the saddest love story

February 2087. Aura Miguel is 54. Tyler Jackson is 23.

Tyler's last stories: when he slept with that cougar and signed up for the war // and Summer tried (and failed) to get him not to go // Maya

Aura's last stories: when she changed her mind about marriage // when she sold her fashion store to pursue the Treasury job


When Aura first presented the idea of this Treasury position to her family, they had so many plans. Adrian had looked forward to California. They would put their businesses under Beau's management and sell their vacation property in Florida. The warmer climate suited them, but they heard the weather was dryer and more temperate than Florida out west. If only Adrian could have seen it.



He'd never seen city lights sparkling from up so high. He'd never been to a metropolis bigger than Lake City.

Aura and Adrian were never married. But they raised their boys together for over two decades, and at some point, they both realized that they'd stopped seeing other people. How long had that been? A while. They wondered if they should get married. Wouldn't that be a nice gesture after all that time? Aura wondered now if she wanted it more than he did. He wasn't opposed, but it was her idea, and he would oblige her. But they wanted to wait until Tyler got back from the war, so they could all be there together for the wedding.


Her new personal assistant was very handsome, and Adrian would have been the first to admit it. Adrian didn’t do drama, and he didn't do jealousy. That was the one thing they always got right for their boys. They provided a happy home together, and they tried to raise two young gentlemen.

"Working late again, Clark? Why don’t you clock off?"

Why? Because he had nowhere to go and nothing better to do with his time. He was lonely too, divorced with two grown daughters. When they couldn't stand another minute of their work, they sometimes shared their sad stories with each other. She didn't like to be too grotesque about it. In truth, she didn't care to talk about it at all. In a way, listening to Clark's domestic woes soothed her because she didn't have to wallow in her own.

She and Adrian never had their wedding because he had a heart attack just a couple weeks before Tyler came home from the war.

At least Tyler came home. She does realize it could have been even worse for their family.


Instead of going home, Clark grabbed a hot cup of tea and wandered into Aura's office to chat.

"Any big plans for tomorrow?"

Valentine's Day. She hoped that he didn't imagine their friendliness as something of a romantic possibility—he was sweet, she would hate to have to turn him down. Not that she wasn't ready for a new lover after two years, but she certainly wasn't interested in a relationship. She had her work, her boys, her granddaughter. That was plenty. "My son is coming out to visit. That's good enough for me."

"Sounds like you raised a fine young man," he said.


—


There was a property in Sierra Nova that Aura wanted to show to Tyler. It was much more expansive than the pictures made it out to be, with exciting nooks and crannies, hills, fishing spots, campsites, and hiking trails. Back home in Lakeside Heights, Adrian had run their family's arcade. He had dreams of expanding the business into an entertainment empire.

"Your dad would have loved this," she said to Tyler.

"You think? I always thought Dad was more the type to get high and laze around, not climb a rope course and scale a fire wall. He just would have floated in the lazy river all day... Oh, but remember that old arcade machine that spit fire? He loved that thing. Maybe he might have loved the fire wall after all."

"See? That’s the idea, something for everyone. I think it’ll be a good investment if you want to head it up. I think it’ll suit you. I’m glad you’re here. I worry about you."

"Why don’t you worry about Beau?"

"We have never had to worry about Beau."

She meant because Tyler was the one who broke up with his high school sweetheart and promptly ran off to join a war. Tyler was the one who exploded a rocket ship in space and somehow managed not to die. Tyler was the one who buried his father and his beloved dog in the same winter. Tyler was the one who was now flaking out on his long-coveted sports career to do who knows what instead?

The rocket explosion trauma had been minor, considering the circumstances, and his injuries healed quickly. But the doctors had told him there was a chance his lung capacity might never be quite the same again. Aura wasn't sure which reality to hope for—that he was flaking out because of permanent lung damage or just because he was a little impulsive and noncommittal. She just wanted him to find happiness. Whatever that looked like for Tyler.

"Are you upset about that girl who dumped you on New Year's?"

"Beau told you about that?"

"And April."

"Nah, it’s fine. We weren’t even serious. We were hardly dating at all."

Tyler thought his mother would think badly of him if he said that he planned to dump Keri before Valentine’s Day, anyway. Valentine’s Day is totally awkward with a casual fling, when you're dating someone but not in love.

"Are you upset about Summer?"

"Not at all. I'm not upset."


"Well, then do you think you’ll like it here?"

"Unless I hate it." He shrugged. "I just figured I’d check it out. You know, explore the what ifs. I still have until August to renew my contract."

Aura shook her head at him. "Your brother is so much more business-minded. I need more than a 'what if.' I need an executive manager for my new business."

"I know, mom. I know. Serious business time."

Tyler could see already that his mother would be interviewing backups. He wouldn’t say that he was scared of commitment, exactly. He had been quite fond of the idea at one point. Not many twenty-three-year-olds know what they want for the rest of their lives, Beau excluded—but Tyler figured this would be fun to do for the next little while. While he figured the rest out. No big deal.

—

Being Valentine's Day, Tyler knew to make a reservation for dinner. What he didn't know was that he'd chosen the restaurant where Evie Bachman worked.

"Who?" Aura asked.


Tyler tried to explain to his mother discreetly: Beau's old flame, the girl he dated in high school for years and years. The girl Beau thought so little of that he hardly brought her around the house more than a handful of times in seven years. It's not a wonder Aura hadn't remembered her.


Tyler knew his brother hadn't treated Evie super well, so he hoped their presence here wouldn't bother her. She didn't seem bothered. She showed them to a table and came back a little after to catch up. Her relationship with Beau was over by years now, and she seemed content to hear that he'd settled down with April and that they had a daughter now.

Evie filled them in on the changes in her life, about how she was back in college and looking toward politics. "And, actually," she paused, unsure whether she should go on. "I'm living with Summer. It's the weirdest thing, we just ran into each other in the city one day and we both needed a roomie. So..."

"That's great. How is she?" Tyler asked.

Aura seemed hesitant to talk about Summer—a girl Aura knew full well and didn't care for at all because of everything she'd put Tyler through—but Tyler wasn't bothered.

"She’s good," Evie said. "Super busy. She’s like never around. She’s got her band, and she picks up shifts at her dad’s place sometimes, and she actually just got a part in a movie. It's super exciting. I don’t think she gets out to Sierra Nova that much."

"It’s fine," he shrugged. "I wouldn’t even mind if she did. I’m good, I think I’ve got exciting things in the works, too. Lots of exciting things."

He hoped she wouldn't inquire further because his exciting things were a little nebulous right now.

"That's great," Evie said. "Well, you'll have to excuse me. I have to get back to work. It was great seeing you guys again."


Aura's voice rose to an incredulous pitch. "Well that wasn't weird at all!"

Tyler shrugged. "It was fine. She seemed fine."

"Oh, you kids. I can hardly keep up with all the drama. And I thought your father and I had drama back in our days, but you kids take it to a whole new level!"

Aura glanced around, hoping their drinks would come soon.

"So why do you really want to quit the team?"

"I don’t know," Tyler said. "What's the point? I barely ever get in the game."

"You have to put in your time, it’s your rookie year."

He was the star of his team in high school, now he was just some bench warmer. There were worse ways to get paid, but still, it didn’t feel like the answer. War had not been the answer. And, no, Summer wasn’t his answer, either. Wherever she was and whatever she was doing. Now this? An adventure sports theme park in the desert, would that be the answer? If nothing else, it would at least be fun.

"Don’t get me wrong," Aura said, "I’m really excited about this opportunity, and I think you’d do great with it, but I don’t want you to regret giving up on your sports. It’s not easy to get back into that as you get older. Is not like some office job. You’re only in your prime once. Is it about your lungs? When you're active, can you breathe okay?"

He laughed. "Yeah, Mom, I'm fine. It's not about my lungs."

"But you always dreamed of being a sports star when you were younger."

"I dreamed of a lot of things that didn't pan out when I was younger."

Yes, he was talking about Summer this time.

She stopped asking questions then as their food came, and they finished their dinner in truce.


Aura showed Tyler around the main strip of town after their meal, pointing out the features like a tour guide.

"I know it's a little sparse, but there's just enough to do here. Of course, the city is just 30 minutes away if you ever get bored. Outside of town, near the university, there’s a farm and market. This building here is the community center, with a spa, next door is the bank. There's a nightclub underneath the bank—you'd never guess it. It's very hip, all the young people hang out there. I think you'd like it. Lots of young pretty college girls."

"Ugh, I'm so done with college girls," he said.

"What about Summer? She's nearby. Will that be a problem?"


He didn't get why his mother was so concerned that Summer would be a problem. He was glad for Summer if she was doing well, but he was done with that relationship. Long since done. It was absolutely no trouble at all if he ran into Summer. He was 100% completely and totally over Summer. 150% over Summer. That was one season of his life that he would never revisit again.

Like he would just run into some old flame and fall in love all over again, like that ever really happens.

"But what about closure? You haven’t actually seen her since the war," Aura said.

"She probably changed her hair a few thousand times and got a couple more tattoos. So, what? We spoke on the phone a couple times. I don't feel like I need any closure."

"I just hope you don’t get mixed up in all that again. It’s your choice, of course, but… I don’t like that girl for you. All that drama, all that heartache."

"Mom, I don’t want to date Summer again, either."

"Fine. Okay, that's the last I'll say of it. Just let me just send a message over to Clark so he can get started on the paperwork for the park."

Aura typed feverishly into her phone. Tyler looked across the intersection, people watching in the calm desert evening, and what he found was a flash of flame-red hair and sadness. He remembered small rooms with sterile gray walls against bright underwear and laughter. He remembered sitting side by side at the observation deck, watching tiny explosions from over two hundred thousand miles away. He remembered making bets over poker and darts when they needed to forget about the war and its hopelessness.

On this street corner in the night, all the tender places in his heart lit up.


Friends of friends had told him that Maya moved here after the war. He’d be lying if he said he didn’t hope to run into her eventually, at the farmer’s market or bank. He knew he’d never find her at that swanky nightclub. But he didn’t think it would happen on his first night here, under a street lamp across an intersection.

He was wrong about the old flames buried in his heart. Maybe not wrong about Summer, whose love was dragged out and beaten to a pulp and resurrected only to destroy again. The mangled pulp of their love was dead now. But how things ended with Maya was the complete opposite. His time with Maya ended quickly, unfinished, leaving him with a nagging what if in the back of his mind.


She actually turned to run away from him.

"I'll be right back, Mom," Tyler said, already running across the road.


"I just didn’t think you would ever be here," Maya said.

"Like ever? In my whole life?"

"Maybe."

"Is it that bad?"

That face again, like the time he tried to hand her a rose on Valentine's Day the year after they broke up. How cruel can you be? That was what this face said to him, and he never forgot it. He didn't know how it was possible to be so cruel without trying. He never intended to traumatize every Valentine's Day for her for the rest of her life. 

"I have to be honest, I did hear that you moved out here," he said. "I didn’t know if I should come. I wasn’t trying to stalk you here or anything. I mean, I hoped I’d see you. Unless you don’t want to see me, in which case, I’ll totally leave you alone. Next time I see you, I promise, I'll be the one to turn around and run away."

She turned her face downward. "I wasn’t running."

"Maya, I know a runner when I see one."

"Then what are you doing here?"

"My mom asked me out here to look at a property. She has something in mind to build, and I thought I'd help her out with it."

"So you’d be moving here?"

"Maybe for a little while. I don’t have to. It’s not decided yet. If you hate the idea that much, I can find something else to do instead, some other place."

"Tyler, I can’t tell you not to move here. I don't own the town." 

"In my eyes, you do."

"Don't be silly."


"So, how’s the science?" he asked. "You generate any wormholes lately?"

"That would be nice," she said. "But they just have me making satellite dishes and ray guns right now."

"They’re wasting your talents."

"Maybe could you tell my boss that?"

"I'm not even kidding," he said. "I’ll do it. Just tell me who to rough up a little."

She laughed, a joyful sound, and her face lit up like she forgot all the sadness he'd caused her. "Please don't actually beat up my boss."

"Alright, alright. I'll give him one more chance." 

"You took your mom out for Valentine’s Day?"

"Of course! I couldn't leave my momma all alone on Valentine's Day."

Tyler had been with Maya on the moon when he received the call about his father's heart attack. She knew all about it. She had been a comfort to him at a delicate time when he felt light years away from his home and family.

"That's so sweet," she said. "You act like a playboy, Tyler Jackson, but you are just a big squishy throbbing heart."

"You found me out. You know all my secrets, Maya Bunch. So, who took you out for Valentine's Day?"

"Nobody."

"That's a crime."

"Stop," she said.


"Can I take you out sometime?"

"I don’t know," she said. "I don’t think I can do that. It was hard for a long time. I don’t want to do that again."

"What if we only did the good parts again?"

She offered a hesitant smile.

"You’re thinking about it," he said.

"No."

"A little?"

"If I am, even a little, it’s only against my better judgment."


"Um," she mumbled and that sadness washed over her face again. She shook her head. "I live on the same street as Sheila and Ronnie, who still talk to Dominique, who is best friends with Keri."

She paused, giving that little kick a bit of time to sink in. The thing with Keri mattered nothing to Tyler, except he knew now it would cost him a lot.

"Tyler, you’ve been back a year, and you dated Keri instead of trying to contact me. You hooked up with Keri while we were together, too, and no. I just can’t deal with that. No, that's not the kind of drama I want in my life."

She was wrong about him, but she was also completely right. All of that was true. It sounded incredibly douchey when she said it like that, but he swore he didn’t mean all that harm by it. Like he never meant her any harm ever. Nevertheless, harm happened. Call it youth, call it being on the rebound, call it that he never made any promises. But at some point you have to grow up and be accountable for the people who trust you with their feelings. He has learned that much in his twenty-three years. 

"Okay, that’s okay. Just think about it. Better judgment or not. And maybe next time we bump into each other, you don’t need to run. And we can talk, as friends or whatever. We can play poker and shoot some hoops."

"I won’t run," she said.



He took up her hands, grateful she let him hold them. "And I just wanted to say I'm sorry. I did to you what Summer did to me, and I know how much that sucks. So, I’m sorry. I’ve been sorry for years, and if nothing else, I just wanted to find you to tell you that."

"Thank you for saying that."

"Goodnight. And happy Valentine's Day."

"You, too," she said.


Tyler watched her go until he couldn't see her anymore.

His mother had long since left the corner where he left her. She'd left him a text: "At the bar, not trying to cramp your style."


"I figured I’d give you some space. Cute girl. Did you ask her out?"

"Yeah. She said no."

"Aw, you’re losing your charm. I’m surprised though, you guys talked for a long time."

"She’s mad at me."

"You knew her?"

"It was Maya."

"Moon Maya?"

"Yeah, moon Maya."

His mother seemed amused by this. "Really? She’s not how I expected at all. She just seems… like not your type. In a good way."

"What if my type has always been all wrong?"

"Well, you’ve got plenty of time to figure that out. Round on me, for the broken-hearted on Valentine’s Day."

—

footnotes: where Adrian is buried // Tyler's rocket ship crash // when Keri dumped him on NYE