Hand-Me-Down Love by Jennifer Ransom

Was
Marla impeding that? Were they impeding that with each other by
having a relationship that went way out of the bounds of
brother-in-law and sister-in-law? Were they fooling themselves into
thinking that Meredith would condone what they were doing?
    Sean came into the
kitchen as she was making coffee and put his arms around her from the
back as she stood at the counter.
    “ I know I’ve
hurt you,” he said. “I don’t know how to take it back or
convince you that I do love you for you. I don’t know what to say
that will make you believe me.”
    She turned around,
but he kept his arms around her as she twisted against his body. She
looked into his grieving gray eyes. “I know how it happened,” she
said. “I know. But it makes me wonder if we need to do our
grieving, face our grieving, without putting a band-aid on it. I just
don’t know. Maybe I’m making too much of it.”
    He held her for a
moment longer, then released her. They got coffee and she took hers
to the bedroom to get dressed for the day. When she left, Sean was
sitting on the couch with Lucy in his lap. “I’ll see you later,”
she called as she closed the door at the top of the stairs.
    It was a busy day
and at one point, Marla left the shop to visit a customer who wanted
her to look at her dining space and help her with a table and chairs.
When she got back, she asked Jada if she’d seen Sean. She hadn’t.
    Marla went upstairs
calling his name before she stepped into the kitchen. Why did she
have to make him feel so bad about accidentally calling her the wrong
name? It wasn’t important, not at all. She could understand it. She
felt panicky as she walked through the living room. And then he
appeared, walking in from the hall.
    “ I’m sorry,”
she said as he hugged her. “I do understand. I really do.”
    “ I know,” he
said. “That’s because you are the most understanding person I’ve
ever known.”
    She didn’t want to
cry but couldn’t help herself. Sean cupped her face in his hands
and looked at her. “Marla, I’ve been thinking about everything
you said. I’ve spent the whole day up here thinking about it. And
I’ve come to the conclusion that you’re right.”
    “ Right about
what?” she said trying to remember exactly what she had said.
    “ Right that maybe
we need to do our grieving. Go through it and deal with it,
separately. Somehow, our being together is keeping us from finishing
what has to happen with it.”
    “ I don’t want
you to leave,” Marla said. “I know we can work it out.”
    “ I don’t want to
leave either. But I know now that I have to leave. We have to deal
with everything. If we don’t, then it’s going to jump up one day
and hit us in the face.”
    They stood hugging
for several minutes. Marla tried to accept what he was saying. “Where
will you go?” she asked.
    “ I’ve been
researching on the Internet today. Do you remember that I hiked part
of the Appalachian Trail after I graduated high school?”
    The Appalachian
Trail? Marla knew nothing about that or about hiking at all. Did
Sean? She shook her head.
    “ It was one of my
best experiences. I talked to Meredith about it sometimes. Probably
talked her ear off about it. She wanted us to plan a trip where we
would hike the same place. I don’t know when we were really going
to do it, but we talked about it.”
    “ Is that where
you’re going?” Marla asked tearfully.
    “ Yes. I think I
should take the hike that Meredith and I always said we would one
day. I need to do it somehow.”
    “ When are you
leaving?” Marla asked, not wanting to hear the answer.
    “ Tomorrow,” he
said holding her tight. “I’m leaving tomorrow. I called your dad
today and told him I knew he couldn’t keep holding my job. I
officially resigned from the bank.”
    Marla couldn’t
believe her ears. Sean was really doing this. He was cutting his ties
to her family, his job, his town, her. And he might never come back.
    “ Let me take