Old Orchard

Annabelle:

I do not know what my mother and Carla are talking about, but it has to do with Logan since Carla is crying. I do not mean to eavesdrop, but I was worried about Carla after she had taken off this morning and reappeared worse than I had seen her in a while. Last few weeks, she was cheerful. I know she was not as bright as me, but she was getting back to normal.

Craig is still sleeping when Carla and my mom have their in-depth conversation about something that happened a long time ago. I have no clue what happened, but whatever it looked like must be forgotten. I wait in the kitchen anxiously until Carla appears and sits at the table.

"What happened?" I ask.

"When?" She asks, and I look not to be coy with me. "You will have to ask mom" That Is all she says. I slip outside, wanting to know what is going on.

"Hey," I say as mom looks up at me and smiles. "What is going on?"

"We are just having a moment about something that happened a long time ago." My mom responds, and I think that I am left out of the loop once again. Instead, my mom goes into a story of what she thought was her first love. I am not enjoying the start of her story and hearing about Glen and how she felt she was in love. I know that Glen is not my dad, that this story turns out to be the story of her first broken heart.

"That is interesting. I always thought dad was your first love." I say

"Your dad is the only first love that matters. Just know that you can come to me about anything."

I am still processing what my mom had told me when Craig wakes up, and my father clears his throat when Craig walks into the kitchen with just boxers on. "Oh right – sorry." He says, walking briskly into the bathroom.

"That boy is going to drive your mother crazy walking around like that with you two girls around." My father grunts out.

"I am pretty sure he is driving you crazy" I laugh at my dad. "Why have you never stopped Craig from coming over to our house?" I ask. Carla and I had our assumptions in the past, but I wanted to know what my dad thought.

"Annabelle, you two have been together since diapers, basically," he says.

"Well, ever since preschool," my mother throws in, "We had our talks about him coming over all the time, but he is your best friend, and you guys never did anything for us not to trust the both of you."

My silence makes my dad look up "right? you haven't done anything like where you are going to tell me that you are pregnant?" We both look at my mother, whose face goes pale, and we both start laughing.

"I missed you, dad," I say while mom huffs and puffs about how we are not funny. I walk over and hug her, so she knows we are just joking. I walk over to get Greta's for the Fourth of July bash, and my parents and her sit around talking about everything from news to old stories of my Grams. I sit and listen as long as I can, smiling, remembering, and learning new stuff about my Grams.

I find Carla picking out a blue and white striped dress to wear tonight; she slips it on, and she looks stunning in it. She puts on white heeled flip-flops as she pins her hair back and applies makeup.

"wow" is all I say to her. She looks up and smiles in the mirror.

"Looks good?" she asks, and I shake my head, letting her know she looks stunning.

"Who is it for?" I ask, wanting to approach the topic of Logan but wanting to make sure she is ready to talk to me about it.

She looks at me, and I know it is for Logan. "I need to hear his side of the story and if we do work something out. I want to look drop-dead gorgeous, and if we do not work something out, then I want him to know what he is missing." My sister says this last part with a smile on her face, but she is nervous. I wonder if it feels like going on the first date all over again or worse since she does not know how it will go tonight. She has to take a plunge and see what happens.