Chapter 3
Cleo POV
By the time we left the diner, the rain had eased to little more than a drizzle, not completely but enough I could loosen my grip on the steering wheel.
Tommy had perked up, apparently fries, burger and chocolate milkshake could solve all problems for a six year old. Skylar sat quietly, watching Creek Wood pass through the window. I couldn't tell if she was nervous, excited or simply exhausted.?
Truthfully, I felt all three.?
The directions the school had emailed me were easy enough to follow, and twenty minutes later I turned onto a quiet lane lined with tall oak trees.?
My stomach tightened, this was it, our new home a fresh start. The little white cottage came into view, it wasn't grand, or wasn't large, but it looked cared for.?
The small porch wrapped around the front, flower beds sat beneath the windows and an old oak tree shaded half the garden.?
Tommy pressed his face against the window. "Mom!"?
"What is it?"?
"It has a porch!" I couldn't help smiling. Skylar rolled her eyes. "It's just a porch."?
Tommy gasped dramatically. "No it's not. It's an awesome porch."
I laughed quietly as I switched off the engine, and thought to myself could this really become home?
Tommy was out of the car before I had chance to open my own door. Skylar climbed out more calmly, although I caught the small smile as she looked at the cottage.
I unlocked the front door, the door swung open, and relief flooded through me. The photographs hadn't done it justice.
The cottage was fully furnished, a beautiful bright open planned living room, leading into a bright kitchen. All rooms furnished, beds made. Everything we needed, thankfully. I hadn't realised how worried I'd been until that moment.
Tommy had already disappeared. "Mom!"
I smiled. "What now?"
"I've got a wardrobe!" He shouted, whilst running around looking at his new home. "Good." I shouted back, and two seconds later— "Mom!"
"What now?"
"My room has two windows!"
Skylar laughed. "I think he's broken."
"I heard that." Tommy came running towards us.
The sound of their laughter echoed through the cottage. It already felt warmer.
"Right," I announced. "I need two very important helpers." Tommy appeared instantly. "I'll help!" Skylar followed behind him. "What do we have to do?"
"One backpack each."
Tommy stood a little taller. "We've got this."
The two of them marched outside, ready to unpack the car as if it was the most important job on the world. Watching them come back inside with their backpacks made my heart ache.
"Good job." I smiled softly at them them. Tommy beamed, and Skylar tried not to smile.
Thankfully the rain held off long enough for me to carry the important things inside - suitcases, school bags, and a few boxes. Everything else could wait until tomorrow.
Tommy looked around the living room. "We should build a fort." I blinked. "A fort?"
"Yeah!" He grinned. I looked at Skylar, and she shrugged. "I mean..." A smile tugged at her lips. "It might be fun."
"Then let's build the best fort this cottage has ever seen." Tommy cheered, and within minutes blankets had disappeared from the cupboards, dining chairs were dragged across the room, and cushions somehow ended up everywhere.
I wasn't entirely sure how we'd managed it, but the fort took up almost half the living room. Tommy crawled inside proudly. "It's perfect." "It is," I agreed. Skylar crawled in beside him. "It's actually pretty cool." Tommy looked smug. "I know." We all settled in and laughter took over.
*******
My alarm went off at half five. For a few blissful seconds, I forgot where I was. Forgot about the move. Forgot about Creek Wood. Forgot that everything had changed.
Then reality settled over me. The small teacher’s cottage, the unfamiliar bedroom, and the empty side of the bed. My chest tightened as the loss hit me all over again.
Four months.
Four months without Wade.
Some mornings, I still expected to roll over and find him there. Still expected to hear him humming badly while making coffee. Still expected him to walk through the door after work with grease on his hands and a smile on his face.
Grief was cruel like that.
It lets you forget for a moment, only to remind you all over again.
I closed my eyes and took a slow breath. Not today. Today was important. Today wasn’t about what I’d lost; it was about what I was trying to build.
A fresh start.
For me.
For Skylar.
For Tommy.
I pushed the covers back and climbed out of bed.
By half six, I was fully dressed and trying to convince Tommy that school wasn’t actually a government conspiracy meant to torture six-year-olds.
“I don’t want to go.”
“You haven’t even been yet.”
“I still don’t want to.”
I hid my smile behind my coffee mug. Skylar rolled her eyes across the table.
“You’ll make friends.”
Tommy narrowed his eyes. “You don’t know that.”
“I do.”
“You don’t.”
“I do.”
“You don’t.”
“I do.”
“Guys.”
Both immediately looked at me. I pointed towards their breakfast.
“Eat.”
They obeyed. Mostly. Skylar looked calmer than her brother, but I knew her too well. She kept adjusting the sleeves of Wade’s old sweater, a nervous habit she’d picked up after he died. Seeing it twisted something in me, even as I hoped we were finding our footing.
“You okay, bug?”
She shrugged. “I’m fine.”
Which meant she wasn’t.
I reached over and squeezed her hand. “We’re going to be okay.”
Her green eyes met mine and, for a second, she looked so much like the little girl she’d been before grief found us.
“I know.”
I wasn’t sure if she believed me. Truthfully, I wasn’t sure if I believed me either. But we were here now, and there was no turning back.
Creek Wood Elementry sat on the edge of town, surrounded by towering pine trees. It looked more like a mountain lodge than a school. The building wasn’t large, nor was the car park, but the place somehow felt welcoming.
The moment we walked through the doors, I realised just how different small-town life was. Everyone knew everyone. Teachers greeted pupils by name, and parents stopped to chat in the corridors. The secretary seemed to know exactly who I was before I introduced myself.
“Welcome to Creek Wood Elementry, Cleo.”
I blinked. “Thank you.”
She smiled. “We’re happy to have you.”
Small towns were strange. Painfully friendly.
By ten o’clock, I’d been offered coffee three times, homemade muffins twice, and one woman I’d never met had somehow learnt Tommy liked dinosaurs. It should have felt friendly. Instead, it left me with that same odd sense that everyone knew more than they should.
My kindergarten class was wonderful. Energetic. Chaotic. Loud.
Exactly what five?year?olds were supposed to be.
For the first time in months, I got lost in work and stopped thinking about bills or debt. I wasn’t thinking about everything I’d lost, just teaching. Just living, and it felt nice. It almost surprised me after so much heaviness.
At lunch, I sat in the staff room with a sandwich and listened to conversations drift around me.
“…Sally said she nearly dropped the coffee pot.”
“…haven’t seen Graves in the diner in months…”
“…looked like she’d seen a ghost…”
I frowned.
There it was again. That strange feeling. The same one I’d had since walking into the diner Friday. Like everyone knew something I didn’t and was careful not to say it out loud.
The second someone noticed I was listening, the conversation changed. Immediately. Too immediately. My stomach tightened.
I pretended not to notice, but I did. It bothered me more than I wanted to admit.
The rest of the afternoon passed quickly. By the time the final bell rang, I was exhausted, but it was the good kind. The kind that comes from doing something you love.
Maybe this could work. Maybe Creek Wood really could become home.
I gathered my things and headed towards the pick?up area.
The moment I stepped outside, the school doors burst open. Children flooded into the car park and, right in the middle of them, were my two.
Tommy came running first.
“Mom!”
I barely had time to brace myself before he crashed into my legs.
He was laughing, really laughing. The sound hit me right in the heart.
God, I’d missed hearing him laugh like that.
“Good day?” I asked.
“The best.”
I smiled. “The best?”
“The absolute best.”
A little blonde girl appeared beside him. “I helped.”
Tommy nodded. “Lola’s my friend.”
For the first time all day, something inside me truly relaxed. One day in school, and he’d already made a friend.
The little girl grinned. “He’s funny.”
I laughed. “Well, that’s certainly one way to make friends.”
Tommy puffed out his chest. “I’m very funny.”
“Debatable,” Skylar said as she finally emerged from the school building.
A dark?haired boy walked beside her, carrying his backpack over one shoulder. The two of them were arguing about something. Comfortably. Like they’d known each other longer than a day.
My heart squeezed.
Friday, I’d been terrified I’d uprooted my children for nothing. Today, they looked happier than they had in months.
Maybe I hadn’t completely ruined their lives after all. Maybe this place was already giving them something I couldn’t, and that thought hurt almost as much as it helped.
“Mom, this is Maddox.”
The boy stopped beside Skylar and nodded politely. “Ma’am.”
“Hi, Maddox.”
“Maddox showed me where everything was,” Skylar said.
The boy shrugged like it wasn’t a big deal. “It wasn’t hard.”
“It was nice,” Skylar argued.
The corner of his mouth twitched and, for the first time since Wade died, I saw my daughter smile for real. Not the small polite smiles she’d learned over the past few months. This was a real smile, one that reached her eyes, and seeing it almost broke me.
God. I’d missed that.
“Grandma!”
The little blonde girl beside Tommy suddenly took off. I looked up.
A blonde woman with warm blue eyes stepped toward us. I recognized her right away. She was the woman from the diner, the one who’d smiled at me. She was the only person in the diner who’d made me feel welcome. Still, as she came closer, that uneasy feeling stayed with me.
Lola launched herself into her arms. The older woman laughed and hugged her close.
“Good day, sweetheart?”
“The best!”
“That good, huh?”
“The best,” Tommy agreed immediately.
Her gaze shifted to him, and her smile widened. “I can see that.”
Then she looked at me. Really looked, not in the strange way some of the townspeople had since I arrived. Just kindly. Still, it didn’t quite ease the feeling that I was missing something.
“You must be Cleo.”
“That’s me.”
She offered her hand. “I’m Stella Carter.”
There was something comforting about her. Something that immediately put me at ease, even as it reminded me how rare that feeling had become.
“It's good to meet you .”
“You too.”
Her eyes drifted towards Tommy and Lola, who were already talking over each other again.
“Looks like they’ve become friends.”
“It would seem so.”
Tommy suddenly grabbed Lola’s hand.
“Can I come to your house?”
“No, you come to mine.”
“No, mine.”
“No, mine.”
I laughed. Stella laughed too, warm and genuine.
“Well,” she said, “it seems they’ve already made plans.”
“We have,” Tommy informed us seriously.
Lola nodded. “We need a playdate.”
“A playdate?” Stella repeated.
“Yep.”
Like it was the most obvious thing in the world.
I bit back another smile. Children really were amazing.
One day. One day was all it took.
Stella looked at me and smiled. “We’re having a family barbecue at the clubhouse on Saturday.”
I blinked. “Oh.”
Family barbecue. The words felt strangely foreign, like something that belonged to other people. Not me.
“It’s nothing fancy,” Stella continued. “Just family, kids running around, too much food, and grown men arguing over who’s in charge of the grill.”
A laugh escaped me, and her eyes warmed.
“You and the children should come.”
Before I could answer, Skylar spoke up.
“Maddox said he’ll be there.”
The boy sighed dramatically. “My dad makes me go.”
“You love it.”
“I tolerate it.”
Skylar laughed, and Maddox smiled.
Tommy immediately looked up at me. “So will Lola.”
Four hopeful faces turned towards me.
Tommy.
Skylar.
Lola.
Maddox.
Waiting.
For the first time since Wade died, my children looked excited about something, not pretending, not forcing it. Actually excited. The sight warmed me and hurt me at the same time.
My throat tightened.
“Saturday sounds nice.”
The cheer that went up was immediate. Tommy fist?pumped the air. Lola jumped up and down. Even Skylar looked pleased.
Beside me, Stella’s smile softened and, for a moment, I could have sworn she looked relieved. It was as if she were happy we’d said yes. It felt like something more than a simple invitation had just fallen into place.
Eventually, everyone began saying their goodbyes. Maddox headed towards a pickup truck waiting near the kerb. Stella took Lola’s hand.
“It was lovely meeting you properly, Cleo.”
“You too.”
“I’ll see you Saturday.”
I watched them walk away before turning towards my own children. Tommy was talking nonstop about Lola. Skylar was already discussing barbecue plans with Maddox from across the car park.
As we headed to the car, I found myself smiling. The drive home was loud, but it was the best kind of loud. Tommy talked about school. Skylar talked about friends. They talked over each other, laughed, and made plans for Saturday.
And for the first time in months, the noise in the car wasn’t grief. It wasn’t silence or loss. It was life, and it felt so fragile it could break my heart. It was life.
It was life.
Maybe moving to Creek Wood wasn’t running away.
Maybe it was finally running toward something, even if I was still learning how to trust it.