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“Yes. She talked to him, but he still does it. I hate his guts.”
“Honey, he probably just likes you,” I said. “Boys your age aren’t that great at using their words. They get nervous around girls they like and I imagine he is doing this just to get your attention.”
“That’s dumb.”
I laughed. “I agree. It is dumb. But you should just ignore him and eventually he will leave you alone. If he isn’t getting a rise out of you then it isn’t any fun.”
“Ok,” Zoe replied. She finished her ice cream and stood up to stretch her legs out. “Are you ready to play some more?”
“I don’t know. Aren’t you getting tired of Frisbee?”
“No,” she said with a laugh.
“Ok. Let’s get back to it.”
We were almost back to the spot we had picked out when I noticed Zoe’s face lighting up. “Julie!”
I turned to see where Zoe was pointing. She was pointing right behind me. I spun around. Zoe was right. Julie was standing there behind me with a smile on her face. She looked incredible. Seeing her there in the flesh was surreal. I wanted to smack myself to make sure this wasn’t some kind of a strange dream.
But I knew I was wide awake. Julie was there. She was really there.
Zoe ran to her and leapt into her arms. Julie scooped her up and hugged her tightly. “Are you really here?” Zoe asked.
“Yes, sweetie,” Julie said. “I’m really here.”
“Are you staying for good?”
“Yes,” Julie said. “I’m staying for good this time.”
Judging by that statement, I took it to mean that Julie’s college days were behind her. Art school must not have worked out, or else she wouldn’t have been there. Standing there in front of her, I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to feel. I loved her so much and I’d missed her terribly every second of the day since she’d been gone. But at the same time, I knew it would have been all too easy to gloat here. I had to resist any of that. I needed to be there for Julie. I wanted to be the ear that she could talk to and the shoulder that she could lean on.
“It’s great to see you, sweetie,” I said as I held Julie in my arms and kissed her softly on the mouth. I’d been craving this kiss for weeks. I couldn’t even count the time that I’d spent wishing she was back home safe and sound. And now she was.
Julie moaned sweetly with a smile. “Oh, it’s great to be back, babe.”
“I’ve missed you so much. Are you really here for good?”
“Yes,” Julie said. “You are probably wondering what happened.”
“I am, but you can tell me when you are ready.”
“There isn’t much to tell. It wasn’t what I thought it would be and I wasn’t getting anything out of it. So, I left. I can say that I gave it a shot and it wasn’t the right fit for me. Now, I can focus on other things.”
“I’m sorry it didn’t work out. I knew you had your heart set on it and that it meant a lot to you.”
“It did,” she said. “But I’ve got my heart set on other things now.”
“Yay! Julie is back!” Zoe cheered behind us.
We both shared a laugh. “I guess you’ve got your little cheering section,” I said.
“That I do,” Julie agreed.
Julie hugged Zoe close to her and Zoe clung to her arm. It was great seeing the two of them together again. Zoe had missed her dearly. She had not mentioned Julie that much, but I knew that Zoe was hurting since she was gone. My little girl kept her emotions deeply inside of her, just as I did. We were both often too stubborn for our own good. Any time that I’d tried to get Zoe to talk about Julie or tell me how she was feeling with her gone, she would just not answer and change the subject. It was a great sight to see her happy and glowing again.
“Come and play some Frisbee with us!” Zoe said. She grabbed Julie’s arm and began to drag her off towards the open space where we’d been playing.
This was what it was all about. I wondered if this was the real reason that Julie came back. Did she miss us as much as we missed her? Was school really as terrible as she tried to let on it was? I would get the answers to my questions soon enough. I knew this. For right now I wasn’t going to ask those questions. I was going to enjoy the day with my two favorite
