Should’ve Known Better
In part one of ‘We Come Back Different’ by AJ Odasso (Issue 17, Winter 2018), correspondence between two lovers revealed a relationship straining under the miles between Scotland and Bermuda. Tess, gifted with a brilliant mind and lofty scientific ambitions, left her ailing father and much younger brother in the care of her lover, Amelia.
Meanwhile, Amelia, a poet at heart, struggled to wait for a woman who spends her time fascinated with reanimating a washed-up corpse. With their relationship cracking under the strain, Tess received an urgent letter: “Your father and Trevor are lost at sea. Come home at once.”
Find out what happens next, in the exciting conclusion, excerpted here from Issue 18, Spring 2018.
We Come Back Different, Part II
by AJ Odasso
Amelia stood in profile at the window veiled in a black silk scarf, each sinew in her slender neck precise. Tess closed the front door behind her, refusing to turn from the sight.
Gareth had already made his way around to the back with Tess’s trunk and valise so as not to disturb their reunion. Tess exhaled soundlessly and shifted her weight to the opposite foot.
“Thirteen hours,” Amelia said. “Thirteen hours and forty-six minutes.”
“I’m here now,” replied Tess. “I caught the first departure I could.”
Amelia came to her arms, then, crushing Tess close with a kiss.
“You don’t understand,” she murmured. “Thought you’d take longer.”
Tess’s fingers trembled at Amelia’s elbows. “What happened?”
“The whale-watch,” Amelia said. “Didn’t I tell you about it?”
“You did,” said Tess, swallowing hard. “Shillingford should’ve known better.”
“The storm was sudden. This early in the season, no one expected — ”
“And Shillingford?”
“What of him?”
“Where is he? I’ll take him to task, don’t think I won’t!”
“With your father and your brother, Tess! Where else?”
Tess brushed Amelia’s scarf back and off her hair. “Have they found …”
“No,” Amelia replied. “No bodies. Not yet.”
Tess permitted Amelia to lead her into the kitchen. The staff had gone home hours ago, leaving the battered
wooden worktops scrubbed clean of cooking remnants.
Amelia fetched hot water from the hearth, working in silence.
Tess accepted the resulting cup of tea but refused to sit down.
“No sign of the vessel, either?” she asked.
Wearily, Amelia shook her head. “None.”
“Damn it all.” Tess sank into the nearest chair.
“There’s no call for foul language,” Amelia said, stepping up behind Tess to remove her hat and stroke the shoulder-length spirals of her hair as they tumbled free. “It won’t bring them back.”
Find out what happens next, in Issue 18, Spring 2018. Or read an excerpt from Part I here!
Poetry, essays, and short stories by AJ Odasso have appeared in magazines and anthologies since 2005. Their first full poetry collection, Things Being What They Are was shortlisted for the 2017 Sexton Prize. The Sting of It won Best LGBT in the 2019 New Mexico/Arizona Book Awards. Their first novel, The Pursued and the Pursuing, was published in September 2021. AJ holds an MFA in Creative Writing (Poetry) from Boston University. They teach at University of New Mexico, as well as at Central New Mexico Community College. They have served as Senior Poetry Editor at Strange Horizons magazine since 2012. Meanwhile, visit AJ on Twitter @ajodasso.
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