Chapter 2 #2
I don’t necessarily need my sister’s help, but I’m excited she’s stopping by.
Em and I are best friends, despite the ten-year age difference.
I have two younger brothers, who are just as rowdy and wild as you’d expect them to be, so when I was ten and my mom had my sister, she was like a little gift from heaven.
Don’t get me wrong, I love my brothers, but growing up, they were a lot to handle.
Especially when we’d all get together with the cousins.
“She’s going to miss you,” Mom states quietly, causing my throat to tighten.
“It’ll be completely mutual,” I tell her. “I’ll only be an hour away. I was farther when I went to Ohio State.”
“I know,” Mom confirms, standing up and taking the box I just filled and taping the lid closed. “But you came home as often as you could back then, and after four years, moved back home for good. Now you’re leaving once more and staying.” Her green eyes fill with unshed tears.
Climbing to my feet, I pull her into a hug. I feel wetness hit my shirt as a few tears slide down my cheek too.
When she pulls away, she gives me a sad, watery smile. “I’m so proud of you, Lizzie.”
“Thanks.”
She wipes the tears from my face, much like she did when I was growing up. “We’re all very proud of you.”
I nod, unable to get words past the lump stationed in my throat. “Dad has been…quiet.”
“Because he’s sad, Lizzie, not because he’s not happy or proud of you. You following your dreams is a parent’s ultimate goal in life, even if that goal takes you away from us.”
“I’m not going far,” I remind her.
“I know, and that’s why he’s as calm as he is. If you were moving farther, he’d struggle. He’d still be proud of you, but he’d really have a hard time letting go. You remember what it was like that first time we dropped you off at college, right?”
I bark out a laugh as one of my favorite memories replays in my mind.
We had everything in my dorm set up, but he kept finding little things to do or fix to draw out their departure.
He even went as far as to go to the big box home improvement store and replace the bathroom faucet because it dripped and strengthened the closet clothing rod because it felt a touch loose.
“Oh, I remember. My roommate thought he was a Stage Five Clinger,” I say, referring to one of my favorite movies, Wedding Crashers.
Mom laughs. “He was. But he got over it, and he’ll get over this too.”
I sigh and rest my head on my mom’s shoulder.
Not a lot of people know this, but my dad isn’t my birth dad. He adopted me when I was four, after my birth dad went to prison. He signed over his rights, thankfully, allowing the only man I’ve known as a father to raise me and give me his last name.
“You’ll come see me, right?” I whisper.
She snorts. “Try to keep me away.”
I hug my mom and commit her familiar scent to memory.
I don’t know why it feels like I’m leaving forever, because I’m not.
I’m not even going that far. An hour is an easy day trip, and if I know my family, there will be plenty of visits.
Especially in the beginning. My dad and his partners—my pseudo uncles—have already promised to be just a phone call away, ready to help.
But they also understand my need to do this on my own.
That’s why I love them all so dang much.
“Hello? I’m raiding your kitchen!”
Mom and I both laugh. “Your sister is here,” she says, pulling away and giving me a small smile filled with both happiness and sorrow.
“She’s probably already found those brownies I bought from the diner in Cooper Town.”
“Oh, you know she has,” Mom confirms, throwing her arm around my shoulder. “Let’s go make sure she doesn’t eat them all.”
We walk side by side to the kitchen, where my suspicions are confirmed. My sister already found the brownies and has poured herself a big glass of milk. “Where did you get these?” she asks, her mouth full of chocolatey goodness.
“From the little diner in Cooper Town,” I confirm, handing the container with one remaining brownie to Mom.
My sister narrows her eyes at me. “I suppose that’s a good reason for me to visit often. Brownies.”
I can’t help but giggle. “They actually had several different options. Not anything as elaborate as Aunt Lyndee has, but a small selection of pastries for dessert.”
Em takes a huge bite of her brownie and follows it up with a big gulp of milk. Her gaze remains locked on mine. While I resemble our mom in many ways, she has several of Dad’s features. “So, you’re still going, huh?”
“Yeah, I’m still going.”
She sighs dramatically in a way only teenagers can do. “Does that apartment have two bedrooms?”
I flash her a grin. “It does.”
“Good. Make sure the spare room is always made up. We’ll just call it Emberlyn’s room.”
“Done,” I confirm, even though I don’t have a spare bedroom set to put in it yet.
“I mean it. It’s my room. Don’t let the smelly boys sleep there.”
I fight back a smile and reply, “I wouldn’t dream of it.”
Our two brothers, Duncan and Waylon, are twenty-four and twenty-one, respectively, and both work at the family’s bar and restaurant, Burgers and Brew.
They’re at that age where they have the whole world in front of them, and life is one big ball of fun.
I highly doubt they’re going to come to Cooper Town and hang with me at my little hole-in-the-wall bar.
Besides, Duncan lives with our cousin, Rorik, at Uncle Jameson’s old house, and between Waylon and any one of the other cousins or friends, there’s always someone crashing on the couch.
Em steps forward, swallowing her snack and leveling me with a look. “I know I’m just your little sister, and I’m technically eighteen and going off to college in a few months, but this feels really big to me. Bigger than when you went to college. This is like…life. Forever.”
Her eyes fill with unshed tears as I pull her into a tight embrace. “It’s not forever, Em. You’re always welcome at my place.”
“I better be. I’m coming to visit all the time. Like every weekend. Promise me it’s okay.”
I don’t think she will, but I don’t argue with her either.
Once she gets settled at school, she’s going to have the best time ever.
She probably won’t even spare a thought for her older sister, working her ass off in Small Town, USA to make her dreams come true.
“That bedroom is always open for you. Promise.”
She sniffles and wipes her nose on the shoulder of my shirt.
I bark out a laugh and jump back. “Oh my God, Em. So gross.”
She giggles and wipes her eyes.
“You used to do that to her when you were little,” Mom says to Em as she pulls her in for a hug. “It was nasty then, and it’s nasty now.”
Em just laughs. “I only did it to rile her up.”
“Keep it up and your bedroom will become a Duncan and Waylon room,” I grumble, even though I’d never do that to her.
She gasps, her eyes wide. “You wouldn’t!”
“If you wipe your nose on me again, I will.”
Mom throws her other arm around my shoulders, pulling us into a three-way hug. “I love you both. I don’t know what I’m going to do with both of my girls gone.”
“Way still lives at home,” Emberlyn confirms.
“Only on paper. Between the bar and your brother’s house, he only comes home to raid the refrigerator and pick up clean clothes.”
She’s not wrong.
“All right, ladies, no more tears. We have packing to do,” Mom announces, stepping back and quickly wiping away moisture from her own face.
I’m going to miss this. I’m incredibly close to my family, and the thought of not working with them, seeing them all the time, or even just living in the same town as them has my insides in knots.
But I know this is the right step.
I feel it in my heart.
This is me, chasing my dreams.
“Let’s do it.”