Beckoning Light (2 page)

I had grown up in that garden, following mom around everywhere. I even had my own little section where I planted all of my favorite flowers. I wondered suddenly if Monty had been keeping them up. I finally tore my eyes away from the window and noticed an object in the far corner of the room—my cello! One thing that my uncle and I shared was our passion for music.  In addition to being basketball coach, Monty was also the orchestra teacher.

“Thanks so much for setting everything up for me.” I gave him a hug. I really couldn’t believe he had set up my room so nicely in such a short period of time. 

“Anytime.  If you need anything, I’ll be downstairs.”

I collapsed on the bed as soon as Monty left the room. Thoughts of the trip had kept me from fully coming to terms with being back in Charleston, but now the trip was over, and reality set in. It was Saturday afternoon and, on Monday morning, I would be walking into a new high school, forced to see people I hadn’t seen in three years. It seemed like a fresh start would be easier; at least no one had any preconceived notions about you that way. Here, I had no idea what people thought.

One silver lining was that Kevin would be driving me to school, so I didn’t have to arrive ridiculously early with Monty. Our dad had left a car at the house that Kevin could drive until he went to college, and then, assuming I had my license, it would be mine.

Within minutes, I fell asleep. The day of travel had finally caught up to me. The next thing I knew, my room was dark, and Uncle Monty was in the doorway asking what kind of pizza I wanted.

“Anything is fine.” I was trying to hold onto the end of a dream, and I barely got the words out.

“Pepperoni it is. I’m going to go get it with Kevin; we’ll be back in a few minutes.”

“Great,” I called after him absently while I contemplated the dream.

The dream had replayed a vague childhood memory. As a child, I woke up in the middle of the night and walked downstairs for some water. I thought I heard something outside, so I peered out the kitchen window. I saw my mother walking up the garden path wearing a long blue dress. I ran upstairs so I wouldn’t get in trouble for being out of bed so late. Before going back to bed, I looked out my bedroom window and could have sworn I saw a faint light at the back of the garden. I never asked my mom about it, but I always wondered why she was out so late at night dressed so formally. 

My dream followed the same scene, but this time I thought I saw a figure standing at the old gate beyond the fountain, and the figure waved. I waved back through the window as though I knew who it was. The last thing I remembered before waking up was looking down and realizing I was wearing a long blue dress instead of pajamas. 

I shrugged off the dream and decided to start unpacking. I only got as far as my toiletries before realizing that what I really needed was a shower. I took a fast shower, letting the hot water wash away the grime of travel and then searched for some clean clothes to wear. After pulling on jeans and a pink three-quarter-length top, I tied my wet hair back and, suddenly very aware that I hadn’t eaten in hours, started down the stairs quickly.

“I’ll be right—” The words caught in my throat as I realized that there were three people standing in the foyer—Monty, Kevin, and Liam. Wow, Liam had really changed. He was no longer the slightly awkward fifteen-year-old; he was so much taller, standing at least six-foot, and so much bigger, nothing scrawny about him.

“Charlotte? Wow, you’ve grown up!” Liam grinned, and I couldn’t help but look away.

“Yeah, you, too.” I felt self-conscious. I just wanted to disappear, but in the back of my mind, I also knew that it was better just to get it over with. 

“I still can’t believe you guys are back. Things just haven’t been the same around here since you Calloway kids left.” Liam gave me an awkward hug once I reached the bottom step. 

“Yeah, I bet.” I played along, even though I knew what Liam meant was that things weren’t the same without
Kevin
. 

“So, Liam is going to join us for pizza,” Monty broke in, giving me a strange look. He must have noticed I was uncomfortable. I nodded, and we all headed into the kitchen.

Dinner was better than expected at first, as I mostly just listened to the three guys discuss the basketball team. Evidently, Monty had already broken the news to the forward who would no longer be starting. I really didn’t mind all of the basketball talk because it gave me the freedom to just sit and think without the pressure of coming up with conversation. But, that didn’t last.

Monty was the one who pulled me into the conversation. “So Charlotte, I printed out a list of all the clubs and activities at school. I know it’s tough that you’ll have to wait around after school most days until you get your license.”

“Thanks, but I could probably always get work done at the library or something.” I hoped he wouldn’t press the issue.

“Sure, and you’re welcome to use the orchestra room to practice any time, but joining something might be a great way to meet people.”

“And we all know Charlotte could benefit from meeting people,” Kevin added with a grin. Oh geez, did he really have to start in on this? 

“Did I ask you, Kevin?” I snapped. Sometimes he could be so nice, but other times he could be such a jerk.

“No, but you should,” he said, challenging me to argue. “And hey, you’re the one who told me that you were nervous about starting at a new school.”

“Whatever,” I replied, because some arguments were pointless.

Kevin wasn’t going to let it go. “Speaking of Charlotte and friends, I need your help on something,” Kevin said, addressing Liam. This time I didn’t want to disappear, I
needed
to. This was so awful; I could hardly believe it.

“Yeah?” Liam looked over at me, clearly curious. I knew that I must be bright red, anticipating what Kevin was going to say.

“You have to help make sure Charlotte doesn’t become a total social outcast. You should have seen her in Fairbanks. Not dating, I get that; she’s too young to date.” Kevin spoke as though I wasn’t even in the room.

“Wait, excuse me?” I didn’t know what possessed me, but I just had to argue.

“Yes, Charlotte?” Kevin asked with mock surprise.

“I’m almost sixteen, and you’re not Dad!”

“Okay, well, it’s not like you wanted to date anyway. Remember when Jared asked you out? The only freshman on the team last year, and all you could say was ‘Sorry,’ with no excuse or anything. The poor kid probably still hasn’t gotten over it.” Kevin just had to make me feel sillier. I was ready to kill my brother. I thought I had known mortification, but this was something worse.

“Why do you care why I turned Jared down? It’s none of your business!” The truth was, I just hadn’t been interested in dating up in Fairbanks. The thought of having to spend an evening finding conversation terrified me. Even though Jared was cute, the date didn’t sound appealing.

“Kevin, just leave your sister alone.” Monty threw him a dirty look.

However, Kevin wasn’t listening. “Okay, forget dating. Like I said, she’s too young anyway, but that doesn’t excuse hiding in her room when I threw parties while Dad was away.”

I knew I was going to lose my temper completely, but I couldn’t stop it. “I was
not
hiding! I just had better things to do, and they were
your
friends, not mine. It’s not like I told on you, and I always helped you clean up.”

“Well, you could have invited your friends. Oh wait, you didn’t have any,” Kevin said snidely.

“Shut up! You know I had friends; you just didn’t know them,” I shot back. That was it. I couldn’t sit there any longer. I got up, pushed in my chair, and quickly rinsed my plate before putting it in the dishwasher.

“Nice seeing you, Liam. Thanks for dinner, Monty. Go to hell, Kevin.” Without a second glance at any of them, I ran upstairs to grab a sweatshirt and my iPod; I was going for a walk. As I started up the stairs, I heard Kevin yell. Monty had probably thrown something at him.

They were still talking about me when I walked out the front door, and I could feel tears rolling down my cheeks. I just didn’t understand why Kevin didn’t leave me alone. Did my shyness really bother him so much? Of course, he probably didn’t understand why I cared about him talking like that in front of Liam, but somehow he should have. I got the distinct impression that Monty could tell by the way he had looked at me when he told me Liam was eating with us.

I spent a good half-hour walking around the waterfront and realizing just how much I had missed the water. Growing up in Charleston, I had always taken for granted the access to the water; it felt so nice to be near it again. In the darkness, the lights reflected off the water, and I shivered slightly as a breeze picked up carrying the salty smell of the ocean. I closed my eyes for a moment taking in the sensation of being home. When I got back to the house, they were outside playing basketball, so I went back upstairs to my room. Before I got into bed, I walked onto my balcony and looked out into the night. I thought I saw a faint light in the back of the garden, but before I could figure out where it was coming from, it disappeared. I figured it was my mind playing tricks on me because of my dream. Whether I was losing my mind or not, my first day of school did not bode well.

Chapter Two

Kevin

It felt good to be home. It wasn’t like I didn’t like Alaska. I had met some cool people and had a good time there but, even after four years, it still felt like an extended vacation. I hoped that Charlotte felt the way I did about being back, but I sensed she was too nervous to enjoy it. As hard as I tried, I didn’t always understand my sister. When I tried to help her, she acted like I was being a jerk. I knew that I was being tough on her, but usually the best thing you could do for someone was to challenge them to step up to the plate. 

Monty gave me a hard time about it, too, as we sat at the table with Liam. “Kevin, could you please give your sister a break?” He unexpectedly picked a basketball up off the floor and threw it at me.

“Hey!” I caught the ball before it hit me. “It’s for her own good. I only have a few more months to help her out.”

“I realize you’re trying to help, but maybe tone it down a little.”

“Sure, but just realize that you’re the one who is going to have to deal with it once I leave,” I warned.

“I’ll take the risk. You just need to give her some time to get used to being here; she really didn’t have much warning about the move.”

We all turned to look toward the front hallway when we heard the front door slam. Charlotte could be so dramatic.

“Do you think she’s figured it out yet?” Liam asked, looking down the hall to make sure she hadn’t come back inside.

“That we knew about this move months ago? Or that it was my idea for us to move back to Charleston?”

“Both.”

“No way. I doubt she’ll ever catch on.”

“Let’s hope not,” Monty said. “I really don’t want her worrying that we deceived her.”

“Well, we did it for her own good. You know how stressed she got about moving, no reason to give her six months to obsess. When Dad told me he had to move his research, I knew that the best thing for Charlotte was to move back here, and you know I was right.” 

“I’m not disagreeing.” Monty ran his hands through his hair, a clear sign that he was stressed. “I just wish we could have prepared her better, that’s all.”

“No use worrying about it now. She was always happy here before we left, so I’m sure she’ll get used to it.”

I understood Monty’s concern, but I also knew that I wouldn’t have changed the way we had handled it. I was going away to college soon, and I didn’t want to leave her alone on some crazy research base with Dad. What kind of life was that for a teenage girl? Even Alaska had been too much for her. She had been so antisocial that I questioned whether she was suffering from depression. Charlotte had always been close to Monty, so I figured she’d rather just come home.

Liam jumped back into the conversation. “Well, she seems okay. She’s just ticked at you.”

“Yeah, but I’m still worried about her first day. Will you do me a favor and look out for her when you can?”

“Yeah, of course.” I wasn’t surprised by his response. Liam had always been a great friend, and he had known Charlotte almost as long as I had.

I finished my third slice of pizza, and the three of us headed out to shoot some hoops. Playing ball on the old driveway brought back a lot of good memories. The same weathered hoop hung from the frame, and I could still make out my name scrawled in the cement at the base. It was nice to know that some things never changed. It was fun to shoot hoops with Monty and Liam but,
man
, had Liam improved. Monty had told me that Liam was pretty awesome, but the guy didn’t miss a shot. I watched as he landed four three-pointers in a row. 

“Whoa, Liam. Someone’s been practicing.” I didn’t try to hide the surprise in my voice.

“Yeah, well it helps when you spend all of your time hanging out with the coach. There hasn’t been all that much else to do around here, you know?” Liam paused for a moment before passing the ball to Monty.

“Speaking of practicing, have you looked over the plays, Kevin?” Monty asked.

“Yeah, and I’m not too worried. You do remember that you were my coach for eight years, right, Monty?” He laughed.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Charlotte walking toward the front of the house. It kind of looked like she had been crying, but I knew that the last thing she would want was for me to call attention to it.

After saying goodnight to Liam and Monty, I headed back upstairs to my bedroom which, much like the old hoop, hadn’t changed at all. I looked at the line of trophies on my dresser and picked up an old photo of me at one of Monty’s UNC-Chapel Hill games back in the day. I had to laugh; there I was, scrawny as anything, wearing a Tar Heels jersey. Even back then, I knew I would wear Carolina blue for real one day. As I went to sleep that night, I felt relaxed.