Page 52 of Sunkissed Colorado

That’s when I noticed the collection of planters by the sliding patio door, all of them holding the brown, withered remains of what had once been houseplants. My heart sank a little more. But Mrs. Mackenzie took the gift anyway, setting it on the nearby kitchen counter. Her expression still hadn’t changed since she’d opened the door.

“Won’t you sit down?” She gestured haltingly at the couch. “I got out a soda for you. It’s on the coffee table. A Coke. I remembered that’s what you liked, Zandra. Just like my Jessa.”

I took a seat on the lumpy couch and reached for the soda. “This is perfect. Thank you.”

“Son, I didn’t know you were coming. Did you want a drink?”

“That would be great, ma’am. I can get it myself.”

“You can just call me Paula.”

He covered the distance to the kitchen in two long strides, grabbing a can from the collection on the counter. Callum sat beside me, while Paula took a narrow, straight-backed chair from a corner. She glanced around like she was searching for something to say.

“I just got back to Silver Ridge a few weeks ago,” I started. I told her how I’d come to help out after my grandpa’s accident, which it seemed she hadn’t heard about.

But every word from my mouth was as stilted as Jessa’s mom was acting. Who could blame her? This woman had spent the last sixteen years without her daughter. Without Jessa’s laugh,without her bright smile, without all the grandchildren she might have had someday.

And I couldn’t shake the feeling that if I’d been faster, smarter,braverthat night, Paula wouldn’t be sitting here alone in this sad little house.

Callum jumped in like he could sense how close I was to falling apart. “That construction up the road must be a headache for you, Paula.”

“Oh, yes. They’ve been making a racket.”

Thank you, Callum, I thought. Now there was a perennial topic of conversation in any town. The endless indignities of road construction.

I got up from my seat to look at the framed pictures on the walls. Beside the TV was a display of old photos of the Mackenzie family from when Jessa and her brother Leo were kids. The siblings had shared the same pale blond curls and round faces.

In one picture they were kicking a soccer ball around. In another, Leo was by himself holding up a fish he’d caught.

Leo’s cocky smirk made me think of Callum. Two confident boys who’d swaggered down the high school hallways, though Leo was younger. Yet there had been something harder about Leo too. Something…angry. Which must’ve just gotten worse after Jessa died.

And then there was a selfie of me and Jessa as teenagers, our arms around each other with the creek behind us. Her pale complexion was flushed pink from laughter. I stood beside her with my long braid draped over one shoulder, my skin golden and hers pale.

We looked so young, so full of hope and possibility. So alive.

I startled when Paula spoke from right behind me. “Jessa’s beautiful, isn’t she?”

I didn’t trust myself to speak. All I could do was nod, my eyes stinging and heart thumping painfully in my chest. Paula had talked about Jessa that way at the funeral, too. In the present tense. Like she simply couldn’t believe her daughter was gone.

But then I felt the warmth of Callum’s hand on my arm. “Jessa was a great girl. I remember how kind she was. Could make anyone smile. Even Zandra.”

I was surprised Callum could recall that much about my friend. But then again, he’d apparently noticed plenty about me back then too. The Callum I thought I knew wasn’t the real him.

And he’d just reminded me what Paula really needed. To hear about how much her daughter had meant to me.

I cleared my throat. “Jessa was the most loyal person I ever knew. She stood by me no matter what. Made me laugh all the time. Just…brought sunshine to my day.”

Paula’s face softened for the first time since we’d arrived. “And to mine.”

“She’d show up at my house with some ridiculous story about something that happened on Main Street after school, or she’d drag me down to the creek just to sit and talk about our dreams for college.”

Paula reached out to touch a photo of Leo. “After he left Silver Ridge, Leo took a job on a fishing trawler up in Alaska. It’s been a long while since I last heard from him. No clue where he is.” Something in her tone made me pause, though I couldn’t pinpoint why.

“Losing Jessa was really hard for him,” I replied, remembering what Winnie had said.

Paula nodded, eyes still on the photo. “Especially because he and his sister fought a few days before that awful night.” Her gaze suddenly darted to mine. “He never would tell me what they argued about.”

Jessa had said something about sibling drama. I’d forgotten until now. “I’m sorry. I don’t know what they fought about either.”