JUST PULLED ONTO YOUR STREET
“He’s here?” Marc asked.
I sniffed. “He’s here.”
“Mommy’s crying,” my son whined.
“It’s okay, Trev.” Marc wrangled him from my arms. “She’s just excited.”
Trevor looked like he didn’t quite believe his father.
I looked around, taking in our small living room with its secondhand furniture and slightly shabby decorations. It wasn’t that much different than where I used to live, but it was happier. Full of life. I loved it twice as much.
When my phone dinged again, I looked down.
ON OUR WAY UP
Too excited to wait, I hurried to the front door, ripped it open, and rushed into the hall. Two steps out and he was there. Trevor. My closest and oldest friend. I burst into tears.
“Ara.”
He rushed forward, throwing his arms around me and hugging me so tightly my feet left the ground. Like me, he was crying, which was something I’d only ever seen once. The day I left.
“I missed you so much,” I said through my tears while he blubbered, “I didn’t think I’d ever see you again.”
We stood in the hall, hugging, crying, saying things I would never remember later, but both of us so happy. I felt like mylife was finally complete. I had Marc and Little Trevor, and now my best friend was back. It was all I’d ever wanted.
I wiped my face when I finally pulled away, and Trevor smiled down at me sheepishly as he did as well. He looked the same but different, too. Still just as fit or maybe even a little more – maybe his health nut husband had rubbed off on him – his gray eyes sparkled behind his glasses, which were smaller and more stylish than the ones he used to wear. His hair was shorter, and there was a little gray at his temples that hadn’t been there before, but, if possible, it made him look more attractive. Of course it did. He was a man.
Owen had been standing back, watching the reunion with a smile on his face and tears in his eyes, but stepped forward now.
“Ara,” he said, then wrapped me in a hug. “It’s so good to see you.”
He and Trevor had only been dating for three months when I was taken away, and Owen and I had barely known one another, but the hug wasn’t uncomfortable in the least. Over the last three years, we’d spent more hours than I could count talking on FaceTime. I’d introduced them to Marc, and they’d watched as our son grew, seeing some of his first steps, hearing some of his first words, and being the best uncles they could be from thousands of miles away. I’d even gotten to attend their small wedding ceremony thanks to a very generous friend who offered to hold his phone up the entire time.
“I’m so glad you’re here,” I said when Owen released me.
Like Trevor, he’d aged, but not a lot, and his face was just as unlined, his skin just as soft, and his hair just as blond. That vegan lifestyle was really working for him.
Not that I would ever consider giving up meat.
I waved to the still open door of my apartment. “Come in, come in. Little Trev is dying to meet you!”
“But not Marc?” my best friend said as he and Owen followed me.
I smirked. “I think he’s scared you’re going to give him the third degree now that you’re finally meeting in person.”
“He got you out of that shit hole,” Trevor said. “He has my unequivocal stamp of approval.”
I smiled up at him as we stepped inside.
“Uncle Trevor!” my son cried.
He ran forward, throwing himself at Trevor’s legs and wrapping his arms around them. My best friend laughed, then worked to extract himself. Once he had, he knelt so they were on eye level and studied my son.
“You can’t be Little Trevor,” he said.
My son jumped up and down and clapped his hands. “I am, I am!”
