By the time our food gets delivered, we eat, and clean up about an hour and half has passed. I have 3 missed calls from Kiersten and about a million texts from Whitney and Bridgette threatening my life if I don't pick up the dang phone.

I should be excited to call her back. I should be jumping up and down to tell her I'm coming home. But I'm not. I'm worried, almost scared to tell her. The way things have been going, I doubt she'll see it as good news. She'll be too cautious to be excited. Because she won't believe it's actually gonna happen.

Maybe I don't tell her. Or anyone. I'll make it a surprise. Yeah, for sure. I think I'm onto something here. Kiersten will be so happy we're together again she won't give it a second thought how I got there.

And what better birthday present than a surprise visit from your big brother? I could jump out from the couch right before he opens his presents and give him a big ole bear hug. Man, he'd totally lose his mind. Carrie and Marcie too. I bet they'd jump right in like a dogpile giggling and screaming until they can't hardly breathe.

I smile to myself at the thought. Never in my mind did I think I'd miss my little siblings jumping all over me and the chaos of back home, but here I am dreaming about it. It's a strange sort of heartache that I can't quite explain. It feels so far away, but yet like it's right out in the living room. I play it over and over again in my head. Their laughs, their smiles, and their playful spirits. The memories and the feelings are so strong, it's like I'm already there.

And they're not memories from the last four years. They're memories from before...well you know. My mom and dad are both there, in my memories and in this fantasy of my trip going home. Except it's not going to be a memory or a fantasy. My smile grows wider as the realization hits me. It's going to be real. Me, my brother, my sisters, my dad, my mom, we're all going to be there celebrating Drew's birthday, together as a family.

💚

Day by day, the excitement that I kept deep inside my chest gets bigger and bigger. I tried to keep it concealed, after all, I know if I spoke a single word of this to anyone I know they wouldn't believe me. They'd try to talk me down and prepare me for the worst. But they don't know what I know. My mom promised me. And she keeps promising me. I check in every once in a while, just to be sure and, guess what? She says yes every time. This is happening. I'm going home!

Every time I talk to Kiersten, she wonders why I'm in such a good mood. My dad, my friends, and my siblings too. I just tell them I'm finally getting the hang of it out here. Only a minor lie. I am kind of getting the hang of it. I have a few favorite spots to eat and I charted out a good running path in the park. But it's really the thought of home that keeps me going. Call it rose-colored glasses or homesickness or whatever, but man, I cannot wait to be back in Alabama.

"Hey ma," I say as she passes by my desk on the way to the copier. "There's this really cool burger place I saw that's on our route back home. It's a little out of the way, but it's got jalapeno popper cheese fries and those fancy milkshakes with an entire piece of cake on the side of the glass. Can we go?"

My mom looks up from her papers briefly and says, "yeah, of course, honey. Whatever you want."

"Cool," I say.

She gives me a little half smile, then returns quietly to the papers in her hands and heads back to her desk.

"And mom?" I say as she's about to close the door. I know once that door closes and she picks up the phone, that's the last I'll hear from her until the end of the day.

"Yeah?"

"I think I know what I want to get Drew for his birthday. Can we go to the store when you're done?"

She hesitates for a second and glances at her insanely packed Outlook calendar.

"Uh..." she says. "Can you buy it online?"

"I mean," I say, just the tiniest bit disappointed. "I could, but I want to see it in person so I know it's good enough. It's his 10th birthday. I don't want to let him down."

"Oh, I'm sure they'll let you return it if you don't like it."

"Yeah, but..."

"I'm sorry, honey, I have to take this call. Take a look on Amazon. If you find something, I'll give you my card."

Just like that, my mom disappears into her office. I slump back in my chair a little and pop open Amazon. I didn't really want to order his present online, something about it just doesn't feel right for a 10th birthday. I kind of click through here and there, but I'm not really feeling it.

It's so weird. I can't do anything without being reminded of home. We never ordered gifts online. My dad always loaded us all up and took a day trip to the mall and wouldn't let us leave until we all got what we needed. It sure felt like hell on earth, but every once in a while he'd let me take Kiersten and we'd go get smoothies at the food court while he dragged the other three around and tried desperately to get a very pedantic Drew to make any sort of sentimental decision.

I start to wonder if they went already and if I missed it. Then I start to feel bad for my poor dad who would have had to go without me or Kiersten as a buffer. At least if Drew got too wound up, I could take him to the arcade or something while my Dad shopped with Marcie and Carrie. But now he's stuck by himself with all three of them.

I should give him a call.

The phone doesn't even ring twice before my dad picks up.

"Hey, kiddo, finally decided to give your old man a call, huh?"

I knew he'd say something like that. He seriously acts like I don't talk to him everyday. Maybe not a phone call, but I definitely text him.

"I just talked to you this morning," I laugh.

"Oh, yeah that's right, you asked me if you left your cleats at the house and then said "wait, never mind Mom put them in the wrong cubby. Don't text me back.'"

"I was trying to save you some time," I laugh, knowing full well how bad that came across. But really, I was trying to save him some time. That's not a line. "I know you're a busy guy."

"I've always got time for you, Matty."

"Thanks," I say sheepishly. He says it with a hint of sarcasm for comedic effect, but I know he truly means it. "Hey, did you go birthday shopping for Drew yet?"

"Oh boy, did we," he laughs. "Spent half the time convincing Carrie and Marcie that despite his recent interest in marine biology, Drew did not in fact want a Barbie Fairytopia Mermaidia Bubble Vanity. It was tough, because they were quite confident that's what he would want, but I talked them into a Lego fish tank eventually. You know, with the help of some Cinnabon bribing."

"Is it weird that I'm a little jealous?"

"Depends. Does the fact that we listened to the Tangled soundtrack on repeat the entire way there change your mind at all?"

"Tangled? There's only like 4 songs in that movie."

"Oh, I'm aware."

I know it's awful, but I can't help but laugh. Just for context, the mall is 2 and half hours from our house.

"I'm surprised Drew tolerated that."

"He wasn't there. He had a golf lesson and his golf instructor was kind enough to let him stay a few extra hours until we got back."

"Chloe?"

It comes out before I can stop it. I've heard enough about this woman to know it's her, but I want to hear it from him.

"Yeah, that's her."

He doesn't say much else at first. Just confirms her name and kind of leaves it at that. Completely casual. Kiersten's gotta be wrong. There's no way there's something going on here.

But...?

"What's she like?"

"Oh, you know. She's, uh..." he fumbles and gets tripped up. Almost like...he's embarrassed? Embarrassed by what though? He clears his throat. "The kids really like her."

Okay, I will admit that is a little weird of a response, isn't it?

"Do you like her?"

If you thought he was flustered by my first question, boy, this one really sent him into overdrive.

"Uh, I...I mean...yeah, she's..." he stumbles around looking for the right words. "She's...a very nice woman."

Hmm...well it's certainly no declaration of love. In fact, a "very nice woman" is about as non-sexual as a descriptor as you can use. So why did it throw him so off-kilter?

Unless...

No, I'm reading way too much into this. He probably just doesn't know her all that well and didn't know what else to say.

I can't let the girls get in my head about this. I mean, I can't even imagine what could be happening between the two of them. Like, what would they even be doing? Flirting? Over golf? 

Yeah, no shot in hell. 

She's just Drew's golf instructor. That's it. 

A/N - What do we think? Is there something happening between Miss Chloe and Mr. Purdy? 👀