Weeping Willows

Bon Voyage

Chapter 1


"I can't believe you're just leaving!"

Elizabeth looked at the small group of friends behind her. This small band of women are some of her favorite people and she loved them all dearly. They had all gone through years of laughter and tears together, but this time she needed to be alone. She was surely going to miss them all, but she needed this. The only one not there to see her off, i.e. talk her out of it, was Nicole. It was understandable since she had lost just as much as Elizabeth had. Too much had happened recently and there were just too many memories here to haunt her.

Finished with putting the last of her things in the trunk, she closed it with finality. Turning around she breathed out a sigh. They've been trying to change her mind about this move since she had made the decision. "Look guys it's not like I'm disappearing. I'll keep in touch." Glancing at each one she saw sadness and defeat on each face but one. Her best friend Lauren was giving her a dubious expression.

"If I truly believed that, I wouldn't be standing here with everyone else. I would be helping you pack. Let's also not forget that you bought a house, across the country, without even seeing it." Lauren's blonde locks floated in the breeze as her bright blue eyes hardened. Standing at 5'9" without heels made her tower over Elizabeth in them now. Her stance aggressive, Lauren looked positively Amazonian. It was not going to work, she refused to be intimidated.

"I saw it." She argued.

"Not in person you didn't. Who knows what kinds of things they're not telling you about it!" Nell pointed out while Lauren nodded in support of her rebuttal. The two of them looking like complete opposites in appearance while standing next to each other. Nell was dwarfed beside her being only 5'6" like Elizabeth herself. While Lauren wore business casual for her job as a child psychologist, Nell was just casual. She was a stay at home mom who was tough as nails. Elizabeth always believed raising three boys and a husband gave Nell a backbone of pure steel. Her long, deep brown hair waved madly around her as fire burned in her dark brown eyes. Nell was always the sensible one out of them. Never one to mix her words either if she was trying to protect her loved ones. A true mother bear. It made Elizabeth's heart swell knowing Nell considered her family. Family, that one word reminded her of her pain and why she was adamant on doing this.

"Would you guys relax? I found a creditable realtor and saw a virtual tour on the internet." Lauren threw up her hands in exasperation.

"You went on the internet and house hunted, saw pictures, and bought a property you've never set foot on!" Elizabeth shrugged her shoulders in response. What else could she say? That was exactly what she had done. She had been so desperate to escape she hadn't given it any thought. She refused to second guess herself now. What's done was done and she would just have to live with it.

"That's how I get my men." Courtney nonchalantly contributed. The wild card of the group. Not that anyone would ever be able to tell by looking. She appeared harmless, from her petite 5'4" frame to her, I live behind my computer, nerd apparel. Which in truth she did, working for some internet security firm from the comfort of her home. There were times they wouldn't see her for days. When they did, she usually looked like she fell asleep at her computer, woke up, and walked right out her door as is. She had an untamed, baby fine, mousy brown bob, and muddy hazel eyes that peered out at you from behind thick rimmed glasses. She was completely unassuming in appearance, but you never knew what she was going to come up with next. Any time they had gotten in trouble throughout their lives it was usually Courtney that was the mastermind behind it. They all stared at Courtney in complete horror.

"What? Internet dating is the way to go these days." Lauren was the first to break the stunned silence.

"You're internet dating now?"