Finding Paige

Chapter Three: New Beginnings

"Can you pass the ketchup please?" says a painfully hoarse voice sitting at the table next to our's at Aldo's Italian Restorante.

Jennifer has been spending most of the night staring down at her phone and at the attractive waiter that keeps walking by. This is the last family meal together before the voyage out to sea, so I wish Jen would be a little more enthusiastic about dinner.

    "Jen, are you going to put your phone down and eat your food?" my father asks.

Her head still facing down, she raises her eyes from her phone and shoots a glance at our parents. Letting out a slight scoff she sets her phone down by her side and twirls the chicken alfredo around her fork before taking a bite. The young, tan, and muscle toned waiter walks by again with his hands full of empty glasses on a black tray. Jennifer can't help but stare as he walks past.

    "You're gonna break your neck if you stare any harder," our mother teases, taking another sip of her wine.

    "He's cute." Jen stabs a piece of chicken, popping it into her mouth.

    "Are we here to stare at the wait staff or are we here to eat?" Dad staring at Jen until she responds.

My mother and Jennifer can't help laughing. My father wipes his face with the pearl white napkin scattered with spots of red from his lasagna. My mom glances over in my direction every once in awhile and smiles. She grabs her glass of white wine and raises it into the air.

    "Let's have a toast. To new beginnings and to Paige, because even though she isn't here physically, she's always with us."

Jennifer and Dad both raise their glasses. Jen with her sweet tea and Dad with his Diet Coke. Arms in the air, glasses resting between their fingers, they clink their glasses together and a light toll sounds above the table.

    "To new beginnings," they speak in harmony. "To Paige."

I place my hand in the middle of the toast and stare at the light shining off the glasses.

    "Oh that's cold!" says Jennifer after she takes a sip of her tea. Pulling the glass away from her mouth, she rubs her upper lip with her index finger.

After dinner, the ride home is all but quiet. Dad is driving, blasting some song about moving to a city in a broken down car and singing a duet with Mom into an invisible microphone between them. Jen is slouched in the back seat with her headphones in watching a makeup tutorial on her phone, winged eyeliner tips probably.

Turning from the main road onto the dirt road that leads to our house, my dad always slows down and rolls the windows up to keep everyone from choking on the dirt kicked up by the tires. The smalls bumps in the road are a sense of comfort to our family, a sign of home.

As our dad pulls into the driveway, Mom turns down the radio, and Jen takes her headphones out of her ears and places her phone in the back pocket of her ripped jeans. I'm surprised Dad hasn't said anything about her pants all night, but then again, he probably didn't want to make a scene by bringing it up.

The chirping of the crickets in the bushes near the front door has always been a familiar sound. When the weather starts warming up, they like to sing songs through the night. They used to help me fall asleep when I was younger.

Our father, Daniel, unlocks the front door and pushes it open as our dog, Hayden, runs for the opening and all but knocks Dad down the stairs of the front porch.

    "Hey princess! How are you? We missed you, yes we did, yes we did!" Dad says while on all fours, wrestling with Hayden.

She licks his face and jumps up and down, running in circles until she sees Jennifer. Jen kneels down on one leg and pets Hayden behind the ears as she licks my sister's cheeks joyfully.

Everyone walking inside, my sister makes her way to the bedroom. First door on the right. It used to be the second, but she switched after I left because she wanted to be a little further away from my room. She slides her phone from the back pocket of her jeans and tosses it on the bed.

    "I'm hopping in the shower!" she yells from behind the shut bedroom door.

Her skin-tight, yellow and orange tank top is threaded between her arms as she tosses it over her head and onto the messy bedroom floor. She's already started packing for the trip, so her room is a bit of a disaster at this point. Turning on the hot water in the bathtub, Jennifer turns around, grabbing her phone and opens the Pandora music app before placing her phone gently on the edge of the tub. She slides her underwear off and eases into the close to boiling water.

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Mother likes to drink a little too much when we celebrate. Especially if wine is involved.

    "Hon.. honey," she says between hiccups. "We need to do it on the kitchen counter!" Trying not to fall over, she leans into my dad for support.

My dad is trying not to laugh while holding her up.

    "How about we just get you to bed dear? How does that sound?"

    "But I'm re... ready for you!" she says, aggressively tearing at her sundress while kissing my father's neck.

My dad picks her up, whilst kissing her cheek and carrying her down the hallway.

"The bed huh? That's ev... even better. We can do so... so much more stuff," my mother says, still hiccupping.

He opens the bedroom door, lays my mom down and tucks her into bed, kissing her one last time on the forehead.

    "Goodnight, sweety," says my father before closing the door behind him and walking down the hall.

    "Goo... night strong man," she says, pulling the blanket closer to her face and falling asleep.

Still in the bathtub, Jennifer hums along to the music from her phone. I can't help but smile at the way her head bobs when listening to one of her favorite songs. We used to dance together in my bedroom late at night, trying not to make too much noise so we didn't wake up our parents.

Just like that, the song is over. Jen sits up to pull the drain plug and stands up, wrapping a towel around her and stepping out of the tub. She walks into the bedroom, throws on an oversized t-shirt, some sophie shorts and a pair of ankle socks before plugging her phone into the charger next to her bed.

She spends the next few hours packing things for the trip.

"Tomorrow is the day Big Sis," says Jen with watery eyes.