Fire & Ice

twentysix

Right after my win on Sunday night, Cassie had to drive me to the airport for me to catch my flight. I booked my ticket on the redeye flight as it was the cheapest flight I could find this time of year. It was hard to say bye to her again with this time being away from her for two and a half weeks instead of a few days. There were some tears involved not going lie, but I managed to get into the airport without major water works happening.

            The flight home wasn't bad, I managed to sleep for some of it, only really waking up when we hit some turbulence right before we landed. As I got out into the terminal, I quickly found mom as she was waiting for me right by the baggage carousel. As badly as I wanted to run into her arms, I held back and just walked quickly over to her with a big smile on my face. We gave each other a good squeeze before she helped me find my checked bag.

            The ride home was quiet and we were both pretty tired being up this early. After a stop and Dunkin' we both perked up a bit when we got into the driveway. Mom took my backpack inside while I went for my luggage. I barely made it inside before Frank tried to tackle me. I just put my stuff down and gave him the attention he deserves. When he finally left me alone and returned to his bed I got up off the floor and brought my bag over to my room and sat down on my bed for a minute and looked around.

            "Hey, I wanted to talk to you about something if that's okay." Mom said from the doorframe.

            "What's on your mind?" I asked and took my coffee from her.

            "Uhm, there really isn't any beating around the bush on this one. Alyssa and I have talked about moving in together." Mom said and bit her lip and looked over to me.

            "Okay, what are you thinking?" I asked waiting for the other shoe to drop.

            "I was thinking that I would sell the house. With that money and the bit I've managed to save from all my extra shifts and the night differential it could be my half of a deposit on either a house or two bedroom apartment. We did talk about wanting something new for the both of us so but we haven't really hammered out what exactly yet. The only thing that is certain is that we want to move in together early next year." Mom said.

            "Wow, way to lay it on thick right as I walked in the door basically." I said and took a sip of my lukewarm coffee. I sighed and looked down at the cup already losing my taste for the drink.

            "I know, I just had to get it out now because I wanted to give you these whole two weeks to think about it. I'm not moving without you McKenna." Mom said.

            I looked over at mom before moving over on my bed to sit next to her. Before she could say anything, I leaned my head down on her shoulder.

            "This place has some pretty bad memories hm." I said quietly as I felt my eyes water.

            Mom wasn't wrong. For most of my life, this house never felt like home. I stayed out all the time to avoid coming home to because of my father. This house never felt like a safe place to be. Travis' house felt more like a home then my own. I think this move is a great idea. Mom can restart with Alyssa and maybe I'll finally have a place that feels like home with the both of them.

            "Like I said you don't have to say anything about it now, I just wanted you to think about it if you have any ideas of places you would like to move to or thoughts about it in general." Mom said and cleared her throat.

            "I will let you know if I do. Now go call that hot doctor of yours and leave me to unpacking. I want to see her soon." I said and pushed off of my mom.