Page 65 of No Place Like Home

Her hands wrapped around me, and they stunned me. It had been so long since my sister had hugged me in a way that indicated that she needed me.

“What got into you?” I asked.

“I just missed you.” She smiled up at me.

It wasn’t easy to render me speechless, but Rosie did it every time. When I saw her, I could still see the little toddler that clung to me, and I knew I should be happy that it wasn’t the case anymore, but sometimes I felt so alone without her touch. My therapist said I wasn’t her mother, but it was a hard feeling to let go of.

Rosie was something I had called mine when I had nothing, and I guess it left a deep scar in me.

“You’re getting so big,” I whispered as I patted her head.

Sometimes if I looked at her long enough, I could see traces of my mother.

“And look at you, Pais. You’re so big too,” I said as I went to grab her.

“Meee!” Scottie beamed at me.

“Oh, look at you. You’re getting so handsome.”

Through all this, I felt Juliet’s gaze following me around. It was easy to lie to Jake, but I first had to wash away Quincy’s touch to face Juliet.

“I can feel your crazy mom staring at me,” I singsonged as I played with Paisley.

Juliet turned around and started making breakfast. I looked at the clock on the microwave. I had time before I had to go to class. I could stay for breakfast.

“Why didn’t you tell us the shower wasn’t working? When Blake isn’t around, you know you can tell us these things and we’ll fix them.”

If I were a nicer person, I would have felt guilty for saying bald-faced lies.

“No big deal, plus I got to stop by. It’s a win-win,” I told her.

And I got away from the man in my bed.

Juliet smiled at me. “That’s true, but don’t worry. Jake said he would stop by before opening the store.”

I felt the blood drain from my face. It was a feeling I had experienced before, so it wasn’t hard to forget.

Fuck my life.

“I..uh…I have to go!” I told her as I ran out of her house.

My phone and keys were in the cup holder where I had left them earlier. I reversed so fast that there was so much exhaust smoke as I drove away.

Was this what wanting to die of embarrassment felt like? Cause I was ready. I was prepared to go.

Okay, scratch that, I wasn’t ready.

I looked at the clock and realized Jake had to be there already. There was no use in going to my house. Then it would just be awkward. When I got to the main road, I headed to Emma's instead of heading for my home.

I could see Jake had not opened the store from this side of the strip. This was good or bad, depending on how you looked at it.

I had prime parking, so I left my car on as I walked into the diner to get some coffee and grab some breakfast.

Better an oops than a what if.

People in this town needed to stop it with these damn quotes that seemed to dictate my freaking life! Sleeping with Quincy wasn’t an oopsie-daisy type of thing. Ignoring the blackboard and what it said and those words that most definitely didn’t apply to me, I walked up to the counter where Emma and Freya were busy.

“Isaac, breakfast sandwich, extra bacon!” I yelled at him as he put his spatula up as a sign that he was on it.

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