Georgia

Chapter 1

Caroline

It's here.

Today is my 18th birthday, one of the milestone birthdays everyone looks forward to and here I am lying in this strange bed in this gorgeous Georgia rental house not wanting to even open my eyes.

I saw her again in my dream last night. My beautiful mother with her long blonde hair and piercing blue eyes, her perfect smile and infectious laugh. She was there in her bedroom, sitting at her vanity singing some country song, brushing her hair and doing her makeup. I looked at her and smiled, laid on her bed, closed my eyes just listening to her beautiful voice. After awhile her singing stopped. I sat up looking to the vanity, she was gone. I miss her everyday. I miss her so much it hurts.

Will he even mention my birthday this year? I know it's hard on him, losing the love of his life, his soul mate. I know he sees her when he looks at me. I do too, every time I look in the mirror. We both lost our best friend.

Nothing to do now but get out of bed and start the day. I walk into the bathroom avoiding the mirror knowing how red and puffy my eyes will be. I shower, get dressed, run a brush thru my hair and head downstairs.

Sitting at the end of the dining table focused intently on the newspaper he's reading is my father. He has changed so much in the past 2 years. His dark jet black hair now mostly grey. The worry lines around his hazel eyes deeper and more dominant. It's as if he aged 10 years from the time we found out mom was sick until now.

I sit at the opposite end of the long table and pour myself some coffee, after all the tossing and turning last night caffeine is definitely a must this morning.

"Good morning, Caroline." he says from behind his newspaper.

"Morning." I mumble quietly.

"If the rest of your day is free it might be a good idea for you to sit in on a few of my meetings", my father says still not bothering to look from his paper. "You know my idea behind you joining me this summer was to get you prepared for your internship at the company after graduation."

"Yeah, ok sure." I shrug, biting my lip. Guess no birthday acknowledgment again this year.

I don't really blame him. When she died it's like something between us was lost too. We've dealt with losing mom in our own ways. Dad threw himself into work, he's a business consultant. When businesses are failing they'll call in someone like my dad to either get it up and productive again or sell it off to the highest bidder. And for me, it was school. Getting into a college anywhere far from home, far from where I lost her became my #1 focus.

This past couple months on the road with him is the most time we've spent together since those long nights by her hospital bed. But even going from state to state, in every hotel, every rental home, every meal we've sat down for we've been just as far apart as we were back home in Seattle.

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Luke

He's there, standing across Muckalee creek holding his fishing pole in one hand and a Miller Lite in the other. He looks up at me and nods, I smile. I know he's not really there, I know this is a dream but he looks exactly like the last time I saw him. My older brother Chris, a spitting image of daddy but with mama's big green eyes. He waves me over, I bend down to grab my fishing pole, look up again and he's gone. Does it ever stop hurting?

I wake to a face full of fur and slobber, Bandit my black lab, has decided it's time for me to get up. I shake off my dream knowing it'll do no good to dwell on it.

"A'ight buddy. I'm up, I'm up." grabbing Bandit's face and giving him a good rub behind the ears. I hop in the shower and let the warm water take some of that Georgia morning chill out of my bones. Dressed, I head to the kitchen ready for the day to start.

My dad is sitting at the table reading the paper, mama's at the stove serving up a plate. "Mornin' y'all" I say kissing mama on the cheek and patting dad on the shoulder as I sit down.

"Mornin' baby. How'd ya sleep?" Mama asks setting a plate down in front of me. "Heard ya out there on the porch with Carter till all hours of the night."

"Yeah, Carter's having some girl trouble. Nothing a little whiskey and playing couldn't fix. Best country songs ever came outta heartbreak and alcohol." I say with a smirk.

Dad shakes his head, smiling. "Go on now and eat up we got to get that last plot tilled up today and I'm meetin' with that man I told ya about, Mr. Boyer."

Looking at my parents I can't help but think how good it feels to be home even with the circumstances that got me here. The original plan for this summer was to be in Nashville getting myself settled into an apartment with Carter. I had finally convinced my parents that taking off my junior year from Georgia Southern University was the best thing for me. Playing the bars and frat parties the past two years had me wanting more, wanting to be out in Nashville in the heart of country music.

I had their blessing, Carter and I had the apartment hunt going. In just four months the semester would be over and we'd be on our way to music city.

All seemed to be right in my world until I got that late-night call from Kelly, my older sister. Chris had been in a car accident, he passed away on the way to the hospital. Those were some of the toughest days my family's ever been thru. I couldn't leave now, not when they needed me. The Nashville plans were put on the back burner. I finished up my sophomore year and came home for the summer.