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“You’re a bit scary.”
“I am.”
She chuckles, walking further into the room before she flops down on my bed. “So I’ve been thinking.” She eyes me nervously. “I think it’s time to go back.”
After the accident, and Billy went to rehab, I couldn’t do it. I was quickly reliving the life I couldn’t wait to leave as a kid. I could not care for and worry over another addict trying to get their life right.Or an addict not caring about getting it right at all. I couldn’t try to save another and watch as they slowly lost their grip.
So I blocked that memory out and I focused on needing to be there for my sister. Chelsea had had enough of Adam choosing everything else over her, and when she found out she was pregnant, it was the final straw. She fled.
Because our upbringing taught us to do so.
Things got rough? Feels like no way out?
We make our own escape route.
My heart drops and I try to keep my facial expression as even as possible. I need to support her here, no matter what that looks like for me. “Okay. When do you want to go?”
“That’s it? Not even a question why?”
“Chelsea, I know why.” I reply softly. “You’ve never gotten over him. And Dominic needs to know his dad. He has a whole family he’s missing out on. And so are you.”
A single tear escapes and rolls down her cheek and I jump from my chair and move to sit with her on the bed. “I’m not saying any of this to make you cry. I’m saying it because you’ve already been thinking about it.”
“You’re right. I’ve been thinking about it for a while.”
“I know you have.”
“I should have never left, Ad.”
There’s that should have. Guess we’ve all got them.
“I understand why you did. You forget I was there with you?”
She shakes her head. “I know you were there. And I know why you packed and left, too. Adley, I can’t thank you enough for moving to Christmas in the first place, for me. And I feel guilty every day for leaving and dragging you with me.”
“You didn’t drag me. I’ll always follow you.”
“And that’s where I’m selfish. I knew you would. I thought I was doing the right thing, taking a stand. And I needed you to do the same. I saw what was happening with Billy.”
“I loved that town, Chelsea. I loved the friends we found. But Ididn’t love how events were unfolding. I was okay with leaving. Please know that.”
“Are you okay with returning?”
Taking a breath, I let the scenarios run through my mind.
Is he sober?
Does he remember me?
Will he want to see me?
“I think we need to regain what we lost. I think we need to try again, for the sake of Dominic, to create a family he’s proud of. I think we both need to create a stable situation for ourselves, and we need to stick to it. If we go back, we can’t run again. No matter how things unfold this time. Can you do that?”
“Canyoudo that? Can you go back and stick it out if you see Billy with another woman? Or worse, seeing Billy the same as when you left him? Can you take that pain and trauma again?”
I left my dad behind and didn’t look back.
I left Steve behind and felt lighter.
