Page 35 of The Road Back to Us

“I wish they wouldn’t have closed down the one here,” Cole replied. “But the drive isn’t too bad, so I can’t complain. I would do a lot of questionable things for a burger and fries from Foxy Burgers.”

“Uncle Cole!” Kara shrieked with a giggle as she took a bite.

“What?” Cole shrugged. “It’s true.”

“What kind of questionable things is the real question,” Ben said, arching an eyebrow. “Like the kind of things that Aunt Lyric would judge you for, or things that you could go to jail over?”

“You only go to jail if you get caught,” Cole teased with a wink.

“I would probably judge those things,” I said slowly, feeling everyone’s eyes on me. “But... if it meant you brought a burger for me, I could easily look away.”

The sound of laughter filled the room as we ate as a family, something I thought I would never have.

After lunch, I was hanging out with Chloe on the couch when I heard a slight commotion as Cole held the door open as Ben and Kara brought in handfuls of bags. I leaned forward, my heart dropping into my stomach as I saw the name on them and spotted different color fabrics peaking over the tops of them.

“Please don’t be mad,” Kara said gently as she approached, standing in front of me while Chloe scooted away so she could see the TV.

“Why would I be mad?” I asked cautiously, unsure of what they were up to. While I had a good idea, I didn’t want to assume anything.

“Well, I kinda asked Uncle Cole to take me to Cyprus Canyon this morning. I know that you said you weren’t ready, but I saw how happy you looked the other day and I –”

She stopped talking and let her shoulders fall as she set the bags on the floor in front of her.

“I might have overstepped, and I’m sorry if I did. But you weren’t the only one who got excited about those designs. Maybe I was being selfish, but I bought some fabric and thought we could try to make some of them.”

“Ahem,” Cole said with raised eyebrows as he cleared his throat.

“Okay, fine,” Kara huffed. “I spent Uncle Cole’s money. But still, we all decided that we wanted to do this for you. We wanted to give you the resources you needed to make your dream come true.”

I lifted my hands and clasped them together in front of my mouth as tears filled my eyes.

“Kara, you didn’t have to do that,” I whispered.

“I know. I wanted to.”

“We weren’t sure what colors you decided on, so we got a mix of everything,” Ben said. “They had some sample scrap things, so we took those. They said that if you like something and they don’t have enough of what you need, you can call and they’ll order it for you.”

“I might have taken a peek at some of your older sketches and saw that you lean into certain colors. I decided to go with those since they seemed like a safe bet, especially with the mommy-and-me idea,” Kara added.

“I can’t wait to see what you guys picked out,” I replied, my heart fuller than it had ever been. “Thank you so much, you guys. This is so incredibly sweet.”

“Yay!” Kara squealed, clapping her hands together. “Let’s get this party started!”

I laughed as I sat back and watched them pull out fabric after fabric, setting them on the coffee table as Kara explained what she had envisioned each would be used for, based on the sketches she had seen.

It was a surreal experience to have this level of support, especially from kids who I thought would never come around to accepting me, let alone truly loving me.

Thirty-Two

Cole

I leaned back and watched as my mom showed Kara how to use the sewing machine she had brought over after I called to tell her about the plans. While we were out shopping, I decided to buy Lyric a brand new sewing machine, knowing she used to love the one my mom had when she was younger. Lyric admitted she hadn’t sewn anything in years and wasn’t sure she even remembered how to operate a sewing machine, but when she sat down in front of the one I bought her, it was like everything came rushing back to her.

Seeing Lyric in her zone had been comforting in a way I hadn’t expected. When she decided to move to New York, she had claimed that she couldn’t do what she loved while trapped in a small town, yet here she was, thriving as her dreams came true in front of her.

I wasn’t willing to say that out loud because I knew it would only hurt her, even though that wasn’t my intention. I wanted Lyric to see how strong she was and how easily she adjusted to whatever life threw at her. It was never in her plan to move back to Willow Falls, but now that she was here, she was figuring out how to make everything work.

“Do you think we can start with the denim outfits?” Kara asked Lyric, her smile so vivid that I couldn’t remember the last time I saw her this happy.