Mandy

Chapter 12

Here in this worn and weary land, where many a dream has died. Like a tree planted by the water, we never will run dry.
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Mandy sighed as she looked at the clouds all around the plane. "Caleb, why do we have to fly?" She asked him.

Caleb looked up from the newspaper he had gotten from the airport. "Well, to drive would take twenty-eight hours, while to fly takes four hours."

Mandy glared at him.

"Fine. I'll distract you instead." Caleb said, setting the newspaper down.

"How do ya plan to do that?" Mandy asked as she leaned back in her seat.

Caleb was quiet for a moment. "You you remember the weekend Liz got so fed up with you all she left?" He asked.

Mandy smiled. "We were driving her crazy. The boys and I made a pact to keep going no matter how angry she got." She remembered.

Caleb nodded. "You made her so mad she packed a bag, told you not to contact her, and took off in the car for a week." He continued.

Mandy frowned. "We had to walk everywhere that week. But anyway, once she left, we decided that this week should be one she regretted. So we started doing stuff.

Honestly, all we had planned was to clean the apartment and work harder durning practice, but then two days after Liz left..."

Caleb picked up the story. "I surprised you all and came home for the weekend."

Mandy laughed. "So when Liz got home, she was met with a spotless house, and a letter from you. After reading the letter, she came into my closet, furious at us for not calling her when you had come home.

After I explained that she was the one who had told us not to contact her, she saw my finger."

"She started crying." Caleb added.

Mandy nodded. "And she said she would never leave us alone for a week ever again. Oh, and she also told me that we were going wedding dress shopping the next day."

Caleb chuckled. "That sounds like Liz."

Mandy smiled. "Yeah." She agreed sadly.

Caleb looked over at her. "Mandy, have you ever wondered, if certain events hasn't happened..." He trailed off.

"We wouldn't be in this position?" She finished for him. "Every day. But then I remember Ethan and Amilee, and if events hadn't happened, Ethan wouldn't exist and I wouldn't know Ami if she did."

Caleb nodded slowly. "What if they were still here?" He asked.

Mandy laughed. "The inn would probably be up and running, you'd still be in the force, Ami might have a little brother or sister." She suggested.

"Maybe. Or maybe I wouldn't have made it, maybe you wouldn't be here, maybe something would have happened to Ami or Ethan... Life doesn't come with guarantees. If you just stayed in Arizona in that house for the rest of your life, going through the motions, you would have given up." Caleb said.

Mandy wiped a tear from her cheek. "I know." She whispered. "I don't like moving, but it will help us. All of us. We can move on, open an inn. Make a life for ourselves that they would be proud of."