She was wearing a pair of old jeans and a shirt that was clearly too big for her. Her hair was pulled back in a messy pony, and she looked thin and pale. She looked nothing like how she had before.
“Brandon?” My name came out of her mouth, and it sounded so broken. I could see anger flicker across her face, and she crossed her arms.
Kaleb moved up the stairs, pulling her into a hug. He twirled her, but I could see she was stiff. He placed her down and smiled at her. “God, look at you.”
I stuffed my hands into my pockets, not sure what to say. I hadn’t expected her to be here. And I certainly didn’t expect her to look like this.
“Brandon!” I turned to my name as my father and mother came up the sidewalk. My father looked like himself, but aged. He had completely gray hair and age lines on his face. He pulled me into a hug before I could even react.
“Look at you!”
Suddenly, everyone seemed to be talking all at once. Dale came down the stairs, pulling me into a hug. Kaleb followed asmy folks hugged him. I quickly looked through the space, finding that Jade was gone.
“God, it’s great to see you two again,” Dale said, patting his arm on Kaleb’s shoulder. “Why didn’t you let us know you were coming?”
“We wanted to surprise you,” I said, simply.
Dale nodded, taking that in. “So, how has work been for you two?”
“Great,” Kaleb said. “We just got back from Europe. It was great.”
It was a lie. We often told our folks we traveled a lot, that there was a change in our schedules, and we couldn’t come home. Our folks thought we were agents for a company, but they weren’t aware just how high up we were.
“Well, it’s great to see you anyway,” my father said, squeezing my shoulder. “How long are you guys in Belrose for?”
Kaleb and I glanced at each other. But I had an answered prepared. “Not sure yet. We figured we deserved some time off.”
“How about we make some dinner?” My mother asked. “We could invite people to join. Have a nice cookout? I bet I could get a hold of mostly everyone and put something together.”
“But before you do that, you should do a drive around.” Dale offered. “Your dad’s done some amazing work with the town while you’ve been doing.”
We did a little looking when Kaleb and I first arrived, and I hadn’t been impressed. There were changes, but not enough to have a significant impact. There were a lot of run-down buildings, and the town itself seemed to be holding on by athread. I knew the parts he was talking about were the parts of Belrose that had money to throw around.
I looked around for Jade, and then looked outside the door, seeing that her car was gone. She moved fast.
“Oh yeah, go with your dad. Honey, show him everything you’ve been telling me about,” my mother said softly, her hands reaching out to take mine. She squeezed my hand. “Your dad is pretty proud of everything. Besides, it will be nice to see everything since you’ve been gone for a while.”
I couldn’t refuse my mother. She had been nothing but a soft, guiding person in my life. I honestly would do anything to please her.
“Fine,” I said, glancing at my dad. “After you.”
“When you guys are finished, we can have dinner,” my mother said, beaming with happiness. “Dale, Kaleb, you are welcome to join.”
“Thank you,” Kaleb said, looking at his dad. “So, Dad. What did I miss?”
I followed my father, crossing the yard toward their garage. We were both quiet as we got into his truck, and my dad turned it on. I looked around the lavish style and frowned. “Nice vehicle.”
“It’s new. Just got it a few months ago.”
I simply nodded as he pulled out. He took me around the nicer part of town, showing me where he put money and why. There was an update on a park, a new apartment complex, and numerous houses being built. He went on about how everyone had been giving him compliments about the changes and how hard he’d been working.
“And what about the south side of town?” I asked, giving my father a look.
“We don’t need to go to the south side.”
I scowled at him. “And why is that? It’s part of the pack.”
My father was quiet for a moment before he sighed. “You know that money only goes so far.”
