. Yes, that Williams. Mel was an angel compared to her little brother, so most often I tried to ignore her unfortunate relations.

“Mel!” I left my cart to give her a hug. “I haven’t seen you in forever!”

“I know!” She wrapped her arms around me in an instant and it was such a good feeling. I really needed a hug right about then. When she released me, she held me out from her so she could look over me. At first her expression was concerned, but then it shifted to relief. “Oh, I’m so glad you’re feeling better!”

“Huh?”

“When Spencer came home so late the other night, I made him tell me everything. Please don’t be mad, I was just worried about you.”

I had no idea what she was talking about. My eyebrows knit together in confusion. Why would Spencer coming home late have anything to do with me? I was thinking hard, searching my mind for anything that could help this make sense, when a hazy memory sparked to life.

It was from two nights ago, when I had gone to the engagement party with Anna and Nate.

“I’m fine,” I protested, but I wasn’t even sounding very convincing to myself. B ut what else was I supposed to do? There was no way I was letting that churl take me home, no matter how hot he was and no matter how bad my head hurt. “I can drive myself!”

“No, absolutely not.” Anna shook her head with finality. She then pointed at me like I was a naughty toddler. “You are letting Spencer drive you home and that is final. I’ll be over with your car tonight and can check on you then.”

My jaw dropped to the floor at the sudden recollection. So, wait, Spencer had been the one to drive me home—not Anna?!

“I know… He said he really shouldn’t have told me, and I shouldn’t have pushed.” Melody seemed to have taken my stunned expression a different way. She grabbed my hand softly and gave me an apologetic smile. “But really, I hope you would have told me someday. You know this isn’t stuff you have to carry alone, right?”

I blinked repeatedly. There was a lot of stuff I was dealing with in my life, I wasn’t sure which one she was referring to. “I’m sorry,” I forced out. “I have, um… Kinda a gap from the other night?” I pointed to my head. “What are you talking about exactly?”

“Oh!” Now it was her turn to be surprised. “I’m so sorry. Spencer said that on the way home you two had a bit of a… heart to heart, and you told him about your accident. About your knee injury, and how the MRIs found your Chiari.”

Another flash of memory came as she spoke.

Tears of pain and emotion were slowly dripping down my cheeks as I leaned against the cool passenger window of Spencer’s truck. “They said I was born with it. That my brain’s just kinda falling out. Just when I thought breaking my knee and losing ballet was bad enough, they had to go and tell me I was broken all over.”

“Hey! No, no, none of that. You are not broken,” Spencer refuted from behind the steering wheel.

“Why are you doin’ this?” I asked groggily. My head was still throbbing and the pain hadn’t gotten any better yet. I had already taken all the ibuprofen I had left in my purse.

“Oh…” At this point I didn’t know if I was responding to Mel or the memory. Both, I guess. “Yeah…” Confusion raged in my head. Spencer had… what?

Melody was gently rubbing my hand in hers. “You know I’m always here for you, right kiddo? I know it’s not the same, but I helped Spence out when he had his eye surgery, so I get what it’s like when people need help. You were always so strong.” She smiled at me. “Just don’t push everyone away and try to bear it all alone, okay?”

I knew she was saying important things, but I could barely concentrate. My brain was too busy trying to make sense of what she had said about her brother. What I had remembered about her brother. Something just wouldn’t click.

“Can I ask you a question?” I asked.

“Uh, sure!” Mel seemed a little caught off guard but willing to help however she could.

“Do you have any idea why Spencer always calls me Barbie? Ever since we were kids. I get that the other boys did it back then, but I guess I assumed that was something you grow out of?”

A knowing smile lit Mel’s face and an amused sparkle lit her eyes. They kind of looked like Spencer’s when we were bickering. But they looked affectionate… “Oh, that. You know how we had all those Barbie movies at my house?”

I nodded. We had watched our share of them while Mel was babysitting.

“Well,” she suppressed a chuckle, “those weren’t mine. Not that I didn’t like them! They were peak cinema. But the one who was actually obsessed with them… was Spence.”

One more shock and I was going to jump into the nearest stream, become a fish, and never be seen again by human eyes.

Melody almost laughed at my face of shock. “I think she was his childhood love. But! Of course, that’s so embarrassing for a little boy, so he did the normal thing I guess and deflected. I guess he thought that if he joined the other boys they wouldn’t suspect him. Although…”

Her smile turned sly, and I found myself holding my breath. “If he’s still calling you that…”

Suddenly, I was feeling quite sick again, but for a very different reason this time. I needed some answers.