The Things We Wish Were True Read Online Free PDF

the little boy and continue their conversation. They gave the older woman they were awkwardly standing near a wave as they followed the little boy—she’d already forgotten his name, or maybe she’d blocked it out on purpose—over to the shallow area. She’d been thinking of getting in anyway; it was so hot, and it was only June. She’d forgotten the heat and humidity of a southern summer. But she’d also forgotten her mother’s tomato sandwiches (white bread, peeled and sliced tomatoes, Duke’s mayonnaise, liberal salt and pepper), the way peaches fresh off the tree tasted, and chasing lightning bugs at dusk, the air at night as warm as midday in Connecticut. The home of her childhood could still offer the comforts of that childhood, comforts she welcomed.
    “This is so great!” Bryte said. She looked at the boy. “Christopher.” Her voice dripped with the kind of gentleness only a first-time mother can muster. “This is one of Mommy’s oldest friends. We grew up together.” She looked over at Jencey, seeking validation that her claim was true.
    Jencey nodded and looked away, pretending to look for her girls even though she knew precisely where they were: on the little diving board. At their club back home, they had a high dive, a curving slide, a snack bar with waiters to deliver drinks to your chaise. She and her friends practically just held out their hands and the drinks appeared like magic. She wondered if Bryte knew the truth about why she was back. She had yet to hear that unmistakable note of pity she’d heard in the voices of her former friends in Connecticut the unfortunate times she’d run into any of them before she’d left.
    She hadn’t wanted to tell anyone what had happened to Arch, including her parents. But when it became apparent that she might end up needing her folks’ help, she’d filled them in on all the gory details. Her father, good man that he was, had asked if he should come up there and kick Arch’s ass. She’d laughed in spite of herself and assured him that, no, his ass-kicking services would not be needed. The federal government was doing a fine and dandy job of that, thank you very much.
    “Just know we’re here if you need us,” he’d said. The kindness in his voice had brought tears to her eyes. It had made her remember the support he’d offered before, back when the hearts had started showing up everywhere and she’d had no choice but to go somewhere that her “admirer” couldn’t find her anymore. It was her father who’d driven her up north, to a college they’d told no one about, since no one could figure out who’d been stalking her. They couldn’t afford for the wrong person to know, the wrong person to find her. That had been a long, quiet ride, the radio on low, the mood in the car pensive, not unlike her ride back all these years later.
    “I can’t believe my mom didn’t tell me you were here!” Bryte said, her focus intent on Christopher instead of Jencey, which was a good thing.
    “She probably didn’t know,” Jencey said.
    “Didn’t know?” Bryte repeated as a question. She looked up at a plane making its way across the wide blue sky and nodded an answer to Christopher’s (incessant) questions.
    “I sort of asked them to keep it quiet. That I was here.”
    “Oh no, did something happen?” Bryte’s face registered legitimate concern, but in spite of that, Jencey couldn’t tell her. She could tell Bryte was trying to be her friend, but things weren’t the same between them for a lot of reasons.
    She waved her arm in the air and forced a smile. “Just didn’t want a big to-do. You know, after all this time.”
    “It has been a long time, Jencey.” Bryte’s voice got quieter. “I never thought you’d stay gone so long.”
    Though she tried to hide it, Jencey picked up on the hurt in Bryte’s voice and attempted to lighten the mood with a joke.
    “Well, you know, I met this man, and I got pregnant—oops!” Jencey grinned,