Life. It's like a train track, only you don't ever know its stops or upcoming destinations. But all tracks come to an end. The fate of death, even, is uneasily foretold. For sixteen years, the lives of my brother and mine overlapped. However our tracks ran parallel for only a portion of our journeys - two points of a line momentarily intersecting. Those points at which any two lives intersect - they could span across a minute, a month or even several years. But at some point, both tracks diverge and go their separate ways. Passerbys come and go but that's all they ever are - passerbys, there to stay for a short, or perhaps a longer journey, before moving onto the next. In the end, we all end up alone. Not even my brother was permanent in my life. I never expected his track of life would diverge from mine so suddenly or drastically – coming to an abrupt end altogether while mine continued without him.
The golden etchings of his name across his tombstone stared back at me.
Darren Hammenbolt,
Dearly beloved son and brother.
I knelt down to lay a bouquet of lilies beside the tombstone. It was always lilies. There was something about them that reminded me of the pureness of his dream - our dream. The one he'd died living for. Memories never failed to inundate me and weigh down my heart but the lilies - plain white, they focussed on the simplicity of our dream. They reminded me of my purpose.
Giving the tombstone a last look, I turned towards my car and drove on home.
Stephanie was sitting in the lounge when I arrived. Her brown ponytail was bobbing up and down as she moved to the music that was probably blasting through her headphones. A closer look showed that she was also surfing the internet while painting her toenails simultaneously. The television was also blaring in front of her. Boy could that girl multitask.
"Hey," I called.
Stephanie continued bobbing her head. I shook my head and moved to my room, laying down my things to put them back. After resettling, I went to sit by Stephanie on the couch. Her whole body flinched and she turned and caught sight of me.
"Ahhhhh!" she screamed, nearly dropping her nailpolish brush. "Holy crap you scared the bejeesies outta me! When'd you get back!"
"Just now."
"Well, why didn't you say so?"
I shrugged, "You were busy."
Stephanie gave me a flat look, "Well, I would totally give you a hug except I don't want to ruin my nail polish."
I smiled and shook my head.
"It was quiet without you, how was it at your parents?"
I grimaced. Somehow, I doubted the lack of my presence made any difference to Stephanie's life. I was pretty sure she made up for both herself and me in noise alone.
"Fine," I replied, shrugging my shoulders. "Same old," I added, by way of explanation, because one-word answers never seemed to suffice for Stephanie. "Your weekend?"
Stephanie scrunched her nose before going on a spiel about how her weekend was. Thankfully the sound of ringing stopped her or she would have carried on for a day and a half. I pulled my phone out of my pocket while ignoring Stephanie's protests that I get a 'proper' ringtone. Glazing my eyes over the unknown number, I pushed the answer button.
"Hi, Iris Hammenbolt speaking."
"Oh hi there, you must be the interior designer?"
"Yes, that's me."
"Great, my name's Annette Hines, I've been looking for an interior designer to redo my lake house and came across your number."
Bells started ringing in my head. A possible client?!
"Great! I'm happy to set up a consultation time for you. Then we can set up what our partnership will look like and you can tell me what it is you're after."
"That sounds perfect. "
We agreed to meet at a nearby cafe the next day.
"What was that?" Stephanie asked incredulously after I hung up.
"Looks like I may have a new client," I smiled.
"Wahoo!" Stephanie fist pumped the air.
Exactly five minutes before our arranged time, I arrived at the cafe to meet Mrs. Hines. All the documents I'd prepared the night before were organised in front of me, waiting to be filled in. Sitting indoors, I kept my eyes out for a middle to senior aged woman. After another five minutes, I'd seen many people come and go but still no Mrs. Hines. I looked at my watch. Another minute had passed. I looked again, two minutes late. Ten minutes later, I tried calling her but was met with endless rings before hitting voicemail.
I waited for a full twenty minutes after the appointed time before packing my things. Getting up from my chair, I swung around and was met with impact. A flash of liquid heat splashed across me. Leaping back, I tugged my coffee-stained blouse away and looked up with a cross expression. A tall man with wide brown eyes was looking down at me. He was rather good-looking with his loosely falling golden hair - the look of someone who got away with these things using an easily imaginable movie-star smile accompanied by sweet words of apology.
"Sor-" the man began, then paused, "Have we met before?"
I pulled back, "Sorry?" I asked, though why I was the one apologizing, I had no idea. Instead of waiting for an answer or explanation, I quickly reached for some napkins to soak up the coffee graffiting my shirt.
"Have we met before?" The man repeated, not acting the least bit apologetic, as if he hadn't just spilt a cup of scorching hot coffee all over me.
I looked up at him, a disbelieving look on my face.
"No. I don't believe we have," I replied through clenched teeth.
"I swear, I've seen you before..." he mused.
I shook my head. Was he serious? "If you'll excuse me, I'd rather like to get this coffee stain out of my shirt." Because I wouldn't have minded if he was holding me up for an apology but to stand, stare and make conversation about whether or not we'd met before while coffee continued to seep through my clothes... Without a second glance, I pushed past him.
"Hey wait!"
A hand locked around my arm and pulled me back. I turned. Sending an icy stare at the man, I yanked my arm out of his grip, offended by his touch.
"I'm sorry about that-"
A little late for that, I thought. "Forget it," I snapped, the spilled coffee having already stained my mood.
"No, really. Let me do something to help?"
"I said forget it-"
"At least let me get you a new top or something."
"No. Thank. You," I replied, purposefully enunciating each syllable. "Can you please step aside so I can get through?"
He looked at me. I almost felt bad for brushing him off. But he stepped aside and I walked past him, towards the bathroom. After getting out most of what I could from my coffee-stained top in the bathroom, I went back to the cafe. I only managed two steps before nearly bumping into him again. A lopsided grin sat lazily on his face - there it was, that easily imaginable movie-star smile, only in the flesh now. Seeing it only irked me more. I mean, it was bad enough having to bump into him once - to see him again was even worse.
"Hey," he greeted.
My eyes narrowed into thin slits, "What do you want?"
The glimmer in his eyes disappeared, replaced now by a sorrow. "I just wanted to make sure everything's ok." He looked down at my top. "Let me buy you another top or something."
I nearly sighed. What part of no did this man not understand?
"It's a top, it's fine. I'll live."... If he would let me get away first...
I had to get home to change my top after that. Thankfully I'd driven to the cafe so I didn't have to suffer the stares of strangers while getting back. After arriving at home, I dumped the pile of paperwork I'd organised on top of my desk and collapsed onto my bed. So much for a new client. I'd known it was too early to be happy. Before I could dwell on that thought for too long, I grabbed my iPad and started surfing the internet. There were sounds of clanging outside and then Stephanie was knocking on my door. She didn't wait before opening it and popping her head in.
"Guess what?"
"What?"
"I've got a date with Todd this Friday!" she cooed while doing a little happy dance on the spot.
I smiled, albeit wryly. "That's great." I listened and nodded as Stephanie sang praises for 'Todd'. Although I'd never met him before, I took Stephanie's perspective on this 'Todd' man with a grain of salt. No man could be as perfect as Stephanie was describing, even if you were in love and wearing rose-tinted lenses.
"You know, Todd has this really cute friend, his name's Seth-"
I frowned. "Are you dating Todd or his friend Seth?" I asked, questioning her loyalty.
"Todd, of course! Although, if I weren't already with Todd..." she giggled. "Seth's really cute. I could, you know, set you up-"
"No thanks," I interjected before she could continue.
"Aw, come on! Don't say no just yet! At least consider it. When was the last time you went out for a date? Or saw a guy? Unless, you've been secretly seeing someone behind my back..."
Yeah, right. Date? What were those so-called 'dates' that people spoke of?
"Wait, are you?" she practically screamed.
I cringed at the overbearing, high-pitched voice that was too loud for my own ears.
"No, Stephanie, I'm not. I don't do dates."
Stephanie pouted, "Seth's a really nice guy, you'll like him."
I shook my head, just as adamant in my decision as Stephanie was of convincing me. She continued to goad me into considering the date. Thankfully I was saved from having to respond as my phone started ringing. I answered even before it hit the second ring.
"Hello?" I answered.
"Hi dear, this is Annette Hines, I was supposed to meet you earlier? I'm so sorry I couldn't make it. My car broke down along the way and when it rains, oh it pours. My phone decided to run out of batteries and I couldn't remember your number. I would've contacted you if I could. I'm terribly sorry!"
"I'm sorry to hear that. I hope your car's alright now?"
"You know, I know nothing about cars! Some kind person helped me take it to the nearest garage and we managed to contact my son. I was supposed to meet him today but of course with the accident, he was left waiting too. Could we reschedule?"
"Of course."
We met a couple of days later at the same cafe. Again, I arrived exactly five minutes before the pre-arranged time - my standard routine. When I walked into the cafe, I looked around and saw a woman sitting by the window. She looked middle-aged with only few remnants of brown strands shrouded by grey hair. It was cropped to the length of her chin and had a natural outwards flick towards the ends. Any signs of old age were brightened by the floral print top she wore and bright beaded necklace.
"Excuse me, are you Mrs. Hines?" I asked, after having approached her.
Her eyes lit up and the wrinkle lines around her mouth deepened in a smile, "Why yes, dear. You must be Iris."
I nodded and took a seat opposite her, reaching a hand out to give her a handshake. "Nice to finally meet you."
"Oh, the pleasure's mine, thank you for agreeing to see me again."
If only she knew… The things I'd do to build my client base…
We discussed the redesign she wanted, the role I'd play and began filling out the paperwork. Halfway through, a deep, easy-going voice interrupted us. It was disturbingly familiar. I looked up and was met with the view of the coffee-spiller man.
"Hey there. Fancy meeting you again. What a coincidence, you're the interior designer my mum was meeting?"
Mom? Great, this man and my new client were related?
"Oh, have you two met already?" Mrs. Hines asked.
"I wouldn't say we've 'met' persay," I replied drily.
"We bumped into each other, literally. And I accidentally spilled coffee on her," the man chuckled. Chuckled! The nerve of him!
"Oh, my!"
"I did offer to buy her a new top. The offer still stands, if you would like," he smiled towards me.
"I think I made myself pretty clear last time that there's no need for that."
He laughed, "Right, let by gones be by gones? Why don't we start a fresh? My name's Chance and it's a pleasure to make your acquaintance." He held a hand out towards me.
For a moment, I stared at it. Fresh start or not, I wasn't so sure that this man and I were on the same wavelength. There was just something about his over-confident, easy-going manner that put me off. I shook his hand anyway. "Iris Hammenbolt."
"I still say, you look oddly familiar. Don't you think so, Mom?"
Mrs. Hines frowned, "Well no, I don't think so."
"Maybe it's just me."
Mrs. Hines then moved into explaining to Chance the lake house redesign we'd just been discussing.
"We were planning on heading to the lake house next weekend and we'd love for you to join us," Mrs. Hines said to me.
"Thank you for the offer. I'll have to consider it." Though, truthfully, I wasn't all that stoked on the idea of spending a weekend holed in a lake house with some complete strangers - business or not.
"Please do. Then we can discuss the redesigns while we're there. Wouldn't that be perfect?"
"Now, mom, you don't want to pressure Iris. I'm sure she has other priorities, too."
"Actually, my work and my clients are my first priority," I defended because the idea of anything being more important than my work - me and my brother's dream - was unthinkable.
Chance smiled, "Perfect then, you'll be able to come on the lake house trip with us."
I opened my mouth to say something, to retort, but nothing came out. I glared at Chance who stared at me with that lopsided, easy-going smile, baring his shiny white teeth. Had he just played me?
"Unless, of course, you do have other priorities, besides work..." he continued.
"My clients are always my first priority," I repeated, slightly offended that he questioned my priorities.
"Oh of course, dear, I understand if you have other priorities, but it would be nice if you could come."
"Thank you," I smiled to Mrs. Hines. "I'll think about it and get back to you."
And whether or not I chose to go on the lake house trip or not, I knew that in due time, I would probably say yes - preferably when a certain Chance Hines wasn't around to rub it in, after all, it was the best for both me and my client. There was just something about Chance Hines that rubbed me the wrong way. I couldn't put my finger on what, but I could only hope that our train tracks were both thin enough at this point in life to only be crossing paths momentarily.
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