George - Chapter Six: Christmas Surprises - A Surprise Guest

 Normal warnings: Lots of pictures and some language.


The two weeks that were between my last visit to Bridgeport and Christmas crawled by. I had talked to Trev and Charlotte every day in an attempt to put my mind at ease about Charlotte being safe. Trev had started going to the bar more to keep an eye on Charlotte, which I wasn’t thrilled about him going to a bar all the time, but under the circumstances I did feel better knowing that he was watching out for her. Trev had told me that Ethan had also been watching out for both Charlotte and Steph and that neither of them walked out of the bar alone at night and that either Ethan, Trev or both of them made sure that the girls got home. Everytime I talked to Charlotte she would express her unhappiness about how she felt Ethan and Trev were being too overprotective. I tried my best to explain that because she lived in the same apartment building as Steph, and since Tony had threatened Steph,  Trev and I wanted to make sure she was safe. When that still didn’t appease her I would then tell her that it was also to make sure Steph was safe which seemed to made her feel better.

Both Trev and Charlotte were due in town in a couple of hours for the beginning of our Christmas get-together. That was something else Charlotte had talked about every time we talked on the phone since I had returned home. She seemed to be okay with seeing Mom at my house and then going to Mom’s for Christmas Eve but she still seemed nervous about spending the night there. I tried to be understanding. Even for me the house was filled with memories of dad and most of the time they were comforting; but there were times that a memory would bring back the pain from Dad not being there. That’s what I tried to remind myself of whenever Charlotte talked about being unsure and uneasy about going back to Mom’s house.

Another thing that Charlotte had been talking about was having a friend come with her when she and Trev came for Christmas. I was very much against it at first since I knew that whoever it was would feel completely out of place considering what was going to happen. They would have to witness the reunion of Mom and Charlotte, which was going to be emotional, and then they’d have to witness the first Christmas that Trev, Mom, Charlotte and I would be having in over six years. Not only would they feel out of place, they would feel uncomfortable. I tried telling Charlotte that it wasn’t the greatest idea but she just kept going on about how the person didn’t have anywhere to go for Christmas. I continued to stand my ground until Mom called me one day. Charlotte had actually called Mom to see if she was okay with her friend coming for Christmas and she of course told Mom how they didn’t have anywhere to go. When Mom had more than willingly agreed, Charlotte told her how I was being stubborn about it so Mom called me. I couldn’t fight both of them so I gave in. I just hoped this friend knew what the situation was, but there was no telling if Charlotte had told them.

I actually had the day off since I had made sure to not schedule any appointments. I wanted to make sure that everything was ready for when Trev, Charlotte and friend showed up. I had gone to the store and bought some general  food items and the ingredients for the salmon I was making for dinner, made sure all the beds had clean bedding, vacuumed  the cat fur off the furniture, and made sure that the bathrooms had plenty of towels.  After I finished I glanced at the clock. It was four and they were due to arrive at four thirty.  I decided to take a quick shower and change before they arrived. As I showered I started to realize how excited I was. It was Christmas, Charlotte was going to be with us, I was having company stay at the house, which was a rare thing, and Mom and Charlotte were going to be reunited. 

I quickly finished my shower and got dressed. Even though I kept looking at the clock every five minutes it felt like it should have been twenty. Time kept trickling past and I didn’t have anything to do but wait. I tried to read but I couldn’t concentrate on any of the words. I even tried playing with Parsley and Sage but they were much more interested in napping. I was about to go into the kitchen to go back over the salmon recipe for dinner when I heard the doorbell. I walked into the foyer and then opened the front door.

“Man! Am I glad to finally be here! The roads weren’t all the great going through the mountains and the way Charlotte drives, I thought I was going to die!” Trev said as we hugged.

“Ha! I’m surprised you let her drive.”

“She didn’t give me much choice.” He admitted.

“Oh shut up Trev! It wasn’t that bad!” Charlotte said as she entered the foyer. “Jeez, you’d think we almost went over a cliff when all we did was slide a couple of times. God George! This is nice! And you weren’t kidding, you do live right across the street from Grandma and Grandpa Hobble!” I smiled and hugged her.

“So, where’s your friend? Did they decided to not come?”

Trev and Charlotte smiled and then turned to look at the door. I followed their eyes to the door and my jaw almost hit the ground as I saw the “friend” walk up. 

Trev and Charlotte started cracking up. “Yes! We finally got him! We surprised him! You didn’t have any idea, did you?” Trev asked.

“No, I have to admit, I never guessed it was Steph.”

“Write in on the calendar, Trev. We got him.” Charlotte boasted.

“All right, I’ve been surprised. Enjoy it since it won’t happen again for who knows how many years. Come on in. Do you all want something to drink?”

“Coffee, I need coffee after that drive.” Charlotte said.

“I’ll take some water.” Trev said.

“What about you Steph?” I asked her.

“I’m good.” She replied and I couldn’t help but notice that she looked somewhat uncomfortable, which made me wonder how much Charlotte had told her about the next couple of days. 

“Well, make yourselves at home. I’ll help you with the bags in a minute Trev.” He nodded and they walked into the living room while I walked into the kitchen. I started brewing coffee and then went to the fridge to get Trev some water.

“Are you okay with me being here?” I heard Steph ask from behind me. I turned around and looked at her. She still looked uneasy.

“Yeah! I was just surprised. Charlotte didn’t tell me who the friend was that she had invited to come.”
 

“I kind of gathered that by your reaction.” She smiled.

“It doesn’t happen often. When we were little we would go around trying to surprise each other and they could never surprise me. I always figured out what they were up to. Used to drive Mom crazy, especially when she would try to plan Charlotte’s and my birthday parties.”

“Why doesn’t that surprise me?” She joked. “You, hard to surprise? Surely not?” She sarcastically said.

I laughed but then stopped when I thought back to surprises. Now that I knew who the friend was that Charlotte brought, I was even more concerned about whether or not she knew about what was going to happen the next couple of days.

“Speaking of surprises, did Charlotte tell you anything about the next couple of days.”

“She kind of did, not a whole lot though.”

I sighed. Leave it to Charlotte to not tell the whole truth. “Do you know much about her leaving Appaloosa, our Mom, any of those things?”

“Not really, she doesn’t talk much about it. I know that she left here and moved to Bridgeport. I gathered that she doesn’t talk to your Mom much. . .why?”

“Jesus, Charlotte.” I whispered under my breath.

“What’s wrong? Are you sure you’re okay with me being here?”

“Believe me, it has nothing to do with you. I was hoping Charlotte would have told you all of this before you decided to come. I’ve been worried about it since she told me she was inviting someone to come with her.” I sighed again. “Charlotte!!”

I looked over at Steph and she looked confused which I couldn’t blame her. I heard footsteps and then Charlotte yelling. “What the hell, George?” She and Trev came into the kitchen and I started glaring at her.

“You asked her to come and didn’t even explain anything about this weekend?!” Even Trev turned and looked at Charlotte like she was crazy.

She looked down at the ground. “I figured she’d probably be okay with it. . .”

“God, Charlotte! She doesn’t know anything does she?”

“Not really.” She still wouldn’t make eye contact with anyone.

“Well, you had your chance. You could have told her before now and done it on your own terms but now there’s no choice.” At this point Steph looked confused and a little scared.

I turned to look at her. “Do you know about our Dad?”

“Yes, I mean I guess. . .he passed away right?”

“Yes. After he passed away we all had a hard time dealing with it and we all handled it in different ways.” I looked over at Charlotte. “Do you want to continue. . .”

“No. You. . .”she motioned with her hand for me to keep going. I was really starting to wonder how she was going to get through these next couple days when she couldn’t even tell her friend about her past.

I turned back to Steph. “About six and a half years ago, right after Charlotte and I graduated high school, Charlotte left home and moved to Bridgeport. I’m not going to go into all the details because it’s her story and she’s the one that needs to tell you.” I looked back over at Charlotte and she looked back down at the ground. “But, when she left, we didn’t hear from her for a long time and tonight is the first time that Mom and her are seeing each other since Charlotte left home.”

Steph turned and looked at Charlotte. “This all would have been nice to know before now. . .”

“I know! I’m sorry! I was afraid you wouldn’t come and I really wanted you to. I was worried about you being at the apartment alone and then I thought it might be nice to have a friend here during all of this.”

“Shitfire, Charlotte! You could have just asked! I would have come if you’d told me!” 

“You would?”

“Yeah! We’re friends aren’t we? You’ve been there for me how many times during the last couple of months? It’s the least I could have done.” I knew that Charlotte and Steph had gotten closer the last couple of months but what I had heard was one sided and it was nice to hear that Steph also valued their friendship. “Will you tell me about it now? Well, I mean in a little bit, after we get settled in?” Charlotte nodded.

“Will you tell her about going to the house too?” I asked.
 

“Yes.”

I handed Trev his water I poured Charlotte a cup of coffee but instead of handing it to her, I put it on the counter and hugged her. When I pulled back I saw that she had tears in her eyes. If there was ever a doubt that these next two days were going to be emotional, it had just been wiped away.

“Hey Trev, why don’t we go get the bags out of the car. If you two want somewhere to talk, you can go into the guest room down here. It’s the last door off of the living room. Trev and I will bring the bags into the living room and give you both some privacy.”

****Steph****

I stood in George’s kitchen in complete shock about what I had just heard. Here I was, in a town that was completely foreign to me, in a house that belonged to a guy that was confusing as hell, and if that wasn’t unsettling enough, I had just found out that Charlotte hadn’t been entirely truthful about what was happening.

George and Trev walked outside and Charlotte motioned for me to follow her. We walked back into the foyer which I couldn’t help but smile at as we walked through it. The guy had two ginormous bookcases in it filled to the brim with books. It wouldn’t have shocked me at all if he had read every single one of them, probably more than once. We walked into the dining/living room and I glanced around as we passed through. He must really like white. . .all the furniture is white. And tropical print pillows. . .? Not something I would have guessed him having. Charlotte walked through the door that George had told us led to the guest room.  My jaw hit the floor. The room was probably the size of my studio apartment. I looked over at Charlotte and she had the same expression.

“Holy shit, Charlotte! It’s the size of our apartments!”

“I know!” She said as she closed the door. “I can’t remember for sure what the house that used to be here looked like but it wasn’t nearly this big.”

I looked around the room some more and noticed a fireplace. “I’ve never seen a fireplace in a bedroom.”

“Oh, just wait till we go to Mom’s; there’s four on the downstairs.”

“What the hell do you all do with that many?”

She chuckled. “We light fires in them.”

“Smartass! So are you going to tell me about why you really wanted me to come here with you?”

“Well, I really didn’t want you to be in Bridgeport by yourself. The way George, Trev, and Ethan have been going on about Tony I was worried about you being there by yourself.” So George was worried. . . “I was worried you wouldn’t come if I told you about what all was going to happen here.”

“You mentioned that in the kitchen. . .Shit Charlotte, just tell me the whole story. I won’t get mad or upset.” What was with this family and their inability to talk? George is always answering questions with more questions and Charlotte never wanted to talk about herself.

“Okay. . .The truth is that I don’t talk about myself very much because I’m not very proud of what I’ve done in the past.” She took a deep breath and continued. “When George and I were juniors in high school, our Dad died from a car accident he was in. Like George said, we all dealt with it in our own ways. Trev drinks, Will went into seclusion, George. . .well he’s probably handled it better than all of us;” That didn’t really surprise me, out of the three of them he seemed to be the most grounded. “Me. . .I ran away from home. The day after George and I graduated I wrote a note to Mom and him, put it on the kitchen counter for them to find, and left. I had money saved up and our Grandparents had given us money for graduation. I got in a cab and went to Bridgeport. In my note though, I didn’t tell them where I was going.”

“Wow, so you really ran away from home.” She nodded.

“I had planned on telling them where I was after I had some time away from that house and this town. I just needed to get away from everything that reminded me of Dad. It was too painful.” I nodded. That made sense to me. “But a couple months turned to a year, a year turned into two, two turned into three. . .the years went by and I didn’t contact them.”

“How long?”
 

“Six and a half years.”

“Shitfire, Charlotte! You went six and a half years without talking to anyone in your family? Did they even know you were alive?”

She looked down at the ground. “No. And from what George has told me, they had started to wonder if I died.” Her shoulders were slumped down and she kept looking at the ground. “Coincidently, on the night of the ninth anniversary of our Dad dying, Trev came to our bar with his teammates. He immediately called George, who in all honesty, next to Mom was the one I was most scared about seeing again. I knew he would be beyond mad at me. We’ve always been close and I knew that my leaving and cutting him off like that would have been painful for him. George immediately wanted to see me so he drove the next day to Bridgeport. Our first meeting was. . .tense. He blew up at one point which I can’t blame him for, and after he went for a walk to calm down, which by the way was when he met you, he came back to Trev’s apartment and we talked. I can tell he’s still upset about my leaving but he keeps it to himself.” I nodded, once again, I wasn’t surprised by that.

“I talked to my Mom for the first time that night and I’ve talked to her several times since then but I haven’t seen her since I left. Tonight will be the first time we’ve seen each other.”

“Oh my God, Charlotte! That’s huge!”

“I know, do you see why I didn’t tell you?”

“No, I don’t. Like I said in the kitchen, I would have come no matter what. If you had asked me to come with you to lend you moral support, I would have been more than happy to.”

She smiled. “There is more. . .”

I chuckled. “Really?”

“Yup. Tomorrow we’re going to my Mom’s house for Christmas Eve. . .”

“Let me guess, that’s your first time there since you left.”

“Yeah. . .”

“Is there anything else?”

“Well, only that Mom’s side of the family is huge and apparently they still all get together on Christmas like we did before I left. That gigantic ranch across the street, that’s my grandparent’s ranch. Oh yeah, and my grandmother used to write movie soundtracks so you may have heard of her.”

“What’s her name?”

“Amanda Hobble.”

I shook my head. “Of course you’re related to her, because that would just be the icing on this cake of information overload.”

“So. . .do you want to kill me?”

“What?! No! I do wish you would have told me all this before we got here though. I kind of feel like I’m at a disadvantage since I’m just now finding all of this out, but I’ll make due.” I smiled at her hoping that it would put her mind at ease. Charlotte had been a great friend and I was honestly touched that she trusted me enough to bring me to Appaloosa with her. Since she wasn’t very open about her past I knew that just by her inviting me here meant a lot.

“Phew! I’m so glad you’re not mad.” We hugged and then Charlotte looked at the door. “I guess we better head back out there. Are you sure you’re okay with all of this?”

“I’m fine, and even if I wasn’t, It’s not like I can leave. I’ll be fine.” I didn’t know what else to say. Sometimes it seemed like I had to tell Charlotte the same thing over and over again before she believed me. I had noticed that George was similar, but not Trev. Trev was just always in his own happy go lucky world. I was starting to understand when George had told me that Trev didn’t act like anyone in the family. They were all so serious and he wasn’t.

Charlotte opened the doors and we walked back into the living room. George and Trev were stting on the couches and looked up when we entered the room again. I noticed that George and Charlotte exchanged a look and it almost seemed like they had a whole conversation just from that one look. I had never seen anything like it. I wondered if it was some weird twin thing or if that was the way it worked in most families. Before I could think about it for very long George was offering to take us on a tour of the house. I gathered that Trev had already been there since he kind of followed behind Charlotte and me. 

“So you’ve already seen most of the downstairs, there’s not much left except my room and the bathroom.”

“Aren’t you going to show us your room?” Charlotte wondered. I had learned that Charlotte was the type of person who wanted to know everything, even though she didn’t want to tell people about herself. I noticed George quickly glance at me and then back at Charlotte.

“I guess, I mean, if you really want to see it.”

“Oh we do. Don’t we, Steph?” Lovely, now she was dragging me into this conversation about George’s bedroom.

I shrugged. “Up to him.”

He walked through a set of doors and down what looked like a hallway that opened up into a gigantic room.

“Holy shit, George! It’s bigger than the guest room!” Charlotte enthused. I once again noticed how there was white furniture. I didn’t know why I thought it was odd, I just had never pictured him having white furniture. “Does that door lead to the bathroom?” Her question interrupted my thoughts.

“Yeah.” We walked in and I looked around at the large bathroom and noticed once again, a lot of it was white. 

“Is your favorite color white, by chance?” I finally asked him.

“Yes, why?”

“It’s just that the whole downstairs is full of white. I figured it was either your favorite or. . .well, I just figured it was your favorite.” I looked around once again and noticed the shower. There was no curtain, just glass. You could just walk in and see someone taking a shower.  I looked over at George and thought about him taking a shower and ‘accidently’ walking in on him. I bet that would surprise him.

“So we can go upstairs, see the bedrooms up there and then you all can decide which ones you want to sleep in.” George interrupted my daydream. We walked up the stairs and he showed us two more bedrooms, smaller than the downstairs one and a bathroom. There was also another level that held an office where he said he did work from home sometimes. Although I wasn’t quite sure what that meant since I didn’t see how a psychologist could do work from home.

We all walked back downstairs and into the living room. “So I think that since I’ve already slept in the downstairs bedroom, that either Charlotte or Steph should sleep down here.” Trev suggested.

Before I even had a chance to voice my opinion Charlotte piped in. “Oh, I think that since Steph is a guest she should take the bedroom down here. I’m sure I’ll be back at some point and I can sleep there then.”

“You don’t have to worry about me, I’d be more than willing to sleep in an upstairs bedroom. . .”

“Don’t be silly! You stay down here and Trev and I will fight over the two upstairs bedrooms.” Charlotte interrupted me. Before I could argue Trev was carrying his and Charlotte’s bags upstairs.

“Here, I’ll grab your bag.” I heard George offer while I stared at Charlotte and Trev leaving me, alone, with him. I turned around and saw that George had already picked up my bag. He motioned for me to go first and I walked ahead of him. I was once again struck by how big the room was, which reminded me of something Charlotte had said.

“So what was the house like that was here before? Charlotte mentioned that it wasn’t anything like this one.”

He placed my bag on the bed. “It was considered a renovation but what remains is the foundation. So the first floor size is the same. But the house was a ranch so it was only the one level. This bedroom and the other were split and made four bedrooms. The hallway we walked down to my room was the connecting hallway for the four bedrooms. There was only one bathroom but it was half the size it is now. Everything else on this floor is laid out the same.”

“Why not buy an empty piece of land and just build a new house?”

“Well, for one, that’s rare in Appaloosa and you’re going to pay more to do that then to just renovate since the land alone would be outrages; so most people here just renovate an existing house. Then there’s also the fact that this lot was right across the street from my grandparents and down the road from my Mom and one of my uncles.”

“Ah. That makes sense.”  

 “So did Charlotte fill you in on everything?” He looked really concerned.

“Yeah, at least I think so. She ran away six and a half years ago, none of you knew where she went, Trev found her at our bar, you came to Bridgeport to see her, and now she’s going to see your mom for the first time in all those years and go to your mom’s house for the first time in that many years.  Did I get it all?”

He nodded. “Sounds like it. I’m really sorry that you found all that out after getting here.”

I shrugged. “It’s Charlotte. She doesn’t like to share things until she has to. I figured that out quickly after I started to get to know her. Although her reasoning for not telling me or other people makes sense.”

“What was it, if you don’t mind me asking?” I thought it was odd that he was; like he didn’t know.

“She’s embarrassed or ashamed by how she acted and what happened.” Which reminded me of something. “By the way, speaking of being embarrassed, I was so embarrassed about what happened with Tony that night at the bar, I never thanked you for helping with that. So, thank you.” I couldn’t begin to tell him how embarrassed I was by the whole thing. Not only what had happened that night but also by the fact that I had even dated the asshole. I could only imagine what George thought of me since I had dated such a jerk, but then he hadn’t been so different from some other guys I had dated. I hoped that he didn’t judge me by the fact that I had been with Tony, but I wouldn’t have held it against him if he did.

“You don’t have to thank me. He deserved what he got and more.” We stood there looking at each other in an awkward silence and I couldn’t help but wonder what was going on in his head. There always seemed to be something going on up there and I always wondered if he was analyzing me which drove me crazy! “So. . .have you been okay?” I couldn’t help but smile, there was that concern Charlotte had slipped up about telling me earlier. He must have thought my smile was interesting since he cocked his head to the side ever so slightly. Good, let him try to figure that smile out.

 

“You mean has he bothered me since then?” I didn’t know why he just didn’t come out and ask. He nodded. “No. I haven’t seen him around either.”

“That’s good.” I couldn’t help but smile again.

“Hey, so when is Mom coming?” Trev interrupted us and I saw Charlotte slap his arm. I had to stop myself from cracking up. Charlotte was anything but subtle.

“What?!” Trev asked.

“You’re interrupting them.” Charlotte complained.

“That’s okay.” I offered.

“She’ll be here around six thirty. I suppose I should start dinner. Make yourselves at home. I don’t have a TV. . .” He looked back and forth between me and Charlotte.

“No TV? What do you do when you’re not working?” Charlotte wondered.

“I read, or look over patient files for the next day, go outside, play with the cats, go across the street to visit, eat dinner with Uncle Jeff or Mom. All kinds of things.” He was so. . .different. Those all sounded like lovely things, except for the reviewing patient info, but there wasn’t anything that screamed fun in there. No spark. He needed to really let loose more. “Anyway, I’ll be in the kitchen.” I watched as he walked away and then looked back at Trev and Charlotte.

“Has he always been like that? You know. . .sparkless?” I asked.

Trev shrugged his shoulders. “Kind of. George has always been the type of person who would be happy just sitting, watching people. He’s always been inside his own head mostly. But it’s been more so in the last nine years. Like he was saying, we all reacted differently when Dad passed away, he went inside his head more.”

Charlotte nodded her head. “Yeah, he did. He worries about everyone else but what he’s never realized is that we worry about him too. He’s really hard on himself; even more so than he is on other people. Which I’m not a psychologist, but that doesn’t seem like a good thing to me. Don’t get me wrong! I’m sure he’s an excellent psychologist but. . .I don’t know, it’s like he thinks that since he’s a psychologist that he should have it all together; never get mad, be understanding of people all the time, and if he’s not then he thinks he’s failed in some way.” Trev nodded in agreement.

I had never really looked at George that way but what they said made sense to me. How exhausting that must be to always worry about if you’re living up to unrealistic expectations. How tiring it must be to be inside that head of his, analyzing himself and others.

****George****

I pulled out the salmon and vegetables from the fridge and closed the door. I looked at the clock on the oven and noted that I had an hour to get dinner prepared. I wanted to have it ready several minutes before Mom arrived so I could offer Charlotte support if needed.  I put the food on the counter and got a cutting board out to start cutting vegetables.

“A tiger with a knife, that seems really dangerous. . .”

I chuckled. “I can think of more dangerous things.” I challenged her.

“Like what?”

I put the knife down and looked at her. “Women in alleyways with pepper spray.” She blushed slightly before laughing. 

“Touché. Would you like some help?”

“No, you’re a guest, you should go back in the living room and relax.”

“I don’t mind, plus, Trev and Charlotte both decided to take a nap. I think Charlotte needs it after driving here in the snow.”

“Yeah, it probably wouldn’t hurt that she’s taking one before seeing Mom.”

“So, I could cut the vegetables. . .” I motioned for her to take over and was surprised that she picked the knife up and started cutting the vegetables with ease.

“Do you cook?” I asked.

“Yeah, I did the cooking at our house when I was growing up. I don’t mind it but I really like baking more.”

“What do you bake?” I asked as I started seasoning the salmon.

“All kinds of things, I really like baking cakes and cupcakes though. And pie! I love pie!” I looked over at her and she had a euphoric grin on her face.

“A pie lover, huh?”

“Oh my God! There’s nothing better than an apple pie fresh out of the oven with vanilla ice cream melting around it. . .What?”

“Have you ever seen your face when you talk about pie?”

“No, it’s not like I stand in front of a mirror talking about pie. Why? What does my face look like?”

I smiled and chuckled. “Honestly. . .I don’t know how else to describe it. . .it’s almost like sunshine fell on your face.”

“Hmmm. . .well, I do like pie.” She smiled and went on cutting vegetables. Every time I learned something new about her I was reminded of what Charlotte had told me about Steph having many layers; which in all honesty was true of everyone. We were all a culmination of our life experiences that shaped who we were, creating unique human beings. But I definitely thought Steph was one of the more interesting people I had met in a long time.

“So, since I’m about to meet your mom, do you mind telling me about her? Charlotte didn’t really tell me much about her.” She asked as she continued to cut.

I chuckled. “Why doesn’t that surprise me.”

“She’s kind of preoccupied. She won’t admit it but I can tell she’s stressed about all of this.”

“Yeah, she is and I don’t blame her. This is either going to go well, or it’s going to be a very stressful Christmas. As for Mom, she’s a painter and owns her own gallery in town. She also teaches art classes. She’s. . .amazing. She’s one of the strongest people I know. One thing that I’ve always found interesting about her is she can smell BS from miles away. She knows when someone’s lying. Which sucked when we were growing up because none of us got away with anything.”

She laughed. “Who looks the most like her, out of all of you?”

“We’re all kind of a mix, Except for Will. Will looks the most like Dad.”

“Is she blonde?”

“No, Trev’s got her hair color. The rest of us have the Davila blonde hair, and all but Will have the Hobble blue eyes. Charlotte looks the most like her.”

“She must be really pretty then.”

I had a flashback to seeing Dad and her standing in our kitchen and him calling her ‘Beautiful.’  “Yeah, she is.”

“I think the vegetables are ready; what else can I do?”

“Hmm. . .I think that’s it. I’m just going to put them and the salmon in the oven and then I was going to relax for a minute.”

She nodded. “Well, I guess I’ll go unpack a couple things and relax a little.”

I smiled at her and she walked out of the kitchen. I put the salmon in the oven and set the timer. I walked out into the foyer and started to look for a book to read for a minute. I found one that interested me and sat in the living room to read. After reading for a while, I heard footsteps on the stairs. I looked up and saw Charlotte.

****Charlotte****

I walked down the stairs after my nap and saw George sitting on one of the couches, reading a book.

“Did you have a good nap?” George asked as I walked into the living room.

“Yeah, I really needed it.” I said and rubbed the back of my neck.

He stood up and walked over to me. “Hey, it’s going to be okay. It’s Mom.”

“Yeah, but she and I have always had a more different relationship than you guys had with her.” 

“What are you talking about?”

I sighed. How could I explain the differences between mothers and sons and mothers and daughters. Mom’s and my relationship had always been more strained then the boys. Most of my teenage years Dad had been the buffer between us; we had used him to communicate with each other. Whenever I wanted something, I always asked Dad first because I knew Mom would say no, no matter what it was. Mom had always been the harder parent and Dad had always been the fun one. After Dad had passed away, we didn’t know how to communicate with each other. I have to admit, Mom tried; but at that point I was so mad and hurt about losing Dad that I didn’t want to hear anything she had to say.

“She and I always had trouble talking to each other. After we started high school our relationship became strained. It seemed like Dad was always trying to keep peace between us. When he was gone, we just didn’t know how to communicate anymore.”

“Charlotte, a lot of time has passed. You’re not the same eighteen year old girl that left home. Mom’s not the same. She’s been through a lot in the last six years; dealing with all of being gone from home during college, then Will moving far away, Trev moving. . .”

“Me leaving.” I offered.

“Yeah, that’s something else too. My point is, just like the rest of us, she changed from what happened. I think you’re going to be surprised by how much.”

“What do you mean?”

“She doesn’t freak out about the little things anymore. She’s much more level headed which you would think the opposite would be true, but that’s not the case with Mom.”

“I’m just afraid that she’s going to walk through the door and start yelling at me about how I messed up; how selfish I was and it’s going to be like I’m eighteen years old again.”

“I really don’t think that’s going to happen, Charlotte.”

“How can you be so sure?”

“Because that’s not something Mom would do.”

I looked at him, trying to process what he had just said. The Mom I remembered would freak out over any little change. How was it possible that the woman who had been so afraid of change had changed so much.

He sighed. “Charlotte, just keep an open mind. Think of it this way, how much have you changed in the last six years?”

“Quite a bit.”

“Well, why would it be impossible for Mom?”

He had me there. “Okay, I’ll try to have an open mind.” He smiled and put his arm around my shoulder.

“It will be fine. Do you trust me?”

 “Yes.”

“Good. Cause I am older, and smarter.” He joked. That was the old George that I remembered. The one that joked around and picked on me.

“You may be older, but I definitely got the looks.”

“Oh whatever, we’re twins.”

“Yeah but I’m the better looking twin.” I said.

He laughed. “I’m going to go check on dinner. Will you go knock on Trev’s door and wake him up?”

“Sure.” I walked up the stairs and banged on Trev’s door. “Hey, lazy butt! Wake up!” I heard mumbling behind the door and then shuffling of feet across the floor. He flung the door open.

“What?!” He had always been a grump butt when he woke up.

“Dinner’s almost ready and I’m guessing that Mom will be here soon. So get your lazy butt downstairs.” 

“Yeah, yeah; I’ll be down in a minute.” I chuckled and walked back downstairs where I saw Steph. She was looking out one of the back windows.

“What are you looking at?”

“Oh, I’m just noticing the differences between here and the city. I’m kind of surprised that you and Trev grew up here.”

“Why?”

“You just seem more like city people than country.”

I had never thought about it but I was more comfortable in the city. I had liked growing up in Appaloosa but I never had an urge to stay here when I got older. It was like I had always known that I would move away when I got older.

“Yeah, I do feel more at home in the city. I think we all liked growing up here but for the same reasons that Grandma Hobble moved here, most of us find it limiting.”

“Except George.” Steph pointed out. I wasn’t even sure if that was true. He seemed happy living here but he also seemed to enjoy the city. 

“I guess, I mean he definitely likes the openness of Appaloosa, but there’s more to do in the city. I’ve never really asked him about living here.” I admitted.  “Hey, thanks for not getting upset about this whole thing. I seem to have a bad habit of not telling people things when I’m unsure of their response.” 

“I’ve kind of noticed that. It’s okay, Charlotte. I know you don’t open up to many people so I’m touched that you feel comfortable enough with me to invite me home with you.”

I hadn’t had many girlfriends when I was growing up but when I imagined what a good girlfriend was, it had been what Steph was. We had worked together for several months before we had started really talking to each other, but once we did, it was like we had known each other forever. She never pushed for me to tell her things about myself which helped me feel comfortable with her, and then when I finally told her about myself, she was always understanding.

I heard footsteps and turned to see George coming back into the room. “Hey, Mom should be here in the next couple of minutes. Did you wake Trev up?”

 

“I did, but who knows if he actually stayed up or went back to sleep.” 

“Trev! Get you friggin’ butt downstairs!” George yelled up the stairs.

“What the hell! I’m coming!” He clomped down the stairs and still looked sleepy.

“You better wake up before Mom gets here or she’ll think you’re sick and you’ll never hear the end of it.” George told him as he walked back towards the kitchen. I watched as Trev slapped himself across the face a couple of times and then shook his whole body, like he was getting himself pumped up to go on the field. Steph and I both laughed at him. I started to say something to him when the doorbell rang. I looked over at George and he walked over to me.