The Other Side

Chapter 6

The incessant ringing of her alarm penetrated Audrey's dreams of Pina Coladas and sunny beaches. With a loud groan, she rolled over and fumbled with her alarm clock till it finally shut off. Pulling her covers tight around her, Audrey squeezed her eyes shut, praying for another week of spring break. She still technically had the weekend, but Audrey had decided to get up at her usual school time in order to get back in the swing of things before Monday. She now fully regretted that decision.

But she was awake so she might as well get up. Audrey sat up with a huge yawn and stretched, sighing a happy sigh as her back gave a satisfying pop. Wiggling her feet into her slippers, she shuffled over to her window to pull back the curtain and let in the early morning sunshine. She stood for a moment in the window looking out at the grassy field behind her house.

Her house, she smiled. It still made her giddy, even though it had been a month already since she signed the lease on the little house. A small two bedroom, one bath with a cute kitchen nook on the outskirts of town that Audrey had fallen in love with on sight. Sure, it was considerably smaller than the house she had grown up in, but it was all her own. Well, technically hers.

Wandering into the kitchen, she put the kettle on for tea and grabbed some eggs from the fridge. The house phone rang right as Audrey finished making her scrambled eggs. Noting the time as she hurried across the kitchen to the phone in the living room, Audrey answered the phone with a smile. It was her mom, just like Audrey knew it would be. Ever since her father and mom and traveled down to Florida for her father to recuperate, her mom had begun a routine of calling Audrey every day around nine o'clock or so.

Though the calls were mostly Mrs. Thomas wanting to catch up on all the goings-on about town and gushing how beautiful Key West was, sometimes Mr. Thomas got on the phone as well. It had taken many baby steps, but slowly Audrey's relationship with her dad was improving. In the weeks following his second heart attack, Mr. Thomas's crusty exterior had softened a degree. The fragility of life had finally come home to him and he resolved within himself to grab ahold of the days he had left. He had even come to support Audrey's decision to move out, much to Mrs. Thomas's dismay. She wanted Audrey to remain home until marriage.

However, her tune had quickly changed when she realized Audrey was going to let her help decorate the new home. With her husband in the hospital trying to recover, Arlene had needed to something to keep her mind busy and home decor was just the thing. It was during this whole crazy process, Arlene realized something Warren had seen in their daughter before she had. That alone was a miracle in itself. Regardless, both came to the realization their little girl was blossoming into a woman, capable of more than they had dreamed possible.

That being said, she still felt the need to call Audrey every morning to make sure she was alive and breathing. Call it an overprotective maternal trait, but Arlene wasn't ready for the day until she could hear daughter's voice. Key West was just too far way. The time away was doing a world of good for husband's health, but Arlene missed their daughter and their quiet home in the center of town.

After reassuring her mother no less than fifteen times that she was eating well and locking her doors at night, Audrey was finally able to hang up the phone. Her eggs had long since congealed and were ice cold to the touch. Scraping them into the garbage, Audrey decided to go into town and grab breakfast at the diner. Taking a few minutes to pull her hair up into a side swept pony and change into a floral trapeze dress, Audrey was ready to go in record time. Frowning at her reflection in the mirror, she snagged a pink silk handkerchief off her dresser and tied it around her ponytail in a simple knot. Feeling satisfied and spring-like, Audrey grabbed her handbag and aimed for the door.