After being disowned by her family, Paris and her daughter Luna moved across the country to start a new life for themselves with the help of Paris' older brother Dallas. Six years later, she returns home after recieving an invite to an old friend's...
I haven't been home to South Carolina in over six years and the only reason I'm here now is that Dallas and his wife somehow convinced me that coming home to see my parents and Adelaide was a good idea.
"I'm seriously starting to think that you and Joanna are crazy for even inviting me to this; no one will want to see me. Especially our parents." I look to my older brother for his response, curiosity building inside me from the possibility of what insane plan he and sister-in-law could have possibly concocted to get my family to talk to me again.
"It's a wedding, you need to be there Paris. You know that Adelaide would never forgive any of us if no one even tried to get you to come. I'm still shocked that you agreed." Dallas places a hand on my shoulder, squeezing comfortingly before placing both of his hands back on the wheel.
"If she was that bothered why didn't she just ask me herself?"
"It's a bit late if you start questioning everything now. We're here."
I sigh before looking at my surroundings and, sure enough, we're pulling onto the bustling main street of Briarcliff, South Carolina. As we drive down the street, I notice the familiar store fronts from my childhood and teen years here interspersed with new ones that I don't recognise.
Dallas slows the car to a stop in front of a familiar building in the centre of the street before he turns around to wake up Luna, unbuckling his seatbelt and climbing across into the backseat of the car, leaving me alone with my thoughts for the first time.
As I leave the car and walk to the building, closely followed by Dallas and Luna, the extremely familiar scent of cinnamon rolls fills my nostrils and brings me right back to some of my happiest memories from my times here.
A bell chimes as we open the door to the diner, causing the all too familiar faces behind the counter to look in our direction. I smile shyly at the two of them and I can tell that it takes them both a few moments to register who I am in their minds before they both launch themselves in my direction. I open my arms and hold my two best friends as the two of them cry into my shoulders.
"Paris! I've missed you." One of my best friends, Meghan, wipes the tears from her eyes as she releases herself from my grasp and fixes her blonde ponytail before she lets out a high pitched squeal in pure happiness from our reunion.
"We've missed you. So much." My other best friend, Jackson, follows Meghan's lead and wipes his own eyes before readjusting our position so his arm is wrapped around my shoulders. His gaze then travels from me to Dallas as he gives my older brother a heated glare for seemingly no reason. "Dallas, you jerk, you're supposed to be my friend and you didn't tell me that Cara was coming home."
"Hey, I didn't even know she was coming until yesterday. She was refusing until I finally managed to convince her that little Luna deserves a chance to at least have an idea of where she came from." Dallas holds his hands up to Jackson in mock surrender but he still falters under the heat of our friend's heated gaze.
"You used her daughter for blackmail? I wouldn't expect that even you could stoop that low Evans." I laugh at Meghan's reaction as she scolds my older brother like she's his parent before she turns her attention to the little munchkin hiding behind my legs. "Hi Luna, I'm your Aunt Meghan. Do you want a chocolate milkshake? They're your mommy's favourite."
Luna nods shyly in response to Meghan's question and my friend holds her hand out to my daughter who looks up at me as if silently asking permission. I simply nod since I trust Meghan far more than most other people in this world and that's all it takes for Luna to skip away happily, holding Meghan's hand without a care in the world and swinging Bean with every step she takes.
"So." Jackson starts, causing both myself and Dallas to look up and meet his gaze. "What's going to happen when you see Nate?"
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
