Welcome to Cairns

Chapter 3: Moving On, First Times and Regrets

Lisa spent her morning packing, searching through all the nooks and crannies of the house she'd lived in for twenty-five years, making note of everything she might need and writing it down on a pad of paper so that she could keep track of it all.

It was around lunchtime when Lisa began to look through the messy guest room closet. She'd pulled out a box of VHS tapes when suddenly, someone tapped her shoulder. She yelped and turned around, sighing as she realized that it was Jisoo.

"What the fuck Chu?" she slapped her leg. "I know the bell is broken, but is there a reason you didn't knock?"

"Yeah, I'm not doing that," Jisoo shook her head. "I grew up in this house and I don't care if it's been seven years since I've lived here, I'm not knocking."

Not long after Lisa had turned eighteen, Jisoo had moved into town, finding it easier to live in the apartment above Grounders so that she didn't have to trek out to the house in the early hours of the morning every night. She also left the house they'd inherited after their parents' death so that Lisa and her fiance would have a place to move into after they were married.

"What are you doing anyway?" Jisoo asked, gesturing to the overflowing closet that her sister was sitting in front of.

"Figuring out what I can get rid of, what I can saddle you with, and what I need to take with me."

"So it's official then, you're leaving Cairns?"

"I am," Lisa confirmed confidently. "There's no reason for me to stay. All my work shit is in Birmingham, the only reason I've been commuting is.." she trailed off, not needing to explain herself, Jisoo knew her reasons.

"I take it you signed the papers?" Jisoo asked.

Lisa nodded and stood up, wiping dust off on her jeans as she did so. "Speaking of papers, I have something for you to sign."

"What's that?"

Lisa walked into the kitchen and withdrew from a drawer a packet of papers then handed it to Jisoo, who had followed her into the kitchen. "I need you to sign these."

"You're signing the house over to me?" Jisoo asked, shocked, as she flipped through the packet.

"I don't need it."

"Roseanne's name is still on the deed."

"I'm getting the house in the divorce. It says so in the agreement papers. And I don't need the house, so you can have it back."

"I'm not signing this Lis," Jisoo shook the papers at her. "Not after you used to go on and on about how you'd never leave this house. That you'd live here until you turned grey and sat on a rocker outside."

"That was when Roseanne was in the picture, which she's not," Lisa crossed her arms.

"I'll take the papers," Jisoo relented, "But I'm not signing these until after you've moved to Birmingham, lived there for six months and decide you're not moving back. Okay?"

"Fine," Lisa sighed. "So why did you stop by anyway?"

"I was in the area."

"Bullshit."

"Would you believe me if I said I was concerned about my little sister and wanted to see how she was doing after everything that happened last night?"

"Nope," Lisa responded as she walked away, ready to return to the task she'd been in the middle of before Jisoo had interrupted her. "You can leave now."

If Jisoo had been anyone else, if she had been an overprotective, talkative, sister, she probably would have stayed and forced Lisa to speak, but she wasn't. Instead, she left, just as Lisa had asked her to do. Lisa knew that she would eventually find herself talking to Jisoo over a bottle of whiskey or a couple of beers in a few months, when enough time had passed that she could process everything. After everything was blown over. After it was already too late for her to change anything.