Like Bees to Honey | gxg

14. Hidden Treasures

It was better for everyone if Mel got together with Alice, Sabina decided later, as she ate her own lunch alone at a picnic table under the scraggly trees behind the washrooms. Alice probably had a lot more in common with Mel than Sabina did, and it wasn't like Sabina had time for a summer fling, anyway. It was a good thing that she discovered what was happening now, before her crush led her to do something stupid. Being rejected by Alice had been embarrassing enough. She didn't need a repeat before she had even lived that one down.

Still, as she chewed her slightly stale tuna sandwich she couldn't help wondering what Alice had brought in her picnic basket.

By the time she was packing her tupperware back into her lunch bag, Sabina felt better about the whole thing. In fact, she felt so much better that when she rounded the corner of the red brick washrooms and saw Mel sitting on a bench with her legs flung out and her phone on her knee, the only flutter she felt was guilt when she realized that the phone was on speaker and she had walked into the middle of a private conversation.

"-to see how everything is going," said the voice on the phone.

Mel let her head rest back against the hot bricks. Her eyes were shut, or she might have noticed Sabina where she had gone stock still. "Gee, Dad. You packed me off to spend the summer with a bunch of relatives I barely know in the middle of fricking nowhere. How do you think it's going?"

"I thought you'd love the lake. Remember how your mom used to joke that if you spent any more time in the pool you'd grow gills?" Mel's dad laughed, but there was something sad about it.

Mel said nothing. Her mouth pressed into a flat line.

Sabina told herself she needed to leave, but she didn't move.

"The summers I spent in High Valley as a kid-"

"Were the happiest of your life, I know, you've only told me a thousand times. But I'm not a kid."

A sigh crackled through the phone speakers. "Well, you must have found something interesting to do there. Arpana told me you didn't call in for your appointment this month."

"Right. Of course. You're just checking in, huh." Mel pressed the heels of her hands into her eyes. "I told you not to book the appointment. I don't want to see Arpana anymore."

"We had a deal, Maddy. See the therapist, or work on finishing your missing high school credits. You need to pick one."

"I never agreed to that deal. Isn't that why you exiled me here?"

"Kiddo..." On the phone, Mel's dad made a sad sound. "I'm worried about you. Sometimes it feels like you've given up on life."

"I haven't given up on anything. I'm fine, okay? I'm just..." She pushed a thumb into one temple. "It's lonely here. I just want to come home."

The shards of grief in her voice jarred Sabina. She shouldn't have been listening to this. She took a step backwards, hoping to slip back around the building before Mel noticed her.

Naturally, since she was trying to be quiet she stepped right on a wrapper that had blown out of the trash bin. It crinkled loudly. Sabina winced. Mel's eyes snapped open.

"I gotta go, Dad." Mel ended the call and stared at Sabina as though wondering how much she had heard.

"Uh, hi." After hesitating a moment too long, Sabina walked forward, hoping it looked like she had just come around the corner. "How- How was lunch with Alice?"

Mel pressed to her feet, her brow furrowed. "Good? Yeah, it was good. Alice is nice."

"Cool." Sabina nodded, wishing she hadn't asked. Witnessing Mel's moment of private vulnerability had shaken her. She didn't want to think about whether Alice already knew all of Mel's secrets. "Great. Anyway. I'm just heading back from my lunch break."