Meet Me at Taylor Park (12 page)

She stood there for a moment, frozen in time. From outside, she heard the sound of a lawn mower starting. From behind her, she heard footsteps in the hallway.

Unable to bear seeing Brandon’s sad face, she pushed the door open, and stepped out into the beautiful summer afternoon. A cool breeze twirled around her right away, lifting her hair up.

She took a deep breath. She could smell barbecued chicken and freshly-cut grass.

She heard the door bang shut behind her.

She took one step forward. The sun was warming up the tears that were beginning to crowd her eyes.

She did not look back. She kept marching on.

It was time to leave.

*

Chapter 9

1994

As the autumn sun slowly wiled away in the darkening sky, Brandon stood in the fields in his farm in Langley. Plant stalks reached up to his waist.

He felt a cold breeze on his face, but he did not pay attention to it. He was thinking about his unexpected encounter with Katie.

Six long years she had been on his mind. Every day, he had thought about contacting her, only to bump into her on an airplane. Before then, he had told himself that he did not want her.

Now that he had seen her, he knew that he had been lying to himself all along.

He entered his house, and went up the creaky stairs to his room. On his desk, illuminated by the setting sun, was a picture of him and Katie. The frame and glass were cracked. He remembered why.

He picked up the picture and stared at himself and Katie. Dressed in her thick winter coat,

Katie was smiling into the camera. On the other hand, Brandon had a morose look on his face. Brandon remembered that winter well. He remembered that New Year’s Eve even better.

*

1988

It was the last day of the year and Brandon was in bed with a sprained ankle from a basketball injury. He looked out the window. It was 11:30 pm and very dark outside. The snow had melted and the pavement was rigid with frost. The street was crowded with cars. In the house across the street, he could see silhouettes dancing around and hear loud festive music blaring.

He looked away. He did not need to see that.

He stared at his sprained ankle. He felt so useless. He tried to move his leg, and winced.

Then, he heard noise downstairs. For a second, he thought it was his parents coming home early to surprise him. Then, he reminded himself that he knew better.

Someone was now stomping up the stairs. Brandon held his breath.

Katie poked her hooded head into his room. “It’s so cold out there.”

Brandon tried to get up, and screamed out again.

Katie took off her hood and approached the bed. “Don’t get up. I’ll take care of you.”

Brandon watched as she set a container on her desk. Her cheeks were red from the cold.

Her lips were a pale pink. And her hair looked sweaty.

He fluffed his pillow. “What are you doing here? I thought you were at that party.”

“Yeah, but I couldn’t leave you here all alone on New Year’s Eve.”

Brandon was touched. He watched as she picked up the container and sat down on her bed.

Katie pulled the lid off the container and took out a piece of chocolate cake. “Open wide,” she said, picking up the piece with her hands.

“I have a strained ankle, but I can still feed myself.”

Katie laughed. “I know, but you’re hurt and I want to take care of you.”

She held the piece of cake closer to his mouth. “Now open wide.”

Obediently, Brandon opened his mouth and Katie fed it to him. The chocolate cake was delicious. It felt good to be pampered and taken care of.

As he was chewing, a couple stray pieces fell out, dirtying the corners of his mouth. Katie grabbed a tissue on his desk and began to wipe the crumbs away.

He looked at her. Her bangs had grown long and were covering her eyes.

He reached out a hand and brushed them aside for her. She did not know how to respond.

Brandon then grabbed her hand, the same one that was wiping his mouth. Katie looked shocked, dropping the tissue.

He looked her in the eyes. “You know, I really love you.” The words just fell out of his mouth, but he knew it felt right. He really felt it.

At first, Katie looked like she did not know how to react. Then, she leaned in. He could smell a certain tropical fruit fragrance on her body. Mango, he was sure.

She whispered, “What took you so long to tell me? I loved you the minute you made me feel better about that contest.”

He looked her in the eyes. She was just an inch away from his face. Hypnotized, he did not know what to say. All he remembered was a feeling of bliss.

It was a moment that he would remember forever.

Katie turned her head and looked at the clock. It read 11:55pm.

She turned back to him and said, “You know what I just realized? We don’t have a lot of pictures of us together. Why don’t we go outside and take one? We could start our new year outdoors.”

As she started to help him up, he grabbed onto her hand. “Why are we doing this?”

Puzzled, she said, “Do you mean why we are going outside?”

“No. Why are we starting a new year together when we won’t finish it together?”

She leaned in and kissed him on the cheek, her hair brushing against his skin, making it tingle.

Katie finished helping him up, then got him his crutches. She put on his winter coat for him, zipping it up completely.

For a moment, Brandon thought she was going to avoid answering the question. Then, she said, “Let’s not worry about that. Let’s just enjoy the time we have together.”

She glanced at the clock. It was now 11:58 pm.

“We gotta hurry,” she said. “It’s almost time.”

She helped him down the stairs and they stepped out into the brisk winter night. The moon flooded them with its luminance.

The house across the street was still blaring loud music.

Katie helped him stand steady, and then took out her camera. She held the lens toward them, and said, “Smile.”

Brandon could see Katie smiling, but he remained stoic. The camera flashed, and Brandon blinked.

He heard something beep and Katie held up her watch.

“Happy new year!” she exclaimed, a big smile on her face.

Brandon tried to smile, but it came out as a fake half-grin instead.

“Happy new year,” he muttered.

An icy wind surrounded them.

Katie shivered. “It’s cold.”

She reached in and hugged him and Brandon accepted her embrace without hugging her back.

She hugged him for a long time.

Then, Brandon realized that he wouldn’t be holding her this time next year. He reciprocated, holding her tight.

Surprised by the strength of his embrace, Katie tried to wiggle out of his grasp. “What are you doing? Is it that cold out here?”

Brandon didn’t say anything, but just kept holding her tight.

Eventually, Katie accepted his firm embrace without further questions.

The two of them held each other under the orange streetlight, trying to generate some warmth in the cold.

*

That summer, the day after Brandon and Katie had broken up, Brandon approached a blonde girl called Liz in the hallway.

“I hear you offer a certain service,” he said.

Liz pulled off her scrunchy, her blond hair falling all over her shoulders and back.

“Yeah. For 20 bucks, you get to hold my hand to make your girl jealous. For 50, you get to kiss me on the lips, but just once.”

Brandon inspected the blonde girl. She was in a pink tank top and really short shorts.

She would do, he decided.

He slipped her a 50-dollar bill.

He waited until he knew that Katie would be at her locker, then walked down the hallway with the blonde bombshell on his arms. Making sure that his footsteps would echo in the hallway, he stomped on the ground harder.

When he walked by Katie, he held his breath. She had her head stuck in her locker. She did not look behind her.

Then, out of the corner of his eye, he saw Katie pull her head out and stare in his direction. Quickly, he kissed Liz on the lips, but she did something that he had not expected. She kissed him back fiercely.

In the periphery of his vision, Brandon saw Katie avert her gaze.

Brandon pried her off his lips and they continued walking down the corridor.

After the fake couple rounded the corner, Brandon turned to Liz. “Thanks,” he said.

“You’re welcome,” the blonde smiled warmly, and then continued to stare at him.

Brandon stood there with his hands in his pockets, not knowing what to do to get her to go away.

He finally turned around and heard Liz walking away.

Curious about how Katie was taking it, he peeked around the corner and saw Katie peering at him from the other end.

Her expression was blank.

He could read nothing. He thought about mouthing something to her, but he did not know what to say.

After a while, she turned around and faced the door. He expected her to push right through, but she paused for the longest time. For a while, Brandon debated whether he should run to her and persuade her to stay for the last time.

He took one step toward her, then another, but just when he thought he would reach her in time, she pushed through the door and was gone.

Brandon stood by himself in the hallway.

He was not proud about what he had done. He just wanted Katie to be jealous, so that she would know what she would be missing when she was thousands of miles away in New York City.

He knew that he had hurt her.

And he wished he could take it back.

*

Later that day, Brandon stood on the sidewalk in front of Katie’s small house. He tried to peer through the windows for any sign of activity, but he could not see anything. The window shades had been drawn shut.

The strong afternoon sun bore down on him so Brandon moved, finding shade under the cherry tree in Katie’s front lawn.

He heard a car and hid behind the tree trunk. Katie’s mother’s tiny red car rolled into the driveway.

He strained to see whether Katie was in the car, but he could not make out anything. In a while, Catherine Simpson walked up to the front door with groceries in her arms and went inside.

Brandon stood there in the heat, debating whether he should just go up to Katie’s house and see her. He hated himself for how he had left things with her. He knew he had hurt her with that blonde. And he knew he was being selfish for wanting her to stay. If he could just say goodbye, he could find closure. And maybe she would forgive him. He couldn’t leave things with her like that.

He finally worked up the courage to walk up to the door. He rang the doorbell.

A few moments later, Catherine Simpson stood in front of him. She was at least six feet tall, an imposing sight.

Brandon found himself tongue-tied. “Uh, hi there, Mrs. Simpson. Is Katie here?”

Catherine glared at Brandon. “No, she isn’t. I just drove her to the airport.”

Brandon felt like he had just been slapped in the face. “Oh.”

His stomach started to hurt. Quietly he said, “But I didn’t get to say goodbye.” He said that more to himself, but Catherine had heard.

“Katie told me what happened. You should have said goodbye earlier. This is no one’s fault but yours.”

Brandon was too numb to fight back.

Seeing the painful look on his face, Catherine said gently, “It’s better to let her go. This is what love is. Love is about her. Need is about you. You don’t want to be the one who got in the way of her dreams, do you?”

Brandon shook his head. He was starting to sweat, but it was not because of the intense heat.

Catherine put a hand on his shoulder. “Just move on with your life. Katie has.”

Brandon nodded. Katie really has, he thought. She really has.

*

Chapter 10

1994

The next day at dusk, Katie stood on the hill at Taylor Park, watching the last embers of the sun leave a trail of blood orange across the sky.

She imagined seeing Brandon again, but felt her stomach go all queasy. She had so much she wanted to say to him, but at the same time, she was did not know what to say to him. It had been so long since they last talked. She played with the engagement ring that Brandon had given her, twisting it around her finger as though it were burning her.

Suddenly, she heard a familiar voice behind her.

“I’ve always loved this park.”

She turned around. It was Brandon, in jacket with a white sweater underneath and a pair of jeans. He looked like he always did, all handsome and tanned. Katie felt all riled up inside, as though she was getting sick.