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“I’m moving to Connecticut!”
He stood up and smacked my back. “You’re moving to Connecticut!”
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
Aubrey
Brie and I are about an hour into our drive, and neither of us has said a word. I let Brie choose the music, and of course, she chose some instrumental shit so she could read. I was always jealous that she could read in the car. If I look at my phone for more than five minutes, I’m nauseated the entire ride. It was pretty calming though. After our first stop, she finally put her book down and turned to me.
“Do you wanna talk about it?” she said without a hint of judgment.
I smiled. “Not really, but I know you’ll make me.”
“If you really don’t want to talk about it, I won’t force you to, but I really do want to know what happened. Are you okay?”
I shrugged, trying to seem unbothered. “I will be. I need to get home and get things back to normal. Things will blow over with Lincoln. They have to. Crazy circumstances brought us together and tore us apart at basically the same time, but I’m hoping they will keep us together somehow. If not, we can move forward as friends. That's all I want.”
She was silent for the next few minutes.
“He is perfect for you; in case you didn’t realize it.”
I didn’t really believe that, but it made me happy to hear her say it. I cried a few times on the way home, but I have a feeling I’ll be doing a lot of that in the near future.
We chose to try to drive all the way through since we left early. With both of us driving, we would be home in no time. I drove most of the way, and Brie drove the last three hours.
I stopped in to see my parents before driving the rest of the way home; they were waiting for us even though it was late. Things were weird when I left, but being home now, everything felt right, like everything would be okay. I really missed them. As mad as I was at them, I couldn’t help but think that this happened for a reason. Maybe I was supposed to wait to find my biological dad so that I would know Lincoln. If I had found him sooner, he might not have taken Lincoln in; he probably wouldn’t even exist in his life. I’m now a firm believer in what’s meant to be will be.
We chatted a little about my time there, but it was late, so I needed to get home. I hugged them goodbye and headed to my house. I was excited to see Callie, but I figured I’d show up to a quiet house because of the time. The lights popped on when I walked in and Callie and Nick stood there with balloons and one of those annoying popper things.
I’m going to kill Brielle.
She must have told them I was coming home today, and they stayed up to see me. This is why they are my best friends. They are there for me even when I haven't asked. I grabbed them both and started sobbing. We all made our way to my room and Nick brought the wine.
“Where is Jake?” I asked.
Callie just shrugged so I let it go. I had to fill her in on everything I had told Nick over the phone. She was pissed that I called him instead of her, but she’ll get over it. We talked all night about literally everything. I even shared a little about Brie coming out of her shell. They were just as surprised as I was. Now she’ll be stuck going out with us forever.
Callie said Brielle texted her this morning to let them know we were coming home. Callie called a few of my clients to let them know I would be back in commission starting the following Monday if they wanted to schedule appointments. I’m so grateful for her that she was giving me some time to get back into being home, but she also wasn’t going to let me sulk and waste away.
The one thing I didn’t tell my friends was that I started writing a song. I need to spend more time on it because it’s only been a few hours of writing, but this song will be epic.
It felt good to be home. It felt even better to hug my friends. It felt good to lay in my own bed, but then again it felt like part of me was missing. I left part of me with Lincoln, and I think he’ll have it forever.
A few days later, I called Pops to check-in. They were doing well. They said they were planning a party for me at their house the day after we arrive back in Tennessee. Hearing their voices made me happy. I secretly hoped to hear Lincoln. Sadly it was Friday, so he probably wasn’t even home. I realized I have Pops laugh too. He had me dying about some customer in his shop that we constantly gossiped about. I was doing that I can’t-breathe kind of laugh.
I asked them to invite David’s wife since she and I hadn’t met before I left. I really can’t wait to meet her. I told them I would bring my guitar so she could see it, and maybe we could jam around a fire pit or something. I want to learn all about David.
When we hung up, I clicked on Lincoln’s name in my texts… I was typing “hey” when I saw those three little bubbles pop up… then they disappeared. I deleted mine and put my phone down, hoping a text would come through, but it didn’t.
I was just lying in bed, staring at the ceiling and saw my phone screen light up from the corner of my eye. Very few people would text me this late, but I prayed it was him.
Mr. Grumpy Butt: Hi.
Me: Hey.
Mr. Grumpy Butt: How are you?
Me: I’m good. I missed my family a lot, and I’m glad to be home. I’m writing a song… it was inspired by one of our conversations actually.
