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April kissed the top of her daughter’s head. “Everything was real. We might not have had the best relationship, but this family was really important to us both.”
Georgia nodded, looking down, as if she was still convincing herself that it was the truth. “Thank you. I’m sorry for everything I said before.”
“You don’t have to worry about any of that. I know it came as a shock. I should have told you the second you came to the house. I was still processing it myself. I was scared that you would panic like you did. But that’s no excuse. You deserved to know.”
Georgia smiled up at her. It finally felt like things were right between them. April hadn’t realized it, but she was so stressed about the secrets between them that letting them out felt like a weight off her shoulders. Her stomach settled and she could finally take a deep breath.
They had so much to learn from one another. And it would happen, slowly of course. But they knew from then on that they would all try to be more understanding, less quick to judge, and focused on what they wanted for themselves.
Each one promised to do better.
Georgia realized the divorce wasn’t her fault, her parents had just outgrown each other. April finally saw that her mother only wanted the best for her, but that it was time to do things on her own. And Caroline realized she should have been putting her energy into enjoying her family instead of trying to make it perfect, exactly how she wanted it to be.
The house slowly became quiet. When they felt comfortable enough, they decided to go up and check out the damage. April took a deep breath as she held the doorknob. Whatever it looked like, they would figure it out together. She turned the knob and opened the door to her dream house.
CHAPTER TWENTY SIX
Under their feet the broken pieces of what was their dream home crunched with each step. The house wasn’t completely destroyed, though. Walls stood where they left them, standing firm in the roaring winds.
The real damage was in the windows, glass shattered everywhere. It made April terribly nervous. Most of the furniture they’d just bought was ruined, filled with water and dirt. Some of the pieces had been torn apart, shattered into parts after being thrown across the room.
The water that flooded the first floor barely reached over her foot as she walked. It was cold and gray, sending a chill up her spine. The couch they’d fantasized about was sitting in the rubble, cushions cut open from the wood that piled on top of it. It was a sopping wet mess.
She looked over at Georgia, all her hard work ruined by the damage. Her face fell as she looked at it all. Her daughter had never experienced anything like this before. It was nothing less than a tragedy to see all the work they’d done, destroyed.
How would they ever come back from this? All her money was gone and there was no way she’d be able to afford new furniture, windows, and fix the problems. Not to mention the fact that the house wasn’t technically hers. It was all a jumbled mess.
They continued to step around the remains of the home, treading carefully as if they could do any more damage. She helped her daughter and mother step around the glass beside the front door.
April was terrified to take a step outside. If the inside was this bad, how horrible would the outside be?
The front yard was the first thing she saw. It was covered in various objects that didn’t belong to her. Towels, blankets, trash bins, and outdoor furniture were scattered throughout the large property. The grass was nearly dead from the waterboarding it’d just received.
April had to close her eyes and open them again, trying to blink away what was now engrained in her mind.
All those memories of the house were washed away by the storm. This wasn’t her childhood dream house, the perfect property where she visited each summer until they forced her to go back home. This was her nightmare. An after photo of some natural disaster on the late night news from somewhere far away.
She’d never experienced anything like it. It was every bit as disastrous as people always said it was.
The roof was ripped to shreds, pieces of the shingles laid in messy heaps across the top of the house. It was too terrifying to see what happened to the attic and top floor of the building. She knew she wouldn’t be able to handle it.
April searched the yard for any place to rest her weary feet, but everything looked wet. She decided she would have to settle for the sopping wet wooden stairs that ran down to the beach. It transferred to her shorts as soon as she sat on the top step and looked out at the water. But she didn’t care. At this point, a wet butt was the least of her problems.
Her head fell into her hands. Not ten seconds later, she felt an arm across her back. She looked up, ready to grab her daughter’s hand. Only, it wasn’t her daughter, but her mother. And her daughter’s hands came down on her shoulders as she stood above her.
Georgia took a seat on the other side of April, even though it was a tight fit for all three women to sit side by side. “I can’t believe after everything we tried to do, it’s all over. Everything is ruined.”
“Mom… Nothing is ruined,” Georgia tried.
April almost laughed. Everything she had was taken from her. The family she thought she had, her money, this dream of a house. It all disappeared in just a few weeks. Nothing felt right anymore. Her life was truly a disaster.
“I have nothing. Everything we worked for is all gone. We’ve spent every spare second the past few weeks trying to put this house together. It was finally coming along and now… It’s all gone.”
Her daughter put an arm around her shoulders and squeezed. “I mean, that’s kind of true. The house is in bad shape, but that’s not what matters here. We found a way to get back together again, right? It wasn’t for nothing because we’re closer now. And that’s progress. That’s moving forward.”
She nodded and smiled over at Georgia, then her mother, who was also sporting a grin. “You’re right. We’re together and that’s what matters,” April said. “I just wish our work could have meant something for our future. I’m not sure where to go from here. I feel so stuck.”
The tears fell down her cheeks, but she quickly wiped them away in an attempt to get herself together. An attempt that failed quickly as she realized there wasn’t anything left of her dreams.
