Hometown Love

Chapter Three - Old Habits Die Hard

Picture of Camille Walsh on the side >

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Chapter Three – Old habits die hard

Mom was going out with her friends to hell knows where that she didn’t want to tell me about and Percy was heading out of town to buy supplements to his garden.

He was always into gardening and stuff so it was no wonder that he opened his own floriculture. What surprised, though, was that he was actually having to work extra hard now that his shop was expanding to other small towns around Shelbyville.

            I never imagined my older brother with this kind of responsibility. Not that I didn’t believe in him, but it was just that back in high school he didn’t want to go to college, so I never thought it would be possible for him to actually open his own business and get money out of it. And now that he did, all I could say is that I was proud of him.

            But in the end, what mattered now was that tonight I was going to relieve some good old memories from my childhood

            I was heading to Kent’s Bar walking on the streets under the moonlight and I could see so many stars that it made me want to crawl over to the sky.          

            Which I didn’t, by the way.

            It was Thursday night and even though it was a week day, I was already expecting that the bar would be full of citizens. It was just as I remembered.

            The hardwood floor and the bar stand with old booths for people to sit at while having a drink. The pool table and the pinball machine in one corner of the room. Some round tables with four chair each on the other side. And with all that, a bunch of people having fun.

            As I walked in, looking around the place, it felt weird not recognizing anyone and not being recognized. But as I looked at the young woman handling the drinks behind the counter, my eyes almost plopped out of my face and I walked towards her, sitting right in front of where she was working.

            “I need some hard liquor and I need it now!” I shouted, bumping my fist on the table.

            She was looking down and immediately after hearing me she laughed and looked up to say something but then with a shocked expression, shut her mouth and stopped moving.

            “Can you get me some, or not?” I asked teasingly and lifted my hands in the air.

            “I was going to say I knew someone who used to talk like that, but…” Camille started saying but stopped and I knew I had a huge grin on my face. She opened the wooden gate that lead to her side of the counter and I waited as she walked towards me. “I can’t believe you’re here!” She said already pulling me for a hug.

            “I know. I didn’t think I’d see you here!” I told her as we looked at each other. “I missed my best friend.” I said. She looked so much grown up now with her long wavy black hair and high heel boots. But her ocean-blue eyes were just the same and her smile could stop the traffic.

            “I missed you too, Mrs. I’m-a-published-author!” Camille said and we laughed together.

            “It’s not that big of a deal.” I shrugged. “What about you? Did you go to Europe?” I had so many questions I wanted to ask her and so many things that I needed to catch up.