“This is the ‘main street’?” Noah asked. “You have got to be kidding me.”
“You’ve been to Vine Grove before to visit Grandma and Grandpa. You don’t remember?” Kady tightened her grip on the steering wheel as the car’s back tires slipped to the right a few inches.
“That was five years ago, I was eight-years-old. Things seemed…bigger...and more then.”
“Looks about the same to me.”
“I guess it’s been the same for the last hundred years around here,” Noah mumbled, as he picked up his cell phone again. He’d been glued to the glowing screen of his cell phone since they left California. Normally, Kady would have complained about Noah screen time, but it was a long drive. Kady wanted to say, you’re one of the main reasons we?re here, but she didn’t have the energy level for one more fight to rehash things.
“You sure Grams and Grandpa are up this late?” Noah asked.
“I called your Grandma at the last rest stop. She said that it didn’t matter what time we got in, and that she would have dinner waiting for us.”
“Well, that’s one good thing about this day.” Noah pulled the hood of his sweat jacket up and slumped down in the seat. “I’m starving.”
Kady drove out of town and then turned down the gravel road. Even in the ice and snow, the road was as familiar to her as an old sweater. Memories of walking home from school and throwing rocks into mud puddles flooded back as she drove down the narrow lane.
She inched the car up alongside the house and turned off the ignition. The back door opened, and her mom and dad came out.
“Sweetie!” Her dad grabbed her in a bear hug that practically lifted her off the floor.
“Look at you, Noah. My goodness, you are as tall as your mother.” Kady?s mom admired her grandson before giving him a hug. “You must have grown two feet since we last saw you.”
“Hi, Grandma.”
“We can’t stand out here in the driveway and freeze. I made a pot roast that is still in the crockpot. Let’s get some dinner in both of you before we get settled.” Vivian turned on her heels and headed into the house.
As Kady walked in the house, again, memories of her childhood flooded back. Just like the town, not much had changed. New drapes here, a few new throw pillow there, and a new bookcase.
The four of them ate and carried on a light conversation about the drive up. Kady’s mom and dad probably sensed that now was not the time to talk about what had happened over the last six months.
Kady helped her mom wash the dishes, as Noah and her dad carried in a few suitcases from the car.
“Don’t worry about the rest of the stuff in the U-Haul, Dad. There is nothing in there that can’t wait until tomorrow.” Kady wiped her hands on a kitchen towel, and then she went to help. She lugged her suitcase up the narrow stairs and dropped the case to stand in the corner of her old bedroom. Stuffed animals lined the top shelf, and the pictures of her favorite movie stars and bands from high school were still on the wall. She was thirty-one. If she had to live with her mom and dad, she was going to have to update her room. She’d worry about this later. As Kady came back down the stairs, each step she took felt heavy and slow with the world pressing down on her shoulders.
Noah had already pulled out the sleeper sofa and was lying on top of it.
“Let’s put some sheets on your bed.”
“It’s okay.” His back was still turned to her. “I’ll be fine.”
Kady sat on the edge of the mattress which squeaked from her weight. She cringed at the bumpiness and springs pushing through the top. Noah hadn’t complained. He was very quiet which was even scarier.
She brushed a chunk of Noah’s hair over his ear. Some days he already seemed like a young man and other days he looked like what he was, still a boy. His hair was turning to a sandy brown, just like hers. She leaned over, wrapped her arms around him, and pressed her face to his back.
“Things will get better soon.” Kady tried not to let the tears slip out that she felt hanging on the edges of her lashes.
Noah rolled toward her. His eyes were dark and troubled in the dim light. “You promise?”
“Yeah…” She fought to keep her voice steady. “Yeah…I promise. Things will get better,” she repeated.
She and Noah silently lay there in the dark listening to the sounds of her mom and dad bumping around upstairs as they headed for bed. There was nothing more to say to Noah, and she hoped what she’d just said wasn’t a lie.
I doubt things could get much worse.
Chapter Two
Kady unpacked what she could—at least what was left of their lives—from the back of the U-Haul. The house felt claustrophobic. Four people in barely over a thousand square feet made it clear as to what it was, a small house. She’d filled up her room with as many boxes as she could and still walk around in the little Habittrail she’d created.