Country romance now completed

Chap 39

My Converse slapped against the uneven pavement. My thoughts shuffling through my mind like a movie, or a tape recorder. Every memory and moment turning from bright to dark, my family was a tangled up mess, and I was the one who had strung it all together.

Was it true?  It couldn't be, i needed to hear it from my father, if he was my father. I came to an abrupt stop, almost face planting into the street. A car sailed by, the driver busy tapping on their phone to even notice me.

The once blue sky was now blanketed in soggy gray dishwater clouds, heavy and about to burst.   I crossed the street, my head turned toward the floor, the streets were old with crackling tar, various shades from every decade when people had attempted to fill in the broken pieces, just like my life.

Someone else had attempted to fill the broken piece where my father was supposed to reside.

Downtown Maine held so many mixed emotions for me, I remembered walking down this Street with Austin and my father, and when I was younger I would walk down the street with my father, and we would go into the ice cream parlor for a scoop of double chocolate peanut butter ice cream if I behaved myself.

The place still sat, Misty's creamery, with its yellow and white decorations, and the popular ice cream statue that people would pose next to for an Instagram picture. I used to sit on that bench and wait for my dad as bits of ice cream dripped down my cone.

"Hey Drew, wow, it's been a while, one of Austin's old friends declared, walking up to me from out of one of the clothing shops I nodded shooting them a week smile as they passed me, racing to catch up with two other guys who slid by on skateboards.

I walked on, The smell of fresh bread overflowing my senses. Oh how much I loved fresh bread, and The free samples were endless for tourists who would come to this area. I begrudgingly past, when my eyes fell upon a sign that stated that there were no more fresh samples for today.

One droplet of water splashed upon my head, followed by another, and another.  Heaving a breath, I ducked into a cafe, escaping the drizzle that was sure to come.

"Can I help you... Brianna?"" I blinked my brain blanking for a moment before it processed who was standing before me.

"Lauren McClellan," I half whispered, she was my second grade teacher, I hadn't seen her in years. She beamed back.

"Wow Brianna, you are all grown up," she declared, the wrinkles around her eyes creasing into a smile along with her lips.  She had always been an easy to please person, and the smiling lines around her lips and eyes were a sure take if it.

"I never thought I would see you again," I admired back, following her to a table in the back, she nodded placing herself across from me.
"When did you start working here?"

Her grin faltered,

"I had to take on a second job ever since Steve got in that sledding accident, my husband, he loved sledding, but now is confined to a wheel chair."
She anxiously knitted her hands together, peering out the  window as droplets dotted the glass. A man brought us both a cup of cocoa, the early fall air perfect for the occasion.

"Oh how horrible," I declared, spooning the whipped cream at the top of my cup. My teacher said nothing, stirring her glass as well. She nodded her eyes enveloped with hurt and exhaustion.

"Miss McClellan we need you back on the clock please," her boss admitted, upon seeing us, she bid me goodbye, and I shot her a weak smile, no longer able to hide from my problems any longer as they all came shoveling down on me.

My phone lit up with a call from my mother, and then Jason, but both of them were sent to voicemail, I didn't want to face anyone just yet,

I caught the city bus, not paying attention to where it was headed as it barreled through the windy streets, the downpour still alive and well as it rolled down the foggy windows.