Georgia's Last Words

Chapter Eighteen

We managed to make the trip in under twelve hours. The roads were pretty free, a little ice here and there, but the more south we go the warmer it gets. The drive is long and I’m tired. Cooper drives the whole way so that I can sleep. I offer to drive, but I think he wants to just take care of me. 

The city sign comes into loom. My head starts to roll, it’s the moment of truth. Why do I have to do this? It’s stupid and dumb, there’s no point to this. Somehow in Dr. S’s mind, seeing my Grams’s grave is going to miraculously heal me. It’s just going to bring up a bunch of unnecessary feelings. 

“Did you tell your mom that we were coming?” Cooper glances over towards me. 

“Yeah, I sent her a text last night. She’s expecting us sometime today.” 

Without a word, he seems to know what’s wrong. His hand finds mine and squeezes it gently. There’s nothing left to say. 

I look out at the town I grew up in. The market place that runs year round; I bought my first flavored ice cone from there when I was like five. I see the hang out for all the teenagers, then the gas station with the strangest cokes. There’s the park where all the smaller children play. Attached to it is the skate park they put in a few years ago. 

Over the last eighteen year nothing about this town has really changed. The shops are all the same, owned by the same people, and shopped at by the same locals. It seems like a dead end town with nothing going for it, but it has its own little charm to it. 

“Do you want me to just hang at your mom’s?” I’m pulled out of my wonderings by Cooper’s voice. 

I nod my head. “If you can handle it.”

He smiles. “I think I’ll be okay. You can take the car. You mom and I will probably end up discussing my intentions and plenty of other awkward things.”

There’s a bit of guilt tossed on me. “Sorry.”

His eyes flash to me for a second. “It’s fine.”

It doesn’t take more than ten minutes to get to the other side of town where my childhood home rests. Just a few months ago I was standing in from to this typical southern home wishing to run away from it. Now it’s a different time, but my feet still want to run. 

Cooper puts the car in park. “It’s going to be okay Sky.”

I look at him. “I know.”

We step out of the car. My plan is to go in, say hi, and leave. I don’t want to push off the inevitable, otherwise I might just back out. Which isn’t the worst of ideas really. It seems like a great idea. Pretend to go and then just hang out around the corner. 

Cooper would find out though. 

I walk inside the house and hear Mom in the kitchen. She is always in the kitchen nowadays. On the phone you can hear the pans banging against each other or falling on the floor. Following the sound of feet pattering on the floor, I enter the linoleum lined room.

“Hey Mom.” I lean my head cautiously inside the kitchen.

She turns around holding a pan with bacon in it. “Hey Skylar.” She sees Cooper. “And Cooper.”

“Cooking breakfast a little late, don’t you think?” I ask.

“Oh, your dad wanted bacon this morning, but we didn’t have any. So I went out and got some so that we could have breakfast for dinner. Remember when we would do that, you loved it.”

I nod my head in agreement. “Yeah, Mom, I remember.”

“You’re going to stay for dinner, right?” Her eyes widen, a silent plea.