THE GUYS' girl

Chapter 15

Song Vibes: No Place by Backstreet Boys

Press play and read on.

Fun fact: Both Brian and Kevin from the Backstreet Boys are from Kentucky. Just like Avery and Aiden. (Just like me btw.) Coincidence? Of course not. 

An overwhelming sense of comfort washed over me the second our car turned down the long, gravel driveway. From the slight elevation at the road, I took in my family's farm nestled in the valley below. Surrounded by white horse fencing, our modest farmhouse sat in the middle, smoke curling out of the chimney awaiting our arrival. I smiled thinking about my grandad starting that fire to welcome us home. Just 50 yards to the right, my grandparents' small cottage was lit from the inside, promising warmth and homemade cookies.

In the distance the farmhand's cottage was also alive with light, no doubt filled to the brim with the entire Vasquez family. Since our move, Paul and Bonita had moved their three children into our farmhouse, leaving Paul's younger brother and his wife in the cottage. But they'd insisted on vacating the farmhouse so that we could return for Thanksgiving. I made a mental note to pop by their cottage at some point to spoil their children with sweets.

The imposing white barn with green trim was closed up for the night, but I knew my horse was waiting inside for me. If only the daylight wasn't so fleeting in November, I'd gear up for a trail ride. I dismissed the thought and decided I'd spend time grooming Penny before dark.

On the far end of the valley, the setting sun rested just above the treeline, casting a fiery blaze on the remaining red, yellow and orange autumn leaves. We'd been gone from our home for nearly three months. It hadn't seemed like that long of time until I acknowledged we'd missed an entire season.

Autumn in Kentucky happened to be my favorite season. I'd completely forgotten what I was missing out on in Florida. The car came to a stop and I tumbled out behind Hunter, eager to engage the rest of my senses. Breathing in the crisp, cool air laced with the sweet decay of fallen leaves, my soul felt at rest. I was home.

Everything was just as I'd remembered it. Running into my grandparents' cottage first, I was met with familiarity in the form of Grandma's soft hugs and Grandad's smoky pipe. Later in the barn, Penny greeted me with the enthusiasm of a well-loved pet reuniting with a long-lost owner. I scratched behind her ears and brushed her mane while telling her all about Florida. And when I walked in our farmhouse, the nostalgia of fifteen prior Thanksgiving meals around our dining room table happily filled my mind.

Except everything wasn't the same. The house had a distinct smell of cumin and chili powder from Bonita's flavorful Mexican dishes. Retreating upstairs to my room, I remembered that I'd taken a lot of my personal items with me to Florida. That didn't stop my surprise that the walls and surfaces had been claimed by Paul's twelve-year-old daughter with a Harry Potter obsession. I hadn't anticipated the Vasquez family's presence to be so profound in our family home. A bleak thought hit me that it might never be my room again. If we followed Aiden on tour for a few years and then I went away to college, would I ever return to this childhood room of mine? I felt a little lost in my own space.

And the most alarming change of all, Grandad walked with a cane now.

Later that night, I curled into my parents' bed like I did when I was a little girl. I asked my mom about my grandad, waiting for her to dismiss my worries as nonsense. But she didn't.

I left their room that night with the new burden that I'd witnessed in my mother's eyes for the last month. Now I finally knew the truth. My grandparents were growing more unsteady by the day, proven by my grandad's fall in the barn in October.