Best Is Yet To Come

Chapter 13 - Hometown

"Yeah we are here. Over there is the Craigavon Bridge but everyone just calls it the Blue bridge." I smile nodding my head in the direction of the bridge. I decided not to push the subject of his mum because I didn't want to put a damper on his mood and I knew he would tell me eventually, when he was ready.

"Creative." Jon laughs looking over at it. The bridge was here since the existence of Derry I believe and it has always been painted blue, some things just don't change. I decided to drive Jon through my town, showing him the infamous Derry Walls to the Bloody Sunday murals before showing him were I was raised before moving to the house I was in now over another bridge known as the Foyle Bridge to go back to my parents home. "You guys like bridges huh?" 

"Come on we have like three, two to drive on and one solely for walking. You American's have a bridge every five seconds." 

"That is true." He gives out a hearty laugh. "What the fuck is the point of these things?" He asks wide eyes as we came to yet another roundabout. "Like they are everywhere." 

"I honestly can't answer that." I chuckle turning into my parents street before stopping outside a modern yet simple three bedroom home. I had offered to buy my parents something bigger, like Jon had done with his mother but my parents loved their home so I just paid off the mortgage for them and paid for any home improvements they wanted. 

I exhaled loudly before stepping out of the car, Jon following my lead as I looked around. Nothing had changed. Both my parents cars were in the drive so I knew they were home and my dad being his noisy self had probably seen us by now. Any suspicious car pulling up outside their home my dad would look to see who it was so I had no doubt he knew and I was right. I turned towards my parents front door just as my dad opened it, a huge smile on his face as we ran towards one another embracing each other in a hug. 

"What are you doing here?" My dad gasped, putting me down and kissing both my cheeks, his hands resting on the sides of my face. I felt four sets of claws digging into my legs, wincing my dad let me go so I could bend down and pet our family dogs. Cassie a schnauzer and Benji a Yorkshire terrier. "Jon, great to see you again." I head my dad grin as I scratched each other the dogs behind the ears. 

"Tommy, why is the front door..." I heard my mum's voice trailing off as she stood by the door in shock. Her eyes meeting mine as her hand covered her mouth. Tears started to form in her eyes as she held onto the door frame for support. 

"Let's get inside quick. Cassie, Benji inside." My dad yelled at the dogs as he herded us all inside. My mum immediately wrapped her arms around my neck as she cried a few tears into my neck. "Can I get you anything Jon?" My dad asked he walked into the kitchen, Jon following behind him. 

Our dogs were unsure of Jon to begin with, Benji had even started to bark at him so my dad told Jon to sit down and placed Benji on his lap. After a few belly scratches and tickles, both Cassie and Benji were on top of Jon licking his face and demanding all his attention. After my mum released me from her grip we walked into the living room and I sat next to Jon, taking his hand in mine. We were both exhausted from the travelling but that was part of our jobs so we were used to it in a way.

"I thought you had a house show tonight?" My mum asks taking the seat she had claimed to be hers probably since before I was born. There was a little Sheldon Cooper in her.

"There is a house show, we just aren't in it, we wanted to surprise you." I grin looking at both my parents, the smile on their faces.  "Jon is in a show tomorrow night though so we are only here till tomorrow afternoon." 

"Oh so you need a place to stay?" My mum asks.

"No, we booked into the City Hotel don't worry mum you don't need to do anything."