I got my wake up call - which was Mia sent in to wake me up, gentle soul had to deal with my moaning to go away because I wanted to go back to sleep.
When I made myself presentable (which was brushing my hair, and throwing on some basic leggings and a sweater), I made my way downstairs to join the rest of the family.
My sisters would be going to school, and my mom would be taking me to see Sara.
Sara’s house was a white, beautiful, two-story, Victorian.
The inside was immaculate, and kept very extremely clean.
Her husband, David greeted us at the door. He had baby Lily in his arms.
My mom immediately reached for her Granddaughter.
The smell of cooking bacon drew me to the kitchen. Lena and her husband Gregory were in the middle of cooking. Little Eliza was in her high-chair, her uncle making her have giggle fits.
Lena was busy at the stove told me good morning, but didn’t say much more. I asked her if she needed help, but she politely declined.
I ate my breakfast at a slow pace. My mom didn’t have more than a cup of coffee. She did get a plate ready for Sara, and told me that I needed to take it up stairs. I prepared my own cup of coffee, and an orange juice for Sara (as requested by mom), and nervously made my way up the stairs.
Sara was asleep in her bed. She heard my entrance, and stirred in her bed. It took her a minute to wake and register that I was in the room.
“Violet.” She said with a smile. “Please, come sit by me.”
“I…. uh….” I started nervously. Damn these nerves. This was my sister. “I have breakfast for you.”
Sara sat up. I noticed then how pale and skinny she was. A lump formed in my throat.
I took a sip of my coffee, and turned to the window. Hopefully while she ate, I’d have enough time to stop the crying that had suddenly started.
I was still by the window when she started talking.
“Violet, I wanted to start by saying that a simple ‘sorry’ will never amend the way that I’ve treated you, and the way that I have made you feel.”
I turned to her. “I don’t want you to say anything that you don’t mean.” I said quietly.
“I’ve been not only a horrible sister, but a horrible person to so many of the people in my life. I think that this disease is my punishment.”
“You can’t think that, Sara.” I said, trying to hard not to cry.
“I know I can’t make things right with you. I know I don’t have the time to get to know the person that you’ve become.” I could see the tears welling up in her eyes. She put her head in her hands, and sobbed.
I’d never seen Sara cry before. I knew she was different, that she truly meant how sorry she was. It completely tore me in two. Before I knew it, I started crying where I stood by the window.
“You still have time, Sara. We have nothing but time.” I managed to say.
“If only that were true.” Sara said. Neither of us said anything for a little while.
I came and sat on the chair that was by her side of the bed.
“I have come to terms with the fact that I am dying.” She stated. “It isn’t something that I can avoid, because whether I like it or not, I am dying. Death will come; it’s inevitable.”
I couldn’t respond.
“This however doesn’t mean that I am fine with dying. I have a baby, and a two year old who are going to be left without a mother. I can only hope that my short time as a mother will be beneficial to them. Eliza and Lily are too young to remember me. They’ll see pictures of me, but they won’t know who I am. I’ll only be a story to them.” She paused. “And David…. I couldn’t have asked for a better husband, and father to my children. He’s been so very kind and loving, and I don’t deserve him.” She laid back, and took a breath. “I don’t know if you know this, but I’ve been going to therapy for a while now. I’ve been trying very hard to change myself for the better. I can only hope that I leave this world as a better person than the one I came into this world as. I can’t blame mom and dad for my problems. They were always loving and accepting. I was the way I was because of me. I chose to be that I way. I had chosen to live in my little bubble of false perfections. I tried to keep everything in my life neat and orderly. Normal…. If you have it. You were always so different, against everything that I stood for. I thought hating you and wishing awful things about you would make me a better person than you, when in reality I became this heap of misery and regret.”
“You don’t have to regret anything anymore. I forgive you”
Shock overcame her. “Really?”
I just nodded.
She shook her head. “If I was in your position I would have wished death on me before I forgave.”
“Well, luckily I am me.” I took a breath. “Would you like me to be honest with you, Sara?”
“Please do.” She said, and looked at me. I could see that a million things were racing through her mind.
“I didn’t want to come here today.”
“I can’t say that I blame you.” She fiddled with her blank.
“I never thought that you’d be one to change.”
She nodded in agreement.
“But I’m glad that I did, and to see that you have changed. I like who you’ve become.” I managed to say through tears.
Sara just smiled. “Thank you.” She said. “For your forgiveness.”
We sat in silence for a little bit. Sara said that she felt fine enough to go downstairs.
I could tell that she was running out of breath as we went down the stairs. When we finally made it to the living room, Eliza ran to her. Sara started smiling and crying. They cuddled together on the couch. Mom wasn’t anywhere in sight, so I figured that she was in the kitchen. I poured myself another cup of coffee, and sat by her. She was reading the newspaper.
“So?” She asked without looking up.
“You’re right, she’s different now.” I replied and took a sip of my coffee.
“I suppose that I should go see if she wants to come downstairs.”731Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhI2xeMGb5j
“No need. She’s in the other room.”
My mom closed the newspaper, and pushed it away from her.
“Is she feeling okay?”
I shrugged. “She seemed to run out of breath pretty fast, other than that she seemed okay.”
I followed my mom back into the living room, and found my place on the floor by the window. Everyone seemed entranced by the childrens show that played on the television.
After lunch, mom and I had to go. We’d be back on Thursday because it was Thanksgiving, and we’d all be at the house. Even Nora was driving in from Connecticut. She’d be here tomorrow.
On our way home, I remembered that I was supposed to meet Sam that morning. I made a mental note to go to his house when we got back into town.
We picked up the girls, and then headed home. I went straight to Sam’s.
Sam opened the door when I knocked. He was surprised to see me. I could see the disappointment in his face.
“Oh, hello Violet.”
I looked at my feet, and back up at him. “Hi Sam. I’m sorry about this morning.”
He shrugged, and ran his hand through his blond hair. “It’s really not a big deal.”
“Can I come in?” I asked him.
“Oh, uh sure.” He said, and moved out of the way.
“This place hasn’t changed a bit.” I observed as we walked to the living room.
Sam just shrugged.
“Look, again, I’m sorry that I missed our coffee this morning. I do have a reason why.”
“It doesn’t matter to me that you were a no-show. I just wished that you would have called.” He said.
“Yeah, I don’t know your number though.” I replied to him.
“My parents number hasn’t changed in over twenty years.” He stated.
“Yeah….”
Mrs. Duval had came into the room. She was smiling until she saw me.
“Oh, hello. Violet?”
I smiled. “Hi Mrs. Duval.”
She nodded at me then turned to Sam. “Samuel, will your guest be staying for dinner?” She asked.
“Actually, we’re heading out.” Sam smiled at me. “Let me get my jacket, and I’ll be back down in a minute.”
“So, Violet. What have you been doing for the past few years? Are you in school?”
I shook my head. “No, I worked for several years and saved up to do some traveling. I just got back into town yesterday. I do freelance photography. You don’t really need a college degree for that.”
She looked displeased. “Ah.” Was all she said before turning to go back to the kitchen.
I hurriedly texted my mom and told her that I’d be out.
“So Sam, what have you been up to these past few years?” I asked him as we got into the car.
“Well. I have recently graduated with my masters.”
“Congratulations! What are you going to do now?” I asked.
“Well, after the holidays I am starting my job in New York City. I had an internship there, and they decided to hire me on.”
“Congratulations!” I replied. “That’s so great.”
“Thanks. What about you? What have you been doing?”
I took a breath. “Well, I’ve been traveling. Doing freelance photography work mostly.”
“That sounds nice. I’d love to travel. I haven’t really been anywhere notable. My mom hates travelling.”
“Well, you have your entire life ahead of you.” I told him.
He shrugged. “Yeah….”
We sat in silence for a while. “So.” I finally said. “Where are we going?”
“Coffee. You owe me a date.” A crooked smile crossed his face.
“Oh, this is a date now? How do you know I’m not seeing anyone?” I smiled.
The smile left his face. “Are you….”
I shook my head. “Nope. I scared you for a minute there though.”
He smiled again and didn’t say anything.
We got our coffee to go, and we drove around for a little bit. We just talked about how our life has been. I left out Sara, he didn’t need to know about her yet. That’d be too much to thrust upon him on our date.
I told him about my travels, and my photography. He about school.
We ended up talking until late. Both of us were hungry by the time we realized that it was 8 PM.
We ended up going to get Chinese food, and talking even more.
After we were done, Sam drove me home, and walked me to my door.
We stood in silence for a minute. I wanted to kiss him, but I wasn’t sure if he was for it.
Finally he looked at me in the eye, took his hand behind my ear, and our lips met. There was something different with this kiss. Like gears shifting like they should. I could have stood there kissing him, but he slowly pulled away. I could tell that he wanted to as well, but each of us said our goodnights instead, and I went into my house.
He stopped me for a minute.
"If you're not busy tomorrow night, I have tickets to this thing. I'd really like it if you'd go with me."
"I'd love to." I told him.
"Great. Would you want go get dinner before the show?"
"Sure."
"Four thirty too early?"
"Sounds perfect." I smiled. "Goodnight."
I turned on my light, to see a figure looking out of my window.
“Damn it, Olivia. Don’t scare me like that!” I nearly yelled.
A smile crossed her face. “So, how was the date? How was the kiss?”
“How did you know that I was on a date?” I set my bag down.
“Your cheeks are a nice shade of rosy pink. And no one kisses their friend like that. Was that Sam? He’s kinda cute.”
“Goodnight Olivia.” I told her, and stood at the door, hoping that she would get the memo to leave.
She started for the door. “Can’t you tell me any detail?”
“No, goodnight.”
She continued to ask me questions as she walked out of the door. I ignored her and shut the door as she left. My thoughts drifted from Sara and then to Sam. Sad to happy. A million racing thoughts.
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