WILDFIRE ↝ E. MUNSON [1]

[40]

As the days and weeks passed since the record-setting 7.4 magnitude earthquake rocked the small town of Hawkins, Indiana, slowly the residents who stayed behind started to gather some sense of normalcy. With the high school still set up as a shelter for those displaced by the natural phenomenon, and repairs starting to retrieve and rebuild belongings lost to families, one by one businesses began to reopen, as the town united to start moving forward.

As for Lily, whose hand shot out quickly to hit the button on the alarm clock sitting on her nightstand so as not to wake up the Eddie who slept soundly next to her, she climbed out of bed, anxious to get ready for the Palace Arcade's grand reopening in town. Her old work t-shirt still hung in the back of her closet, and she quickly pulled it on along with a pair of jeans and a zip-up jacket, ready to face the early morning April chill.

To her surprise, her mother sat at the kitchen table when she emerged from her bedroom, nursing a cup of coffee while reading the local paper. Susan looked up at the sight of Lily walking into the room, and she smiled softly, nodding in greeting.

"Morning," Susan greeted as Lily opened the refrigerator, reaching for the bottle of apple juice and two eggs from the container.

"Morning, Mom," Lily returned the greeting, busying herself with making breakfast. "Are you off today?"

"By some miracle," Susan chuckled, but Lily noticed it didn't quite meet her eyes. "Thought I'd go visit Maxine today for a little bit." She glanced back in the direction of the closed bedroom door. "Edward still sleeping?"

Lily smirked. "You know Eddie, Mom. He's never up before the sun is."

While Lily knew it wasn't a secret that her mother had always harbored a distaste for Eddie and Cameron, to her credit, Susan had tried her hardest to make an effort while the Munson siblings were staying in their trailer, Eddie full time and Cameron still moving back and forth between their home and Steve's. While they still hadn't gone much past small talk, chatting about the weather or the new re-openings in town, Lily was grateful that her mom had managed to move past her distrust of Eddie after everything in the news over spring break, and they were able to start off on a somewhat new page.

"I'm glad he has you." Susan spoke up, causing Lily to turn back to the eggs scrambling in the pan to hide her shocked expression from her mother. "I know his recovery hasn't been easy, and losing their home like that..." she let out a deep breath. "Well, we know what that's like."

"Yeah," Lily agreed, nodding as she tried to find the words to respond to her mother's revelation. "Yeah, we do."

"I can tell he's good to you." she continued, and Lily bit her lower lip, staring out the kitchen window as her eyes threatened to glass over. "I know I haven't always trusted that boy, especially after everything with your dad and Neil..."

Susan trailed off, and Lily shook her head, turning to face her mother. "He's nothing like Dad and Neil." Lily assured her. "Sure, he's different, and people look at him like he's scary, but he's kind, Mom. He's good to me, good to Max. He's not what those people say about him, he never was."

Susan nodded as Lily finished making her breakfast, taking a seat at the table next to her. "I know that now." she assured her. "I know I may not always show it, but I'm trying, Lily."

"I know you are, Mom." Lily said, nodding encouragingly as Susan reached out, taking her hand and giving it a squeeze.

"I know I haven't been around much for your senior year, but I'm proud of you." Susan said. "You girls have both had a tough last few months, and I know these past few weeks have been even harder." her mom's voice faltered for a moment. "When did you get so strong?"