Leap of Faith

Day Thirty-Eight

Anna and I walk out of the terminal and wait for the three women to join us. Vivian, who had micromanaged every detail of this trip- apart from yesterday- had arranged for a town car to come and pick us up. Sawyer, however, was waiting outside for Anna, and came rushing towards her to scoop her up in a bear hug.

Sawyer gave us all a small wave before tugging Anna towards the parking lot. Anna gave me a ‘call me’ sign and I nodded at her. I’m not sure what she wanted to talk about seeing as we had spent most of yesterday in a quasi-therapy session, but my sister seems to be under the illusion that there are some things that have been left unsaid.

“That’s our car,” Vivian said, pointing out a large black car.

I walked wearily towards the car and was about to place my weekend bag in the trunk when I heard someone call out my name. Or at least, I thought I had heard my name being called. I spun around a couple of time, but didn’t recognize anyone.

“Catherine!” Someone shouted again.

“Theo?” I spun again at the sound of that voice. It had sounded scarily similar to Theo, but how would he know that I’m here? I craned my neck to see above the crowd but I couldn’t make out anyone that I knew. Just as I was about to turn towards the car again, a familiar face appeared before me and I couldn’t help the smile that spread across my face. “TJ, what are you doing here?”

*~*~* TJ *~*~*

God, how I had missed her. I threw my arms around her waist and lifted her from the ground as I hugged her tightly to me. I was determined never to let her go again, but from the way someone cleared their throat from beside me, I knew that it was probably time to set Cate back on land.

“Hi, Mom,” I smile tightly to my mother. I wave to Cate’s mom and sister. “Hello, Mrs. Westbrook. Libby.”

To my surprise Cate’s mom stepped forward and enveloped me in a hug. “Didn’t I tell you to call me Jennifer?” She laughs in my ear. She pulls away and gives Cate a hug goodbye. “I’m guessing you’re catching a ride with TJ. We’ll see you back at the house sometime today, I hope.”

Next, Libby moved towards me and planted a kiss on my cheek. “Ask her what she did in the Big Apple. Or better yet, ask to see what she did while she was over there.” Libby turned to scowl at her sister, but Cate just shrugged it off. “Remember what Anna promised me for next year, Godmother.”

When Libby crawled into the car, Mom stepped towards me and gave me a weak smile. I wasn’t expecting a warm welcome from Vivian, especially seeing as we hadn’t spoken properly since I stormed out of her place more than a week ago, but I was kind of hoping for something more than this. She mumbled something about dinner tomorrow night, got in the car and shut the door on me.

“Still not talking, huh?” Cate asked as I took her weekend bag and slung it over my shoulder. Even though Cate had only been away a few days, her bag weighed hardly anything. I swear, all she must have packed was a spare pair of jeans, a t-shirt and a toothbrush. “You know you don’t have to carry that for me. I’m more than capable.”