Harper's Hill, Chapter 7: Uncle Who?

Emily drove home from Redwood Valley on a high. Of course, she wasn't high on drugs, but high on... life, per say. The meeting with her Uncle Alex had gone so well and they had plans to meet up again sometime, and she finally felt like another part of her life was opening up for her to explore.

She rolled down the window and felt the autumn air on her face. As she listened to music on the radio, she couldn't stop herself from thinking about her parents. Did they ever have a chance, or were they destined for despair straight from the top?

She shook those thoughts out of her mind and went back to thinking happy thoughts, instead of feelings of insecurity. Alex actually wanted to connect with her and help her learn more about her history. She had wanted this for so long, and she just needed to learn to embrace the good.

The insecurity came back as soon as she walked through the front door, seeing her brother James coming down the stairs. "Hey Emmy," He said casually. "Where were you?"

Emily had never been a good liar. And the person who could see through her lies the most was her brother. She slowly took off her coat and hung it up before kicking off her shoes. "Oh, nowhere," She said, and then realized she was holding food from the diner in her hand, the food from Riley's mom. So now she had to explain why she was in Redwood. "Just went to Redwood Diner to have a coffee," She said, trying to sound casual. "Riley's mom was there, she gave me some food to bring home. We don't have to cook dinner tonight, there's enough here that—"

"Hold on, why did you go all the way to Redwood, just for coffee?" He asked. Emily turned away to hide her face, pretending to fiddle with something in her purse. "Don't bother lying, Emily. I can tell you're not telling me the full truth right now."

Emily considered continuing to create a rouse, but she knew it was a futile attempt. "Fine, I was meeting someone for coffee," She admitted.

"What do you mean?" He asked, his left eyebrow slightly raising. "Are you meeting people from online forums again? You know how it turned out last time, the guy just turned out to be a dick."

"No, no," She said. "First of all, give me some grace for all of that. I was 17." She rolled her eyes. "And I wasn't meeting anyone from a forum. This was different. I was... well, I guess you could say I was reuniting, not necessarily meeting."

"With who?" He asked, his tone so neutral that Emily couldn't tell how he was feeling.

She swallowed. "Uncle Alex?"

"Uncle Who?" James asked, and Emily could tell that he wasn't very happy.

"Uncle Alex," She repeated, and then continued on. "It's mom's youngest brother. You know, the one that lives in Redwood Valley. Well, I don't know if you know anything about them. But the oldest three live in the West side and Alex lives in Redwood, so I reached out to him, and then—"

James interrupted her for a second time in their conversation. "Why would you do that?" He didn't look mad, he didn't look disappointed... he looked hurt. He looked betrayed.

"I don't know, James... I just..." She said quietly, trailing off and immediately being overwhelmed with feelings of guilt.

"Why would you do that?" He asked again, this time a little louder, a little stronger, and with a little more tone.

"Jesus, James," Emily said, getting defensive. "Calm down. It's not like it'll make that much of a difference."

"No? Okay, let's talk in six months when you're enthralled with your new family members," James threw back at her. "I guess everything that Riley and I have done for you doesn't matter, huh?"

"What are you talking about?" Emily asked, feeling so confused. She stepped forward, towards her brother. "You guys will always matter. I'll always love you guys. And you know I owe everything to you. But I wouldn't expect you to throw it in my face..."

"I'm not throwing it—" He stopped and took a breath, and then calmly said, "I'm not throwing it in your face. I guess I just feel... some type of way."

"Why though?" Emily asked, "I'm just trying to learn more about our family."

"Our family is fine the way it is." James said definitively, as if that was the end of the conversation. They stood there for a second, Emily trying to read her brother's face, and him looking right past her, in some other world.

It was quiet. And then, "I miss mom."

Emily didn't realize she'd said the words until they were out of her mouth. She looked down at the ground and then up at James again, who was looking at her now. She shrugged. "I'm sorry, I just do. I know you don't want me to—"

"That's not it at all, Emily," James said, his voice softer now. He gently rested his hand on her shoulder. "I just don't want you to get hurt. We don't know this guy, we don't know if we can trust him. Like, come on, Emily. Why can't you see we don't need anyone else?"

"We're not doing this. I'm not gonna let you do this," Emily said, shrugging his hand off of her shoulder. "I'm not gonna let you isolate me from everybody just because you want to protect me, or because you're afraid of change, or whatever the issue is."

"Emily—"

"No." She snapped. "I'm seeing him again. I'm gonna learn more about Mom. I'm gonna learn more about our family. And you're not gonna stop me, I don't fucking care."

Before James could say anything, Riley walked through the front door. Emily didn't want to have this conversation in front of her, so she grabbed her bag and started to head towards the stairs.

"The weirdest thing happened today," Riley said, and then gave James a quick kiss. "I saw a name in the employee sign-in book at the school."

James looked up at Emily as she started to head up the stairs, and then shook his head and looked away. "What name?"

"Raymond Pierce," Riley said as Emily got to the top of the stairs. Emily froze in her spot. "Isn't that the name of your dad?"