Fresh Start, page 9
“Let’s just get our food and then we can get to the hard stuff?” It was more a question than a statement, but Hannah nodded in reply and they continued on toward the food truck and farm stand in silence.
***
After they’d both received their burritos, Mexican Coke and also some strawberries from the stand, they sat down at an empty picnic table chosen by Alyssa off to the side of the main row of other tables that while not packed too tightly, had enough people occupying them to make Hannah happy that Alyssa had chosen a more private table for them. Hannah took a sip of her Coke while she stared at Alyssa who was adorable as she ate a strawberry and looked in any direction other than Hannah’s eyes.
“You really don’t have to tell me anything, you know?” She tried to offer a kindness. “We just met. I understand.”
“It’s just a long story to tell and it’s not exactly an easy one.” She glanced around and lowered her hat.
“You don’t like people noticing you, do you? You keep looking around to see if anyone’s looking at you.”
“That’s part of the story.”
“I’ll listen to any part you want to tell me or none of it. It’s up to you.”
“Your eyes change color sometimes.” Alyssa said as if not realizing she was saying it out loud.
“They’re green so yeah, they do that.” Hannah told her. “It’s the only color that really does.”
“My name is Alyssa Masters.” Alyssa said without a segue and then said nothing else as if waiting for Hannah to say or do something.
“And I’m Hannah Granger. And we share a middle name.”
“You really don’t know, do you?” Alyssa took another look around and then back into Hannah’s eyes as if she was trying to bore deeper into them to discover something.
“I’m sorry, no. Should I know who you are?”
“Everyone seems to think they know who I am.” Alyssa offered a defensive reply.
“I don’t think I know who you are at all, but I wouldn’t mind getting to know you more.” Hannah offered with a small gulp.
“I don’t know where to start. I haven’t ever told the full story.”
“Start at the beginning.” Hannah took a bite of her burrito. “This is good.” She shared between bites.
“About two years ago, I was arrested and accused of murder.”
Hannah nearly choked. She sat the burrito back down on the paper plate and looked at Alyssa who was clearly not joking.
“What?” She finally got out after a drink.
“That’s not the beginning, but I think you can see why I don’t talk about myself.”
“What happened?” Hannah asked somewhat gently. She found herself intrigued by Alyssa and whatever story she was about to tell her. Alyssa stared at her with her intense eyes. “What?”
“You don’t seem scared.” She looked down.
“Why would I be scared?” Hannah queried.
Alyssa let the left corner of her mouth lift ever so slightly.
“I had just moved in with my boyfriend, Ty.” She paused. “He had a little girl from a previous relationship. She was three.” She took a long drink to stall. “I went to bed one night because I didn’t feel well. When I woke up, Ty and Lizzy were dead.” She revealed. “They’d been murdered. I found them both and called the police. They arrested me later and my mom couldn’t afford the bail and neither could I since they’d set it so high. I sat in prison for a while until the trial.”
“Oh my God, Alyssa!” Hannah couldn’t believe what she was hearing.
“I didn’t do it.” Alyssa seemed to need to say out loud. “I never would have hurt Ty or Lizzy. She was only three and Ty was a great dad. I never would have hurt them.” She told herself and Hannah too technically. “Ty had been stabbed and I stupidly touched the knife because I thought I could save him and then Lizzy had been strangled because she was just at the wrong place at the wrong time.”
“I am so sorry.”
“I was left alive. I don’t know why. I was lying there asleep when it happened and the police didn’t believe me.”
“How are you here now then?” Hannah wanted to know.
“Hung jury at the trial. They couldn’t reach a verdict so I sat in prison until they were about to set a new trial date.” She paused. “The judge surprised everyone when he dismissed the charges.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, so they let me out and I ended up back here with my mom to start over.” She looked at Hannah. “I still don’t know how you didn’t know about me. I’m all over the news or at least I was for the past two years.”
“I only got back a few months ago and my life was about my mom and then planning her funeral, selling her house and getting a job. I haven’t been paying attention to anything outside of that.” She reached across the table to Alyssa’s hand and clasped it in her own. “I am so sorry. I can’t believe you had to go through that after you lost people you loved.”
Alyssa appeared to be surprised and Hannah wasn’t sure if it was because of her contact or her comment.
“Thank you.”
“So, that’s why you look around everywhere, why you’re wearing that hat right now, don’t have a working cell phone, had to move home and that’s why I saw those press vans.”
“Yes, to all of the above. I haven’t left the complex since I got home.”
“That’s why we’re here instead of at an actual restaurant.” She added in realization. She looked at her hand, which was still on top of Alyssa’s. “You were worried about how I would react.”
“I’m worried about how everyone reacts.” She looked down at their hands and made no attempt to move. “I lost everything. My friends either didn’t believe me or couldn’t handle it and Ty and Lizzy were gone. I lost my job and my home. My mom and brother had to work extra hard and contribute what they earned to my defense, which we’re still paying off and I had a career before all this. I had a trajectory. I had goals and now I have none of that. I just have to restart as if none of it happened and the worst part isn’t even that I didn’t do it and people think I did. That’s bad enough, but the worst part is that I wasn’t convicted of anything. The charges were dismissed.”
“But people are still treating you like a murderer?”
“Yes, and I’ve become a hermit as a result. I’m thinking about cutting my hair or dying it.”
“Don’t do that.” Hannah lifted the hand covering Alyssa’s and moved it instead to brush an errant strand of her long, dark hair back behind her ear under the hat she’d dawned to hide herself. “Your hair is beautiful.” She offered a smile. “Especially when you just wake up and it’s a mess like this morning.” She tried to lighten the mood, but it was also true. She’d liked that look on Alyssa. She realized she shouldn’t be saying these things to her. Alyssa was straight, off limits and obviously going through a very rough time.
“I wasn’t expecting you to be at my door this morning.” Alyssa agreed to the lightened mood while they finished their lunches and headed back toward their apartment complex.
***
“You suck at this.” Hannah mocked as she watched Alyssa try to screw one thing into another thing that clearly were not supposed to be screwed into one another as they both sat on her living room floor trying to put together the hundred-piece sofa.
“It’s not going in.” Alyssa replied exasperated.
“Here.” Hannah dropped what she’d been working on and crawled over to join her. She picked up the instructions and then looked at what Alyssa was trying to do. “You’re using the wrong screw for that. See?” She pointed at the instructions.
“No.”
“You need the longer one.” She picked up the right screw, which was a fraction of an inch longer. “Here.”
“They look exactly alike.” Alyssa defended and Hannah watched a little bead of sweat roll down the side of her face just past her ear.
Alyssa had removed her hat and changed back into those bright orange and yellow sleep shorts from earlier so she could be more comfortable while Hannah had remained in her shirt and jeans.
“They do not. Here. Take this. That one goes somewhere else.” Hannah traded screws with Alyssa and then watched as she attempted to screw it in correctly.
She let her struggle only for a moment before she held a part of the side of the couch more firmly so Alyssa could just focus on the flat head screwdriver inserting the screw into place.
“I’ve never been very good at this stuff, but if you put me into a store, I can put together a holiday display complete with spinning Peanuts characters in a matter of minutes.” Alyssa finished and then leaned back; her shoulder pressed against Hannah’s.
“Is that what you did before?”
“Put together holiday displays?” Alyssa looked at her. “No, I got my business degree and wanted to work my way up in retail. To start though, you have to work in the stores themselves and at holiday time, we get all these displays shipped to us and I was the best at putting those together. Apparently, that skill didn’t transfer to putting together IKEA furniture.”
“Is this the first time you’ve had to do this on your own?” Hannah took a chance and asked.
“I guess, yeah.” Alyssa leaned back on both of her hands and stretched her legs out in front of her attempting a stretch. Hannah had to look away because there was a sliver of skin showing between the shirt and the shorts Alyssa was wearing along with the long legs on display. She noticed the hair there, but didn’t say anything and figured that meant Alyssa felt at least a little comfortable with her. “When I was I college, I had roommates and we just found our furniture or inherited it. We only bought stuff we didn’t have to put together and then I was with Ty.”
“He put stuff together for you.”
“A few things, yeah, but he also had some money since he was a little older and more established so he bought me my first real couch and chair for the living room of my old place and it didn’t come in pieces.”
“How much older was he?”
“I was twenty-two when we met at my graduation. He was twenty-eight.” She looked over at Hannah. “How old are you?” She asked without hesitation and Hannah thought it interesting timing, but again found herself pushing stuff out of her mind.
“I’m thirty-two. You?”
“Twenty-six, but I feel like I’ve aged about ten years in the past two.”
“I can understand that. I kind of feel the same, but for a different reason.”
“What do you mean?”
“I feel wiser somehow; like I learned a lot about myself and the world. It takes people a long time to learn some of the stuff I’ve learned and experienced normally.”
“And while you were doing that, I was learning how to avoid making eye contact with anyone on C-Block because that’s where the real criminals were housed.” Alyssa leaned back up and placed her hands between her legs. “I’m sorry.”
“For what?”
“For bringing that up.”
“Why?”
“How are you just okay with everything I’ve told you?” Alyssa seemed upset all the sudden.
“What?”
“I tell you I was almost convicted of murdering two people and you help me put together my furniture.” She retorted testily.
“Yes.”
“Why?” She turned her head to the side to further take in Hannah.
“Did you kill your boyfriend and his daughter?” Hannah asked.
“No!” Alyssa objected.
“Then, you have been through hell and you deserve a little friendship and some help from someone who is fully expecting your help in return. So, can we just get done with this damn thing and go to my place so you can help me unpack boxes?”
Alyssa seemed to calm almost instantly and Hannah smiled to help her realize that everything was okay.
“I can order us a pizza for dinner later. If you want, I can unpack with you and we can just eat while we go.” She offered.
“That sounds good.” Hannah agreed. “Wait. What do you like on your pizza?”
“There’s this place here called Sal’s. I haven’t had it in years. They have this deep-dish pizza that I really like. I used to get it with pepperoni and sausage.”
“I can be okay with that.” Hannah smiled at Alyssa’s recollection.
Chapter 10:
Alyssa watched Hannah snatch a second slice of pizza from the box on her counter top. She’d brought a bottle of wine from LA so they’d opened that and used regular cups that they’d uncovered already to enjoy a little while they unpacked some of Hannah’s belongings in the living room. Alyssa watched as Hannah tried to hold the pizza in her mouth while putting plates into the cabinets and when she dropped the pizza on the counter, Alyssa just laughed at her.
“That’s funny, huh?” Hannah asked her with a smirk on her face. She picked up the pizza and tossed it back in the box before grabbing a paper towel and wiping up the mess she’d created in her brand-new apartment.
“Yes, that was funny.” Alyssa couldn’t stop herself from watching Hannah as she moved. She’d changed once they’d arrived at her place and put on a pair of sweatpants that were capris so her calves were visible and a tank top that made pretty much everything visible.
“Maybe we should take a break. We’ve made a lot of progress and it’s getting late.” Hannah suggested and then plopped herself down on her sofa and grabbed her glass of wine off of the table in front of it. Alyssa sat down next to her and picked up her own glass. She watched curiously as Hannah grabbed the bottle and filled her glass for her and then topped off her own. “We might as well just finish the bottle.”
“I don’t think I should have any more.” Alyssa suggested.
“You can’t let me drink alone.” Hannah implored.
“I’m kind of a lightweight now. I went two years without alcohol. I had a glass last night and felt it almost immediately.” She recalled the dinner with Erin.
“So, how are you feeling now then?”
“A little tipsy.”
“Good thing you don’t have to drive home.” Hannah replied and then clinked her glass against Alyssa’s in a mock toast. “Drink up.”
“I have to work tomorrow.”
“You work about a hundred yards away from here and besides, it’s two glasses of wine.”
“We’ve made a lot of progress.” Alyssa pointed out as she looked around the nearly unpacked room. “You’ve got a lot of stuff.”
“It’s mostly my mom’s stuff though. I sold a lot before I left and gave the rest of it away.”
“Really?”
“I left for Europe with a giant backpack and that was about it.” She shared and looked around the room. Alyssa watched her eyes dart from object to object. “I accumulated stuff as I went along. That box over there is the first one I shipped back.” She pointed to a box in the corner of the room. “I never bothered opening it when I got back.”
“What’s in it?” Alyssa asked a took a long drink enjoying the feeling the liquid provided.
“I think I shipped it from Scotland so probably my Great Britain stuff. There are probably about five or six others around her somewhere. I’d pick up books and odds and ends as I went and then when my bag got too heavy, I’d ship stuff back to my mom to hold onto. She had most of the important stuff that I decided to keep before I left.”
“What did your mom have?” She asked and then realized the question sounded funny.
“She had throat cancer and it spread very rapidly. What’s weird though is that my mom wasn’t a smoker. She’d never touched cigarettes in her life. She just got throat cancer and then it spread to her lungs and into her lymph nodes.”
“God, that’s terrible.” Alyssa replied and found herself more comfortable with Hannah by the minute. She leaned over slightly and rested her elbow on the back of the sofa so she could face her more fully before discovering that she would likely spill her wine in that position due to the feeling that she was floating and she sat the glass down on the table before returning to the position.
“The good thing was that because it came on so fast, I think she suffered a lot less. She was in pain, I know, but at least it was only for a month or two. For some people, it’s much worse.” Hannah sat her glass down and then turned to face Alyssa. “What about your dad?” She asked her.
“Oh, he died when I was young.” Alyssa shared.
“God!” Hannah replied and Alyssa guessed she didn’t know what to say.
“I know my life sounds like a bunch of tragedies, but there were some good times thrown in there too.” Alyssa tried to make Hannah feel a little better.
“Give me an example.”
“Well, my dad was pretty great before he got sick.” Alyssa shared. “He would take us for ice cream; my brother and me. He’d let us get whatever we wanted and then we’d go home for dinner and my mom would yell at him for filling us with sugar and my brother and I would just laugh as my dad tried to smooth it over with her.” She smiled at those memories. “I had a great time in college. I’d just gotten to LA, moved into a dorm and felt like an actual adult. I met new friends and we’d stay up late and go out and drink way before we were twenty-one and just had fun.” She smiled at first, but then pulled it back when she remembered something else.
“What just happened?” Hannah noticed the not so subtle change.
“Nothing.” Alyssa tried to shake it off.
“You were happy and then something changed.” Hannah moved in just a bit closer and Alyssa looked up to meet her eyes.
“I guess you could say I was kind of a party girl in school and a little bit thereafter. We went out a lot and drank and danced sometimes. When I met Ty, I stopped for the most part because he was a serious guy and I wanted to show him I could be a serious girl.” She took in a breath and looked over at her glass wishing it wasn’t so far away. She could use it right now, but then she felt Hannah’s hand again rest on her own and she decided not to move. “Before we moved in together, I guess I missed some of that fun and I started going out again with my friends.” She watched Hannah’s thumb move over her hand. “They used that against me in the trial. They said that I just wanted a life without responsibilities and that I wanted to party and drink and not have to deal with a child and a life with a man who put his daughter above everything else.” She pushed back the tears that threatened.
