Feels Like Home

Home isn't just bricks and mortar...

The next couple of days went by almost in a blink of an eye, Sophie realised as Friday, and Lad's night, appeared in the blink of an eye.

Sophie spent a good portion of each day with Benedict, helping him around the house, checking on his progress and doing her best to help him where she could.

They talked more and caught up but avoided the topic of what caused them to drift apart, Sophie hadn't wanted to bring up the uncomfortable memories or her own heartbreak at him having cut off contact.

During their conversations she learned that he opened an art and photography studio in Canterbury, and when he wasn't busy with his studio, or was stuck for inspiration, he was working for his Uncle Andrew and Cousin Roger's company where they did home renovations. He would do the odd jobs, helping with joinery work.

Every morning Sophie would go for a run, usually doing a little 5k sometimes more around her childhood streets, running had always been her way of connecting to her environment, she was able to leave the stress of everything behind and it had always allowed her to sort through her thoughts and feelings and often after a bad shift at work, allowed her to decompress.

It also gave her a chance to remember and revel in the beauty of her surroundings, reconnecting with the place that had once been her home, that was... for the first time since she was 16, starting to feel like home again...

She loved working for Doctors without Borders, helping those who needed her care the most but now... the tug to stay was getting too much to ignore.

She spent her evenings with either her father or her older brother Charlie and his fiancee Emily, catching up and remembering how much she loved being home and she wondered if maybe it was time to stop and settle back at home.

The Lad's night came around before Sophie even had a chance to think about seeing more of her old school friends. George and Henry had both been close with her and Henry's sister Lucy had dated Charlie for a little while and George had often just teased Sophie about her short stature but never in a mean way. She had missed them almost as much as she'd missed Benedict but she somehow felt nervous about seeing her old friends again.

Had they changed much?

She had no idea but somehow it felt like something else tonight, like something was going to change in her life and she had no idea. She hadn't felt like this since the day she got the news Edmund Bridgerton had died...

But she shrugged it off, she was being silly, she was just seeing her old friends and hanging out with them like a normal 27 year old. She could pretend she was a normal 27 year old for one evening surely!

It took her a while to decide what to wear but in the end she opted for a blue and green chequered shirt with a vest underneath since it didn't button over her ample chest, a pair of skinny black jeans and her trusty converse.

She let her hair dry naturally after her shower, and she let her wavy hair be loose and free at her shoulders, though she had a hair bobble in her pocket for it it started to annoy her.

She had told her dad not to wait up tonight, as she wasn't sure how long she'd be there and if Benedict would need her after. She knew he would be watching the game anyway from the comfort of his favourite chair and she was sure Charlie was heading over to watch it with him.

She stopped off at the supermarket on the way to Benedict's home and bought a 4 pack of Budweiser. She would only have two bottles, they were going to get some Pizza in but two drinks were her limit. She never drank two full bottles anyway but she had to be responsible and two would keep her under the legal limit.