With four girls in the house, all born within a five-year span, one-on-one time with their mom had been hard to come by. The situation was made even harder due to the fact that their mom Sandy helped raise Krista’s cousins Seth, Riley, Jason, Alex, and Bobby after their own mother had left them when they were young and then passed away when they were in their early adolescence. Krista didn’t remember a lot about her Aunt Cheryl. Only that she had been beautiful and that when she was fun she was really fun and when she was sad she was really sad. When Krista was a child, her mom had explained her aunt’s behavior by telling the girls that she was sick. As an adult, Krista now knew that Aunt Cheryl had suffered from bipolar disorder. Nowadays, a lot more is known about the disease, but twenty years ago, that was not the case.
“Do you mind putting it in a braid?” Abby’s voice was riddled with nerves.
“Sure. No problem. By the way, I brought Bear to my house. I can keep him until you are back on your feet.” Krista threaded Abby’s dark hair through her fingers, separating it into three parts and began weaving them in an interlocking braid.
“Thank you so much.” Abby’s voice crackled with emotion. “How is he?”
“He’s good and loving all the attention he’s getting from my sisters. He’s eating it up.”
“So did you guys get a chance to catch up?” Abby asked excitedly.
Krista wasn’t sure how you caught up with a dog, but maybe Abby was confused due to damage caused by the stroke. Not wanting to alarm her, she did her best to answer.
“Umm, well I haven’t been home all that much, but he did sleep with me last night. We had good snuggles.”
Abby’s shoulders shook as she laughed. “Is that what you kids are calling it these days? Snuggles?”
Krista meant to play along and not draw attention to the fact that Abby wasn’t making any sense, but when she opened her mouth, she said, “What?”
“I was talking about Chase, not Bear,” Abby explained as her laughter died down.
“Oh.” Okay, that made sense.
“So did you two get to talk? You and Chase?” Abby sounded like a kid asking about a Christmas present.
Hearing Abby’s voice bursting with so much animation in it made Krista’s heart swell. Normally it was flat with more than a little hint of sadness. A part of her wanted to warn Abby not to get her hopes up about Chase sticking around. But she wasn’t going to be an emotional party pooper raining on Abby’s parade. Plus, it just sounded like Abby was excited to see her son again, not that she was having any misgivings about him sticking around. Where was the harm in that?
“Not really. I only saw him briefly.” Krista didn’t feel the need to divulge the fact that her brief encounters were because she was too chicken to have a real conversation with him. That he’d tried to talk to her, even wanted to have dinner with Krista, but she’d hightailed it out of the hospital room and Abby’s house last night before he got any deeper under her skin. Not that it had really done any good. Those two face-to-faces had definitely gotten under her skin, penetrating not only her heart, but her mind as well. Chase was in her head and there was nothing she could do about it.
Since she hadn’t been able to sleep—again—she’d gotten up early and put in a little extra time getting ready this morning. She’d blown out her hair and put on mascara, lipstick, even a little eyeliner. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d worn eyeliner.
Yesterday, when she’d unexpectedly seen Chase not once, but twice, she’d been a hot mess. Exhausted. Bags under her eyes, stains on her scrubs, her hair looking like a beehive resided in it. And she’d been paler than a baby’s butt. Last night had been slightly better, but not by much. At least she’d been wearing cute pajamas and her hair had been down. Still, she knew that her under-eye bags had been in full effect and if her skin hadn’t been pale it was only because it had been flushed with lust.
“I was sure when you guys were kids that you’d end up together. That you’d get married, have babies,” Abby said with that ever-familiar sadness beginning to bleed into her voice.
“We were young,” Krista answered. Sure, she’d thought the same thing, but why put any energy into talking about it?
“For years after Chase left, I thought that somehow, someway, you two would find your way back to each other.”
You and me both, Krista thought to herself.
Abby turned so that she looked directly at Krista, hope radiating from her eyes as she said, “Maybe you will. Maybe this happened to me for a reason and you two will get back together. You belong together.”