Meadow Valley book series- Everything's changed

Chapter 4: Coping with the loss pt. 2

Ana thought it seemed kind of strange to see her grandparents again at her father's funeral. They didn't stay too long in Miami after the funeral was over. She grew a little suspicious when she saw her mom talking with her parents in the bedroom one day. Lisa hugged her parents as she cried. Ana didn't hear what they were talking about because they closed the bedroom door when she walked by. Ana thought that it might have been about money or something. Ana had always known that her grandparents were a little well off. Lisa never wanted to accept any money from them before. Now that Carlos is gone maybe they have money problems and are in need of their financial help? Ana knew something was not right but couldn't quite put her finger on what was going on.

Ana never really got into horses. Since they lived in the city there was not very many places one could go to ride. She didn't care for farm animals either. Once her father took her to a petting zoo and Ana stood there and cried when the goat licked her fingers. She thought farm animals were smelly and dirty. She never understand why people were so interested in them.

Ana's family only went to visit her mother's parents in Kentucky one time before. Ana was pretty young when it happened. She couldn't remember much about that visit or what that part of the country was like. The world that they lived in was completely different than the world her mom had once lived in. Lisa and her parents had been estranged from one another for the past ten years. Ana never really understood why. But she never cared to ask any questions about it either.

One time she heard that it had something to do with her mom marrying her father and moving to Miami. Lisa kept that part of her life from all of her kids. There were a few times that Lisa had shared with them about her days riding horses. She used to compete in horse shows as a teen. Lisa used to be pretty amazing at riding horses when she was around the same age as Ana. She had won several trophies and ribbons. Ana's grandparents lived on a race horse farm in the country. Lisa chose to move away from that life when she married Carlos.

After the funeral was over and all of the people slowly started to trickle away. They were left all alone. Expected to pick up the pieces of their broken family and move on with their lives. The truth is that they were all a bit lost. The Gonzalez family used to be really close and good at communicating with one another. But without Carlos around them, all seemed to be falling apart.

David stayed at college for long hours. He didn't want to come home. He made up excuses that he had to study for school. Jess hung out with her friends at the mall. Ana spent as much time in the dance studio as she could. Over the next few weeks, they all went their own separate ways. The truth was, none of them were doing all that well with their father's death. They all would lie to each other and say that they were doing fine. But the pain inside them was just too deep.

Ana felt as if she was at a total loss for words. She hasn't even cried. Not one single time since her father's accident and funeral. The overwhelming feeling of sadness made Ana feel numb inside. As if she didn't have any sort of emotions at all. She couldn't even understand why she hasn't been able to cry or express her sadness through words herself. The only time that Ana was able to feel or express anything was when she was dancing.