The Lilac Tunnel: My Journey with Samantha

I tell Eddie he doesn’t need to tell anyone. I’ll tell Samantha myself. He sneers, betting I won’t, but I march straight over to her on the porch steps anyway, my pulse pounding. She asks what he wants, and he locks eyes with her just long enough to lose his nerve before vanishing back through the hedge. I square my shoulders and confess I couldn’t reach my family by phone, so I pretended to anyway. I really want to go to Piney Point. I’m just not ready to face my family yet.

Expecting anger, I find curiosity instead. Why not ready, Samantha asks softly. Honestly, I don’t know them well, and I miss Mom so much I wish I could spend the summer with her instead. But I can’t.

Samantha wraps an arm around me, saying she understands, and when I ask if she misses her own mom, too, she nods, staring into the distance like she’s picturing a face she can barely recall. It might sound silly, missing someone you barely remember. Not silly at all, I tell her, sometimes I forget what having both parents together even felt like, but I miss it just the same.

Straightening up, Samantha asks if my family expects me today, whether they’d worry over a few days’ delay. I answer honestly, since the locket returns me to the exact moment I left: they’re not expecting me yet, so no worry at all. Something gleams in her eyes, like I’ve given the answer she hoped for. Come to Piney Point, she says, maybe some time away will make facing my family easier. Relief floods through me, confession made, no anger in return, and the day after tomorrow, we leave for Piney Point, my heart lighter for having told the truth.