Remember me? (gxg)

Chapter 4

“This is going to be your room. Mom put everything you’ll need in the closet,” Holly told Mermaid later on in the day.

“Is this your room?” Mermaid asked.

“It used to be,” Holly said, showing Mermaid where the bathroom was.

“Where do you stay?”

“At the cottage beside the house.”

“What about Michael and Cassie?”

“Michael has his own house on the ranch and Cassie stays a few miles away from here,” Holly said.

“So your parents live in this big house all by themselves?”

“Yes.”

“Can I see your cottage?”

“Sure,” Holly said and led Mermaid out of the bedroom.

They walked down the hallway, past the other bedrooms and headed downstairs. Once outside, Mermaid stopped and looked at the beautiful blue cloudless sky.

Holly followed her gaze and wondered how it was like to look at everything as though seeing it for the very first time.

Having lived in the ranch most of her life, nothing felt quite so fundamental anymore but looking at the sky through Mermaid’s eyes, wondering how she felt made Holly curious. The smile that spread across Mermaid’s lips made Holly slightly envious.

“You have a really wonderful family,” Mermaid said as followed after Holly to the cottage.

Recalling their warmth towards Mermaid made Holly realize how much she was taking them for granted. “I know,” she said as she opened the door to the cottage.

Once they walked in, Holly stood aside and watched as Mermaid took in her surroundings.

The cottage had hosted ranch workers over the years, but when Holly had returned home to find it vacant, she’d occupied it. Not that the Mackenzie manor did not offer enough room or privacy, she just wanted to be alone.

“It’s lovely.”

Holly watched as Mermaid admired the small things like the few paintings on the wall, the shells on the table, the view of the fields from the window, and the texture and feel of the couch.

The expressions that covered her face at every new discovery made Holly wish she could trade places with her for just a while. She would have given anything to forget some of the things that had happened to her.

She silently watched Mermaid slowly moving through the rooms but her tour was short-lived because Alanna and Maddy came running into the cottage and took Mermaid out to the stables to show her their ponies.

*

“Derrick asked me out!” Hanna squealed as she ran into Holly’s bedroom.

“Who is Derrick?”

“The totally hot guy who seats behind me in math class,” Hanna said in infectious excitement.

“Oh, great. I’m happy for you,” Holly said, unable to recall the guy’s face.

“We’re going out for a movie on Saturday night. What am I going to wear?”

“Relax, you have two days to figure it out.”

“I have to go, we’ll talk more tomorrow,” Hanna ran out the room so quickly, she almost ran into Cassie’s friend who was at the door about to knock.

“Don’t mind her, her crush just asked her out,” Holly said.

“Must be a big crush.”

“Yeah.”