Dear Diary

Chapter 64

"Aunt ... Tess?" Sophia asked surprised as her aunt burst through the front-door with a large smile on her face.

Her aunt's gaze scanned the living-room and her smile grew impossibly wide when she saw her niece stand up from being seated on the floor. 

"Sophie!" she exclaimed as she ran towards her, arms opening wide. 

Sophia noted that her aunt had gained a ... few more pounds in the last four years that she had seen her, before her aunt wrapped her in a bone-crushing hug.

Over her aunt's shoulder, Sophia saw her cousin, Eric, trail in carrying many suitcases. He had definitely grown since the last time she saw him. Eric was only a year older than her, but he didn't look it. He was taller, with dark brown hair and blue eyes. But what Sophia noticed was that he had definitely grown more muscular and she guessed it had something to do with the fact that he wore an army jacket.

"Oh, it's so good to see you!" Aunt Tess gushed as she held Sophia at arm's length. "My, how much you've grown. It's been too long since I last saw you."

Sophia smiled a rare smile. "It has, Aunt Tess."

"Wait ... are you-?" Luke began and Sophia and her aunt turned to look at Luke's flabbergasted face. She had momentarily forgotten they were there. "Are you Tess Collins? The Tess Collins?"

Aunt Tess smiled. "Sure am."

The reason Sophia never saw much of her aunt was because she was a very well-known country singer and was often on tours, which lasted months at a time. And because Sophia and her dad constantly moved around, it was difficult to see each other.

Luke stared at Sophia's aunt in awe. Clearly he was a big fan of hers. Mindy, on the other hand, wasn't as interested in the fact that Sophia's aunt was a celebrity, but more focused on watching Eric place all their luggage against the wall.

Sophia raised an eyebrow when Eric turned and noticed Mindy, resulting in her looking away quickly with a flushed expression.

"Hey, cuz," Eric greeted as he walked up to Sophia and pulled her into a more gentle, but slightly awkward hug.

"Hey," Sophia replied. "It's been a while."

"Yup," Eric said as he let go of her and Sophia watched his eyes gravitate towards Mindy again.

Sophia jerked, suddenly remembering her manners. "Aunt Tess, Eric, these are my friends, Luke and Mindy."

Luke was all too eager to shake Aunt Tess' hand while Mindy gave an awkward squeak of a greeting and pushed her glasses further up her nose when Eric greeted her.

"Sorry if I seem rude, but what are you two doing here?" Sophia asked and Aunt Tess smiled.

"Well, I've just recently finished a tour and the army was kind enough to give Eric a couple weeks off, so we decided to come and visit when your father told us you were only a two hour flight away. Speaking of which, where is your dad?" 

Aunt Tess looked around, as though he would suddenly appear.

Sophia tensed. "Probably ... work," she replied. She didn't want to put a downer on the reunion by saying he might be on a date.

Aunt Tess rolled her eyes. "Oh, that brother of mine never stops working," she uttered and finally noticed all the papers and textbooks on the coffee table. "Oh my ... did we interrupt something?"

"Just a project, but it's fine, we were done for the day," Luke said quickly and began gathering the papers. He gave Sophia a look that said they were definitely going to discuss this later and grabbed Mindy (who had not-so-secretly been casting glances at Eric) by the hand and, after some goodbyes, left the house.

Aunt Tess smiled. "So ... Where are our rooms?"

-

Now many people would think that Aunt Tess was the bossy, self-inviting kind of person (and they wouldn't be far from it), but Sophia was glad to see her aunt again, even if it was unannounced. Sophia and her aunt were alone in the house, as Eric decided to take Sophia's bike and go check out the town.

"So, my dear Sophie, how have things been?" Aunt Tess asked as they seated themselves in the living-room with some coffee.

"Same as always," Sophia replied and grabbed one of her aunt's homemade cookies.

Aunt Tess nodded, and Sophia narrowed her eyes slightly when she saw a mischievous gleam enter her eyes. "That Luke ... he's a very good-looking friend of yours?" Her tease was hidden in the question.

Sophia felt herself blush as she swallowed the crunchy goodness in her mouth. "We're just friends, Aunt Tess," she muttered.

Aunt Tess' eyes widened. "What? Why? If I was your age I would have grabbed him the first chance I got!"

Aunt Tess was a widow. Her husband died of cancer when Eric was only five and she never remarried, but it didn't appear to stop her from playing matchmaker.

"I'm ... just not interested in dating anyone at the moment," Sophia shrugged and took a sip of her coffee. 

She didn't want to say that she was turned off from dating due to the fact that her father was dating someone.

Aunt Tess nodded her head. "I suppose there's still plenty of time for that." She took a sip of her drink. "So how have things been going at home?"

Aunt Tess had been the closest thing Sophia ever had to a mother when she was little, being the only female influence she had, but they were never extremely close because of the very few times they saw each other. Sophia was closer to General Smith, who was the only one who knew about her and her father's relationship. She never told her aunt ... because she was her dad's sister, and didn't want her to end up telling him how Sophia felt.

She didn't want anyone to know.

"Things have been fine ..." Sophia paused, wondering if she should tell her aunt about Susan. She was bound to find out anyway. "My dad has a girlfriend."

Aunt Tess froze mid-sip and her eyes widened. She blinked a few times before swallowing and slowly placing her cup down on the table. "Oh ... that's a little, uh, sudden," she said with a growing frown. "Why didn't he tell me?"

"They've only been dating a week ... that I know of," Sophia replied and watched her aunt's reaction.

"And what's she like?" Aunt Tess asked.

Many negative thoughts entered Sophia's mind, but she knew that it was only because she felt hurt and knew it was not what Susan was really like. She was a nice person from what Sophia gathered. She just didn't like her because she was dating her dad. 

"She's nice. Her name's Susan and she has two daughters and works in the army," Sophia supplied. She guessed that they met through work.

Sophia had thought about spurting a few lies to her aunt, maybe get her to force them to break-up, but Sophia didn't quite have the heart to. She had never seen her dad happy before now, although it was hard to see, it was still there. And even though it was hurting her, she didn't want to take that away from him. She knew better than anyone what it felt like to be unhappy, but she still didn't like it. She wanted her father to be happy, but with her before being happy with anyone else.

Aunt Tess nodded, slowly taking in all the new information. "And ... how do you feel about this?"

Sophia kept her tone even and face neutral. "He's a grown man. If he wants to date, then he can."

Her voice wavered a bit at the end and she hoped her aunt didn't hear it.