AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Carla’s twin brothers, Sam and Lucas, bounded down the porch stairs. I knelt and opened my arms wide.
“Charlotte!” They tackled me simultaneously and I was knocked onto my back on the pavement.
“Oh, God! What have you two been eating?” I’d only been gone a year, yet they looked like they’d aged three.
They flashed matching wicked grins as they tickled me.
“Help!”
“This is your punishment for leaving,” Carla stated, lifting her chin as she strutted by.
“All right, boys! That’s enough. Let Charlotte get up.” Robert stood from his rocking chair. His hair was more than sprinkled with gray, and he sported dark rings under his eyes. The twins were not planned and certainly gave Carla’s family a run for their money. Still, I couldn’t imagine their lives without them. Everything happens for a reason, her mother, Beth, would say.
I let the boys pretend to pull me up, and I dusted off my backside. “You should enroll them in football.”
Beth wagged her finger at me from her chair. “Oh, no. My babies will not be playing that brute sport.”
“It’s not a brute sport,” Robert argued. “It’s a man’s sport. You just don’t understand.”
Beth rolled her eyes and smiled at me as I approached the porch. “Charlotte Elaine Thompson, I can’t believe you’re walking up those steps looking like a woman.”
“I can’t believe she’s walking up those steps at all,” Carla said.
I wrapped my arms around Beth as tears sprang into my eyes. I’d forgotten how much I missed her hugs. How much they felt like my own mother’s. How much this felt like home.
“We were so worried about you,” she whispered into my hair as she squeezed me tightly.
“I’m sorry.”
“All right, dear. Don’t suffocate the poor girl.” Robert placed a gentle hand on her shoulder.
She loosened her grip and touched the palm of her hand to my cheek. “You’re even more beautiful than the last time I saw you. My girls are all grown up. I feel so old.”
“That’s because we are old.”
“Speak for yourself, Robert!”
I slipped my hands around Robert’s midsection and remained there until he patted me on the back.
“I could make this a lot worse, you know,” I teased.
“For God’s sake, Rob. She’s been gone a year. Just hug her!”
Finally, I felt Robert’s arms return the hug. “We missed you, kid.”
And just like that, I was back. I was home.
* * *
After dinner, Carla and I sat in the rocking chairs on the porch, rocking in silence. Though she was normally a woman of few words, she’d been extra quiet today. I thought we’d pick up right where we left off. I didn’t anticipate her being angry with me.
“You think you’ll be mad at me forever?”
She waited a while before answering, keeping her gaze on the setting sun. “I’m not mad. I was worried about you for so long. Confused. How could my best friend just disappear like that, you know? Then, Kyle came back for a visit and ran his mouth about how he ran into you in New York. I almost didn’t believe him. Everyone knew you’d vanished, but their lives went on. You became old news. But for me? My life wasn’t the same without my best friend. Everything changed after that. Now, you’re back.” She shrugged. “It doesn’t seem real.”
“I wish it weren’t. Believe me. Many times I cried myself to sleep, wishing I could wake up from the nightmare.”
It was quiet again. Finally, Carla faced me. “So, tell me about this Tanner dude.”
