A Hiccstrid Story

Chapter 11

An hour after Astrid left for the hospital with her mum, Heather, Theo, Mable and Natalie decided to head off into town and explore Berkly. They left the house with the promise to get Adam some new decorations for the Christmas tree from town. Getting into the hire car, the four of them drove off to the center of Berkly where they could park and explore. Theo drove and parked them outside what looked to be a handyman's store. They disembarked and made their way across the street to the Christmas looking store. A bell rang out as the door was pushed open by the group.

The store owner came around the corner and introduced herself to the new patrons. "Welcome to Trinkets and Odd Bits, I am Sarah the owner." In return to her greeting, the group introduced themselves and told the woman what they were there and looking for. "Christmas decorations" she thought out loud, "you are just in luck, I happen to have some. I am not sure why though." The joke caused Heather to smile but not say anything as she followed the owner to the Christmas decorations section. The group was met with several shelves of Christmas decorations. Even just over four weeks before Christmas, there were hundreds of decorations on display for sale.

"Wow, I wasn't quite expecting this" Theo stated which made Sarah smile. "Well I do things properly here and my decorations are highly sort after." She looked at Theo directly, "I have had these on sale for a week already." With that, Sarah left to go and sort something else out in the store. The group shared looks of bewilderment before looking at the decorations in front of them. "Which ones do you think we should get for Mr Hofferson?" Natalie asked as she inspected some of the more unique ones. Mable smiled, picking up one of the objects from the shelf. "I think we should get a collection of the unique ones and a collection of the more mass produced ones."

Agreeing with the idea, the group collected 20 decorations for Adam and walked over to the counter. "Just these decorations please" Theo said as he pulled out his card. Sarah started ringing them up on the till. "You're not from town are you?" she asked as she was tallying the price up. Theo shook his head to which Sarah continued, "thought so, anyone from around here knows my habits with the decorations." Theo smiled at this as he paid with his card. "We are friends with Astrid Hofferson." Sarah perked her head up questioningly, obviously thinking through a question before actually speaking it. "I didn't know she was back in town. Does her ex know?"

Heather shook her head and butted in at this, "I'm not sure why it matters but no he doesn't. That cheater doesn't deserve to know her." Sarah looked at them questioningly as they left with their items. The store owner picked up her phone and sent a quick message over to a contact before putting it away and going back to work at the store. She was curious what the woman meant by cheater. To her knowledge of what had happened, Hayden was the one cheated on, not the other way around. In the limited experience she had, Hayden was a good man who wouldn't cheat with hurt a fly, let alone cheat on someone.

After leaving the Trinkets and Odd Bits store, the group was deciding where to go next. They were half in mind to go down the street looking for a clothing store of some kind or somewhere to get something for Astrid. However, just as they were making their decision, Theo spied Flynn and Chris in the Handyman's store. "Come with me, I want to introduce you to some people." He led them across the road and into a store titled 'A Handyman's Carpet '. Upon entering, they discovered that half the store was a traditional shop where patrons could purchase items. The other half, was a display of items like tables, chairs, decking.

The store was clearly a place where people could commission carpentry work from the owners. The girls were a little confused why they were there and who they were going to meet. After two minutes, a man came into the front dressed in a rather scruffy shirt and work trousers. "Theo!" the man greeted, "I didn't think I'd be seeing you so soon." Theo smiled and shook hands with the man. "Flynn, this is Heather, Mable and Natalie." The girls greeted the man but were still confused. "This is Jack's friend from the military. I met him last night at the meet up." Flynn smiled and gave the group a small tour.

Before starting though, as if reading Theo's mind, Flynn suddenly stated, "Chris is out taking some measurements for one of our clients." This shocked Theo who very quickly asked the question now on his mind. "How did you know that I was going to ask that?" Flynn laughed as he showed the group a new area of the shop. "When you work with military minds as much and as closely as I have, you pick up a trick or two." The group were shown around the construction room at the back of the shop as well as the delivery truck they use to make deliveries between the clients and the shop.

As they came back into the main shop area, the group was witness to the entrance of a bulky read haired figure. When Heather's eyes landed on the man, she froze. It was her brother, Derick. Standing before her was her only living family, the same family that she hadn't seen or spoken to in years. "D-Derick" Heather said nervously. Derick took a second to recognise her but once he did, he slowly approached her. When he was within hugging distance, he pulled her into a tight hug.

The action pushed Heather's emotions over the edge and tears started to flow from her eyes. "Hey sis." The group looked on at the scene of siblings reuniting and couldn't bring themselves to break it up or ask any questions. After finally separating their hug, Heather looked sheepishly at her brother and asked a single question, "how have you been?" Derick laughed without taking his eyes off her. "I've been ok. I have certainly gone through some things but I'm better than I have ever been now." Heather looked concerned as to what he had been through but largely was happy to be speaking with her only living family.

"What are you doing in town?" Derick asked his sister. Heather looked back at her friends and then at her brother. "I'm here with my friends for Christmas." Derick's face hardened a little at this, "what is Astrid doing back in town? She hasn't been home for years." Heather was just about ready to jump on him and start a fight over this, however she quickly decided against it as a similar fight ended their relationship already. "He fiancé cheated on her and we suggested she come home for Christmas to get away from it all." Derick smirked slightly at that as if saying Karama's a bitch. However, if this was his thought, he certainly didn't voice it.

Instead he looked over to Flynn and stated, "I'm here for the Haddock's order. They asked me to bring it over." Flynn nodded instantly and walked back into the workshop to get it. "Good to see you again Theo, any advancements on what we discussed last night?" Theo shook his head and Heather looked at him curiously wondering what they had discussed. "I haven't but I'm still thinking it over." Derick lifted his head in understanding, "that's fine, it's an open offer." Derick then looked back at Heather and did the thing she least expected, "I'm sorry for what happened all those years ago. I'd like to make up for it, to have my baby sister back."

Heather was surprised, her brother was never one to apologise, even to her. Whatever happened over the last 9 years had changed him for the better. "I'd like that too." Derick smiled and offered a suggestion, "we should meet up, maybe tomorrow? We could grab lunch and catch up." Heather nodded in agreement and Derick gave her his number. She decided to voice her query while he was here, "you never apologise, what changed?" Derick thought for a moment before he responded, "Let's just say that I have learned a lot about the importance of family over the last few years."

Before the siblings could talk more, Flynn returned to the front of the shop. "It's already, I have loaded it into the truck for you. Give me love to the Haddocks." Derick nodded, "will do my friend. Thanks." He then addressed Heather again as he pulled his keys from his pocket, "I'll see you tomorrow." With that, Derick left the store to deliver the Haddock's carpentry order to them. Heather watched as her brother climbed into a pickup truck and drove off from the parking spot.

The group then thanked Flynn for the tour and left the store to continue exploring. Walking up and down the street, they found multiple different types of stores from florists to general stores. After entering a few shops and making some more purchases, the group entered their hire car and drove back through town to the Hofferson's home. It occurred to Heather that this whole time, she hadn't worried about Astrid once which is usually something that she did all the time.

Regardless of her worrying or not, they arrived back at the home where they unloaded the decorations bought for Adam. Together, Heather and Theo carried them in while Natalie and Mable brought in the rest of the shopping. Once all unloaded Heather suddenly started to feel rather tired. She excused herself and left the group downstairs to go and have a nap upstairs in the room given to them. Once her head hit the pillow, Heather fell straight to sleep with her last thought being of how Astrid's hospital appointment was and whether there was an explanation of how she forgot she was dating someone.