Sparks Fly

The train was hot, smelly, cramped, and full of little kids wailing at the top of their lungs as it rattled and bounced across the tracks, the houses and skyscrapers eventually fading to flat land and clear blue water. I was hungry, tired, and pissed off, squished between a sweaty fat man in a blue shirt that was much too tight and a business woman who nearly dumped an entire case of sparkly pink blush on me every time we pulled to a stop. I'd been on it for three hours, my iPod was losing battery fast, and I wanted to kill myself.

Welcome to the first day of the longest summer of my life.

Finally, the train pulled into a deserted train station and the conductor boomed, "We are now pulling into St. Rose . . . next stop, Little Nook. I repeat, we are now pulling into St. Rose, the next stop is Little Nook."

Well, this was me. I got up, managed to get past the fat man, pulled my bags down, and left the train, making sure to 'mind the gap.' I was the only person who got off at St. Rose. The bright sun made me squint, and the air smelled salty, like the ocean was nearby. I vaguely remembered my mom telling me that this place was a beach town, with a boardwalk and everything. The only people standing at the station were an old couple, a pack of teenagers pretending to smoke, and a guy in his early forties down at the very end, his hands in his pockets, looking nervous.

When he saw me, he began to wave and walk towards me. I stood there uncomfortably, not sure if I should walk towards him too so we could meet in the middle or just stay where I was and look everywhere but at him. I decided to go with the latter, seeing as I was pretty good at it.

The man approached me. "Hey, Sierra."

"That's me," I mumbled.

"Nice to see you again." He gave me a one-armed hug.

"Hello, Jack," I sighed.

His mouth straightened into a thin line. "I was, uh, hoping we could go back to 'Dad'," he said.

"We'll see." I picked up my bags.

He let it go. "Here, I'll help with those." He took them from me, leaving me empty-handed, which made me feel even weirder. "So, how was your trip?"

"Fine," I answered as we began to walk down the steps to the parking lot.

"Was it crowded on the train?"

"Yeah."

"Did you get a good seat?"

"Yeah."

"Oo-kay." My dad was silent for a second before he attempted another stab at conversation. "When did you change your hair?"

I fingered the strands of my dark brown, nearly black, hair. It had orignally been a brown-blonde, but I got tired of it. "It's been like that since sophomore year." But then again, you wouldn't know.

I could tell he was thinking the same thing. "Oh. It looks very . . . nice." I didn't say anything. "How's your sister?"

My older sister, Dakota, was twenty. "She's good."

"Is she at college?"

"Yeah. NYU."

"That's nice. How's your mom?"

"Fine."

"Are you thinking about applying to any schools yet?"

"Not yet."

We got to the car, so I opened the door and slid in silently. The leather felt hot on the back of my legs, almost burning them, but I refused to say anything. My dad got in a few minutes later and we drove back to his house without saying a word. He seemed to have gotten the message that I didn't want to talk to him. Good.

Unfortunately, as we got closer into town, he began pointing out the sights. "That's the post office; you can write letters to your mom and Dakota if you want. Oh, there's the movie theater. By the ocean is the boardwalk, and over there is the strip mall. It's got a few stores, you know, Hollister, Forever 21, J.Crew, the works. It's also got a Starbucks and a McDonald's."

"Fun," I said flatly.

"And that's the local bed and breakfast. It's called Maisie's Garden," my dad told me, pointing to it as we passed. "The owner, Grammy Dee - you'll meet her sooner or later - named it after her granddaughter, Maisie. Her mom, Holly, is only a few years older than you. You'd like her."

"I bet I would." I honestly did not care who Maisie or Holly or Grammy Dee were. I just wanted to go home. I would've traded this for my seat in between the fat man and the business woman on that hot, stuffy train any day.

"You know, since I have to work all day - I'm a general contractor here, in case you weren't aware - you might want to consider getting a job so you won't be lonely."

"I thought this was supposed to be a 'fun summer.'" My words dripped with sarcasm. It wasn't like I was a stranger to working, because I wasn't. But honestly, if I got a job, then I'd have to talk to people. And I did not want to get to know anyone in this town. Boys, girls, men, women, cats, dogs, fish, if they were alive, then they were automatically out. I wasn't really one of those typical girls who imagined her summer full of friends, fun, and cute guys. Nope, if it went my way, it'd just be me, myself, and I. Boys were definitely out of the question. "You know, full of 'father-daughter bonding time.' Isn't that why I got shipped here? So we could 're-connect' after those four years you were gone?"

Jack sighed. "Sierra, please. I know we haven't spoken since I left, but I really want to get to know you better this summer."

"You had the chance to get to know me better," I spat. "Even after you left, even after the divorce, you could've stayed in touch. You had the chance to get to know me and Dakota better, and you threw it in the trash. So thanks, but no thanks."

"Sierra -"

I ignored him, pulled out my iPod, stuck the earbuds in my ears, and turned the volume up to drown him out. Even when the device died so there was no music and I knew he knew it, he still didn't say anything, and I didn't, either.