Page 53 of First Down Promise

“Oh, I want to show you something else.” Abby steps over to the dresser and opens a vintage-looking jewelry box made of dark brown wood and a glass top. She lifts two rings from it and holds them in her palm. Both are simple gold rings, but one has a small diamond in a four-prong setting. “These were my mom’s.”

“I remember,” I say, and the corners of my mouth lift.

“Pete has Dad’s wedding band.” Abby slips them onto her ring finger. “We’re the same ring size,” she adds with a light laugh. “Dad said he wanted to upgrade her engagement ring, but they never got to.” Her smile falters for a second before she pulls them off and sets them back in the jewelry box.

“It’s still pretty.”

We end up lying on our stomachs on her bed with her laptop in front of us. I tuck one of the hundred pillows on her bed under my chest. “This is where we would go for Sunday morning brunch. Usually after church,” Abby says, opening street view on a map to show me around her hometown in Wisconsin. I have one leg draped over hers, with her other foot resting against my ankle.

“You and Pete don’t go to church anymore, do you?”

“Not really, no. Nothing against it, just fell out of the habit. Do you?” she answers.

“No, my Sundays from August to January are usually spoken for, but I grew up in a Christian family. After my parents split, my mom stopped going altogether, and I locked in on football, then basketball in the spring.”

Part of me relaxes when she focuses back on the screen. She only knows bits and pieces of my past, and I’ll fill her in on the rest someday. Even if I’ll need to talk to a therapist afterward.

“This is our house. Pete still pays to keep it maintained.”

The house looks nice enough, but there’s something sad about seeing it frozen on the screen, like it’s been waiting for them to come home.

“You know I’ve been there, right?” I ask.

She narrows her eyes and shakes her head. “What? When?”

“You were on spring break visiting your grandparents. It was a couple of months before your parents passed away. Pete invited me to Wisconsin to visit, and it was good to see your folks. I liked them. They were good people.”

Her eyes widen. “They were amazing. I remember Mom said Pete and a friend were there, but she never said it was you. Wow!”

“Your mom showed me where they marked yours and Pete’s heights on the wall with dates. She definitely broke out Pete’s baby book…and yours.”

Abby buries her face in a pillow and groans. “That’s so embarrassing!”

“No, it was sweet. My mom didn’t do any of that shit. You and Pete seemed really close growing up.”

She lifts her head and meets my eyes. “We still are.”

Guilt twists in my gut, but I move on. “It sucks when bad things happen to good people.”

“Yeah, it wasn’t fair. I still struggle with why it happened. Like, why then? But I have Pete. He reminds me so much of our dad.”

“Bad things happen to bad people, too,” I quietly add.

“I guess so. Ugh, anyway, want to see where I went to college?” Abby asks. She’s trying to distract herself, and I respect it. I’m hardly one to push someone to talk about family.

“I want to see your dance stuff from college.”

Abby giggles again. “No, no way.”

But she shows me anyway, opening a file with pictures from her high school and college performances.

“Wow, your first performance in college,” I mumble.

“Yeah, it was only a few months after we met. Do you even remember meeting me at Pete’s first Family Day?” she asks.

“Of course I do.”

“Did you notice me?” she whispers. “Because I noticed you.”