The Monroe Legacy - G.4. Chapter 12 - Now... Where Was I?

 

I suppose you're wondering how we got here. How is it that after six years of silence and a cliffhanger that must surely have been fatal to your interest by now, Lillia Monroe is standing in her wedding dress as if no time has passed. 

We last saw her, humbled and heartbroken by the loss of a friend, a possible romance dead on arrival and facing the disapproval of her family. Home from college but with no idea where to go, who to be, and on her own for the first time without the shield of popularity and her family's legacy to uphold.

How could a young woman, only just beginning to reckon with the harms she's caused, the lives her lies so carelessly derailed, get back to a place where she could peacefully walk down the aisle? Could that self-centred child ever be ready to start a life with a partner that would stand the test of time?

Well, if you'll bear with me, I'll tell you...

Authors Note - I'm not sure why February 2021 was the time that the Monroes started speaking to me again, and I'm not crazy enough to believe that my readers of old are still out there, so this is for me, to have fun with my writing and my game, and maybe finish what I started. 

What does a disgraced teen queen do when she moves back home after college with no job prospects or friends?

Get a job somewhere nobody from her old life would ever think to look for her is what.

Sparky's Day-2-Nite diner was everything that Lillia's old group scorned. From the frilly hostess uniforms to the lindy hop classics on the jukebox, Sparky's was the absolute last place anyone from Brittlebush would go for a decaf, extra-hot, hazelnut latte... not least because Sparky's only served coffee two ways, black or white. Lillia took whatever shifts nobody else wanted, 2AM-8AM, weekends, holidays and never complained or told the other staff anything about herself.

Rachel and Gray didn't really understand what she was doing. The legacy was hers, and she had the funds to sit back and think about her career, travel, get a masters, whatever she wanted but Lillia wanted to stay. She had messes to clean up in Lucky Palms, things she needed to try to fix, and she was done with running away. Perhaps if she knew exactly how to fix things with Rose, mend the family, Lillia could have done it and moved on, but it was clear that these things needed time and work, and if she was going to be staying in Lucky Palms, she needed something to do.

Her parents had offered her a job at the Bistro, but their fledgling business could do without the uncomfortable tension making the family stay away, let alone the scenes if Daisy, now back in town with a weasel-faced fiancé, and her reconstructed high school decided to reignite the feud.

So Sparky's it was. Graveyard shifts and anonymous customers, driving home at dawn to wash the deep fryer smell out of her twee apron and plenty of time to think about what she'd done. Twice a week on Wednesdays and Saturdays Lillia would try to call Rose, following up with a text. She'd watch the check turn blue, read, and then nothing. She still didn't know if Rose knew how little had actually been between her cousin and Noki; if any of the messages, notes or family intermediaries had managed to convey the seven-minute duration of their horrible mistake, or the depth of Lillia's regret. She hoped so, but maybe it didn't matter, maybe it was one of those unforgiveable/things. Her only small hope was that Rose hadn't blocked her number. 

By the end of the summer Lillia had a new routine, a better relationship with her parents and no more of an idea what was next. She ran, enjoying the rhythmic crunch of sandy soil underfoot in the cooler parts of the day, she worked, watched TV, babysat for Eva... It was simple. It was safe. 

It was boring. 

But maybe boring was what she needed to become a better person? Being called exceptional as a teen had almost killed Lillia. Being popular had made her callous. Going after what she wanted had hurt the people she loved. Maybe boring was okay, if it protected her from her worst self, but Lillia couldn't help but wonder if this tidy little life she had built for herself wasn't just another way of not confronting ugly things. She watched her parents in the evenings, spinning in each other's gravity, clashing occasionally, finding ways to make it right, chasing their shared dream after years of compromise. Lillia wanted that, but where to start. An unwanted face flashed in her mind, she shut him back out and checked if Rose had replied. 

Nothing

Caspar and Tia moved off to MIT together in the fall, Eva was progressing in her career, Flynn won his science fair. The Bistro turned a profit for the first time. Lillia made coffee.

Eva and Hayden decided to have another baby and found they would need IVF to do what had been such a happy accident before. Gray cut the tip off his ring finger on a meat slicer and refused to go to hospital until the shift was over. Lillia made coffee. 

Rose joined the fire service, Daisy got married in an ostentatious ceremony and invited their entire old school class. Lillia liked the picture of Rose and Mugsy cosied up on the dance floor, took an extra shift at Sparky's and made more coffee. 

Afterwards, Lillia wondered how long this pattern could have lasted. Maybe she would eventually have agreed to go for breakfast with the fry cook with the kind eyes. Maybe she would just have trained as assistant manager and been a real good aunt. There were a lot of maybes that were shattered that morning. Coming back from her break, retying her apron she was too far round the corner to retreat when she heard her name, soft in the predawn. 

'Lillia'

And safe was over. 

Read  Next - Chapter 13 - Who Are You Punishing