AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Ouch. Those are from months ago. All I’m going to say now is—good luck. You’ll have a lotta grovelin’ to do.”
I swirl my sweet potatoes in a circle like I’m ten years old at Thanksgiving, hating sweet potatoes and forced to eat them anyway. “I doubt she’s still around. I’m sure some lucky guy snatched her up already.”
“Not if she loves you. She’s probably as miserable as you are.”
Eighteen
Eric
The Colorado Decembersky is gloomy, the cloud I flew over covering the sun that shone so brightly through my airport window seat. As the plane touches down, I feel oddly nervous. I’m exhausted from the 17-hour flight and am ready for my own bed. I managed about six hours broken up so that will have to do. Taryn has texted nonstop about how excited she is that I’m coming home and will be waiting for me at the airport.
I didn’t ask if Christa would be there, too, because I already knew the answer.
The whopping two times I asked about her over the past six months, I was given generic answers. “She’s fine” and “She’s keeping busy”—nothing at all to indicate how she really was. I’m sure if I would have asked the right questions, I might have gotten more in-depth, honest answers, but I didn’t.
Of course, I could have simply asked her myself but that would have opened up things I wasn’t ready to deal with. I’m not sure if I’m ready to deal with them now, but I have to. All I need to know is if she moved on.
My body’s sore and stiff as I collect my bag from the overhead bin and make my way off the plane along with the rest of the travel-weary people. The airport is a too-loud zoo. It overstimulates me and I take deep breaths to calm myself. I’ll have to get used to the noise of civilization again.
I exit into the main airport area and Taryn squeals, running up to me and leaping into my arms. I swirl her around and hug her. Her scent is familiar and it feels so good to have close human contact. I see Carter in the crowd.
“I missed you so much!” my sister says, kissing my cheek and grabbing my hand.
I smile at her and look at Carter. We’re about the same height and tower over the women. I shake his hand and he pulls me in for a back-pounding man-hug.
“Glad you’re home. This one wouldn’t shut up about it.”
I chuckle. “I know.”
“Guess what?” Taryn says.
I smile and look down at her. “What?”
“I’m pregnant!” She rubs her very flat stomach.
My eyes widen. “Oh, my God! I’m gonna be an uncle?”
