Page 5 of Fresh Start
I’d missed this. Being amongst family. I hadn’t had that since I left home. The realization made my eyes sting, and I blinked the unwelcome tears away.
“Where are you staying, sweetie? You gotta be careful. The town might be small, but I’m sure people will start recognizing you once you go out in broad daylight,” Aunt Sally said.
“Oh,” I replied and turned to Mom and Dad. “I was hoping to stay with you guys.”
My dad slapped me at the back and huffed.
"We'll make some space for my boy, won't we? It's all good," he said.
"Yes," Mom agreed. "I'm sure we can fit you in somewhere."
She got up and started looking around herself for a solution to the problem.
"Maybe in the media room. But then the kids will wake him up every morning. Or maybe we should put the kids in the media room, although then they won't ever go to bed," she mumbled.
"It's okay," I said not wanting to ruin the moment with any unnecessary stress. "I'll just get a hotel somewhere. Don't worry. I don’t want to inconvenience anyone.”
Mom turned to me, and her eyes shot wide open.
"No, it's okay. We'll make space. You won't be able to find a room this late. The Butterfly Festival starts tomorrow, and everything will be fully booked,” she said.
“The what?”
“The Butterfly Festival. It’s a week-long, annual event. There are lots of activities for kids and adults, and then at the end, we release the baby butterflies into the world. It’s magical.”
“Indeed. It’s so pretty,” Aunt Sally said.
And with that, I knew I had a lot of making up to do. Even Aunt Sally, who lived in Canada with her husband and her five children, had been to the Butterfly Festival before. And I, with all the money that I had accumulated from my movies and how easy it was to hire a private jet, hadn’t even been to this town since they moved here after retirement.
I was a bad son.
But there was still time to apologize for all the years I’d missed.
“Okay, in that case, I better head to town,” I said and got up to leave.
Mom hooked herself to me as if we were glued together and tried to stop me.
"Dawson, don't be silly. We'll figure something out. Won't we, Jeff?" she turned to my dad for support.
"Of course we will," he said. "Larry, come on. Let's go upstairs and move some things around."
My uncle got up from his chair without a second to spare, but I already felt bad. I wasn't going to let them go into so much trouble. I should have called. It was stupid of me to assume that they wouldn't have family visiting.
"Dad, no. Honestly, it's ok," I said.
"But Dawson—" Mom started again, and I knew I'd have to nip this in the bud if I didn't want to get them all distressed so late in the evening.
"Why don't I go into town and try to get a hotel, and if I can't find anything, then we can figure out if you can fit me somewhere for tonight? How does that sound?"
Mom shook her head. "But we haven't seen you in forever. I don't want you staying far away," she said.
I gave her a hug to show her how much I loved her and to put her mind at ease and then turned to my dad.
"I came here for you guys. We can spend as much time together as you want."
Dad smiled and squeezed my shoulder as Uncle Larry took his seat back.
"I should go before it gets too late," I said.
