As she embraces me, a small tear slides down my cheek and I wipe it, but not before she sees me. I have so many emotions running through my mind, I have no idea whether to cry or jump up and down from excitement.
“Hey now, we won’t be havin’ any more of that you hear?” she puts her hands on my shoulder, “I know the last few months have been hard for you baby girl but you have a family here that love you. I don’t want to be your mamma but I’m here for anything you need, and I know Uncle Alex feels the same way. And I also know the girls are super excited to have you here too! Hannah and Finley have been telling all their friends about their big cousin coming to stay here. We want you to be happy here, this is where you belong,” she states matter-of-factly.
I smile at her Southern accent; it was such a warm, soothing sound to my ears.
“I can’t thank you enough for what you and Uncle Alex have done for me. It is more than I could’ve dreamed of. I don’t know how I would ever be able to repay you” I choked out.
Great, these stupid tears just love popping up uninvited…
“Sweetheart, you are as much a daughter to me as my two brats are so of course I will give you as much as I can. But you can still repay us by joining us for Sunday lunch every other week and stopping by your Uncle’s office every now and then” she teases with a wink. Before I can respond she starts again.
Good Lord, this woman could talk an ear off a horse if given half the chance…
“Now,” her eyes grow serious, “You take a minute or two to get settled while I unpack some of your things. Once we’ve left you can have yourself a nice long bath! I hope you’ll like your well-stocked bathroom,” she snickers. With that she kisses me on the forehead and leaves.
Standing alone in my big room I’m suddenly overwhelmed by how loved I feel. I was a little girl the last time I felt this way. Thoughts of my mother pop into my head again and I miss her then.
Her funeral was held a month after her death. We decided to have her buried here in Breckinridge, next to my fathers’ grave. It was what she would’ve wanted, and it was only a few miles away so I could go visit her grave whenever I wanted to.
My Uncle Alex and Aunt Emma were both very well-known here in Breckinridge. Uncle Alex was the coach of the Whitley University Football team, which gave him a kind of ‘celebrity’ status. Aunt Emma owns the biggest bakery in town and is also involved in every charity and fundraising event to take place throughout the year. But the job she loves the most is that of ‘momma’ to my two little cousins. Hannah is four years old and Finley is six. They are easily the cutest toddlers in town and it’s no secret that I adore them both.
A knock at the door drags me from my reverie and I turn from my spot by the window. My Uncle Alex stands in my doorway and takes up most of the frame with his huge body. On the outside he looks mean and fierce, but on the inside he’s a giant teddy bear. I know that from experience but also from seeing how he cherishes his wife and two daughters. He told me shortly before I decided to move here that he felt the same way about me and that he was happy to have me as part of his little family. Of course I cried after that conversation.
“Can I come in sweetheart?” he asks. I smile at the term him and my aunt have grown accustomed to calling me. My father was the only other person to refer to me as his ‘sweetheart’ and hearing it again makes the pieces of my heart fit together again.
“Sure.” I walk over to the bed and sit down, noticing that he has a guitar case in his hand. I know how to play a guitar, thanks to a very adamant mother who sent me for lessons even when she could barely afford it. She said my father played and she wanted me to learn so I could still keep a part of him with me.
“I hope you like your room. Your Aunt Em went a little crazy in here but she wanted to make sure you had everything you might need,” he says glancing around nervously.
“I love it, thank you Uncle Alex.”
He looks at me before speaking again, a sad expression settling itself on his handsome face. “Now this guitar belonged to your daddy. He gave it to me shortly before he died and asked me to hang on to it until I could get it to you. Somehow he knew he wasn’t gonna be around much longer.”
I touch the black box lying on my bed with my fingers, stopping over my fathers’ initials. Just knowing it had belonged to him made him feel like less of a mystery.
I stand on my tippy toes and kiss my uncle on the cheek. He blushes and pulls me into his side, kissing me on top of my head. Without another word he walks out and I’m left alone again, this time my fathers’ guitar is my only company. I’m itching to open it. It has been months since I last played. Music was how I expressed what I was feeling and I made a resolution to get back to it when the first chance came up.
After finally settling in and getting my uncle and aunt to leave, I crawl into my big, poufy bed, my body sinking into the mattress and releasing all the tension from the past few hours.
For the first time since my mother died, the nightmares stay away, and it’s as if nothing happened.
If only that were true. I pray to God and whatever other higher power is out there looking after me, that my past won’t try to find me. Deep down, in the very core of my being, I know it will eventually come back, that he will come find me. I shove the dreaded thought back into the darkest corners of my mind. Tomorrow would be my new beginning and whether I was ready or not, it was here.
The old Huntley Morgan is dead and gone…
Chapter 2
~ Grayson ~
I pull up outside the bakery on Main Street like I’ve done for the last few Saturdays since classes started. Somehow it’s become a routine, given that our football coach’s wife, or Mrs. Coach as I like to call her, owns it. We usually stop by for breakfast and then head out to Lake Dixon for the day, today being no exception. Despite my intense schedule, with it being my final year year, I’ve managed to keep my grades high, attend all my classes, make it to every practice and still find time to hang with friends.
I cross the busy street, waving to familiar faces as they pass me by. It’s one of the drawbacks of living in such a small town – everybody knows your name and your business. When your fathers’ the only attorney in town and your mother chairs almost every charity organization in the state, it falls on you to continue the legacy. Not that I’m complaining. Life at twenty one is pretty damn sweet in my shoes. Or at least that’s what I want people to think.
“Hey Gray, what’s up buddy!” I take a seat opposite my best friend Brody at our usual table and bump his fist. “Hey Bro.” Brody and I met in the second grade, when a fourth grader picked on my sister. Brody jumped on his back and just about pummeled him to death, despite the fact that he was twice Brody’s size. We’ve been best friends ever since. I think about my sister for a split second, dismissing the thought quicker than what it came. After two years it’s supposed to be easier but some days she’s all I think about.
“So, how was your night last night?” he looks at me, one brow cocked up high into his messy blonde hair. I know what he’s really asking me but he’s too chickenshit to say it out loud. He’ll make me say it instead. Bastard.
“It was good, but I wasn’t with Rebecca if that’s what you're asking.” I give him a warning look not to go there. It would just ruin my mood. “What? She didn’t attack you last night like she always does?” he retorts sarcastically. “That’s a shocker! I’m pretty sure that girl has your entire wedding planned already.” I roll my eyes, tired of this conversation already. He knows better than anyone that I don’t do love. Not anymore. When I had my heart stomped on, shredded and spat back out by the first girl I ever truly loved I decided to switch my heart off permanently. I would rather feel nothing than feel so hurt and broken up again. But Rebecca and I have an arrangement, one that does not include romantic feelings. At least not on my part. All it’s ever been is a few meaningless hook-ups. No feelings, no emotions. Just sex.