Harper's Hill, Chapter 6: You Look Just Like...

Emily agreed to meet her uncle at a diner in Redwood Valley. It was actually the restaurant that Riley's parents owned, so when she entered, she walked over to say hello to Riley's mom, on behalf of Riley.

"Hello, Mrs. Morgan," Emily said with a polite smile, walking up to the counter and placing her hands down on it, feeling awkward. Emily had a hard enough time dealing with her own mother issues, so she struggled when her brother James' girlfriend asked Emily to say hello to her mom when she was in Redwood Valley. But Riley would do whatever for her, so Emily sucked it up and dealt with the awkwardness.

Mrs. Morgan had a friendly smile, and she pointed at Emily, staring for a second before snapping her fingers. "Emily. That's your name," She confirmed to herself. "How's my Riley? How's your brother?"

"They're both good," Emily said, "Riley is at work today and James is working on another car, too. I just came to say hello while I was in the restaurant. I'm meeting someone here."

"Well, thanks for coming and saying hi, sweetie," Mrs. Morgan said in a kind voice. "Stop by the counter before you leave and I'll give you some food to take home."

"Oh, Mrs. Morgan—" Emily started.

"Laura," Mrs. Morgan interrupted. "And don't worry about it."

"I don't need any food," Emily said, trying to be polite.

"Who says it's just for you?" Mrs. Morgan chuckled, giving Emily a wink and patting her hand before walking away.

Emily turned and picked a seat. She had purposely showed up a half hour early so she could see her uncle when he came in. She hoped that his Facebook picture was recent, or else she wouldn't be able to recognize him otherwise. She wondered if he would recognize her. She wondered if she could call him Uncle Alex or if she should just call him Alex.

Before she knew it, she saw a man walking right towards her. It looked like her uncle. She looked at her phone to check the time.

"Yes, I'm early," He said as he sat down. "I always like to get to a place early to scope out the scene."

"I do the same thing, evidently," She chuckled. Now she knew where she got it from.

It was silent for a moment, and Emily felt the awkwardness that she had felt just a few minutes before. A waitress came by and took their order, and they both ordered a coffee. Emily was surprised to find that she had another thing in common with her uncle — they both took their coffee the same way.

After the waitress left, Emily looked at Alex with a polite smile.

"Wow, you look just like your mom," Her uncle said.

"Thanks," Emily said with a smile, though this comment just made the whole thing even more awkward.

"So—" Alex started, but was then interrupted.

"Can you tell me some stuff about my mom?" Emily asked, almost frantically. She didn't really know where this energy was coming from, it just felt like it had been bubbling up inside of her, dying to come out.

The waitress came by again just then, and Alex smiled at her politely as he took his coffee and then looked down at the mug. He chuckled as he looked into his drink. "What kind of stuff do you want to know?"

"Anything." Emily said, ignoring her coffee completely. She didn't even know why she ordered it, because she was too nervous to drink it. "I don't really remember her... well I do, but I only remember her on drugs. Can you tell me what she was like... before that?"

Emily watched as a wave of sadness crashed through her uncle's eyes, just to come short of the shore. Instead of spilling down his cheeks, his tears formed at the base of his eyes and just sat there. He looked up and blinked them away.

"Sherry... Sherry was charismatic, always. And even more magnetic. Everyone loved her, everyone was drawn in by her," Alex started. "She would rebel though, like she'd skip classes and sneak out, and it would piss off my parents so bad..." He looked out the window for a moment, and Emily followed his gaze. There was a squirrel sitting on a tree branch outside. Alex smiled again and then looked at Emily, but this time his smile was sad in some way.

"No matter what she did though, she wanted my dad's approval. Your grandfather, I don't know if you remember, was very traditional. He wanted her to be perfect, and she wanted to be perfect for him, so she had big dreams and a twinkle in her eye and a spring in her step, but it all faded..."

"Why did it fade?" Emily asked, though she already knew the answer.

"She met your dad," Alex said. "That man is—" He shook his head. Emily could see he was holding back. "It's none of my business. But anyway, she kind of lost sight of her dreams once she got pregnant, etcetera, etcetera. I'm not trying to dismiss it, but I try not to think about her too much anymore."

"I'm sorry—"

"No, Emily, it's okay," He told her, reaching out and gently putting his hand on hers. Normally, Emily wouldn't like that from a stranger. But even though this man was a stranger, he was family in some way. And he'd made her feel even closer to her mother than anyone had ever been able to make her feel, just in these few minutes. His touch felt comforting, calming, like she didn't have to worry for five seconds.

Emily didn't notice herself staring at his hand on hers, and when Alex noticed her staring, he immediately pulled his hand away. He wrapped his hands around his mug. "Sorry," He said, but then quickly kept talking before Emily could tell him that she didn't mind. "I absolutely love your mother, and that's why it makes me sad to talk about her," He started. "I don't mind though. I'm actually really happy you messaged me."

"You are?" Emily asked, genuinely surprised. "I thought I was just making you sad."

Alex laughed and shook his head, taking a sip from his mug for what seemed like the first time. But maybe Emily just wasn't paying well enough attention. "I'm sorry you got that impression, but that's not the case at all. I was really close to your mom. And sitting at this table..."

"Probably brings up a lot of bad memories," She guessed.

"No, it's just like sitting with her." He laughed. "Maybe not the personality so much, because I don't know you all that well, but like I said, you look just like her."

Emily allowed herself to be happy that she reminded him of her mom. That's something that she had always wanted to hear. They spent the next hour sitting at that table, her uncle telling her all sorts of stories about Sharon and what she was like.

When they parted ways, they agreed to keep in touch, which gave Emily hope. For the first time in a long time, she had hope about something.