Hope is Rising

15. Startling Surprises

Dylan had a worried look on his face as he talked to whoever it was on the phone.

"Okay, we'll be right over," he said finally before he hung up.

"Who was that?" I asked him.

"That was Matt. Apparently they drove by your house, and there's someone's truck in your driveway and your lights are on. Kate didn't recognize the car as someone's you knew," he replied.

My mind started wondering if I even knew this person. Was it a robber trying to take my stuff? Or could it even be Carter still trying to get back at me? I couldn't remember if he had given me back my house key. I felt so worried.

"Let's go," Dylan said as we began to walk toward my jeep. I let him drive since I still didn't feel like driving with my foot and I wanted to be able to think.

"I can tell you're worried," he said looking over at me from the drivers seat. "Everything's going to turn out fine."

"I don't know," I replied, "I hope you're right."

We drove in silence for most of the way to my house. The short drive felt like an eternity. I couldn't pinpoint who or why this person would be in my house.

As we approached my street, Dylan parked far enough away so we didn't seem suspicious.

As we got out, we saw Matt and Kate waiting for us at the opposite side of the street. Not much was said as we approached them.

"So what's the plan?" Dylan asked Matt.

Matt handed one of two baseball bats to Dylan. Although it seemed kind of random to have a baseball bat, I knew it would be effective if we needed to use it.

"We'll go see who's in the house. If its a robber, I have a police friend who lives not to far from here, and he already knows to come if I call him," Matt said seriously.

We began to walk toward the steps approaching the door. My stomach was turning inside. I gave Dylan a key in case whoever it was had gotten in through a window.

Kate, Matt, and I followed as Dylan slowly opened the door.

As I looked inside there was no one in sight.

"Dylan, you and Steph check the bedrooms, and Kate and I will look in the kitchen and living room," Matt said.

I followed Dylan first to my bedroom, which was empty. As we approached the guest room, we heard someone rummaging through one of the drawers.

Dylan quietly went to the guest room and I followed.

We decided to make a run for it.

"Stop what you're doing!!" Dylan screamed as he entered the doorway.

As I came into the room, I slowly recognized the face.

"Dylan don't!!" I screamed as he was ready to use the bat. "That's my brother!!"

"Annie?" I heard Kevin's familiar voice say. That's the nickname he had called me when we were really little and couldn't say Stephanie, and I couldn't ever imagine him calling me anything else.

"Kevin!!" I ran up and gave him a huge hug. It had been 3 years since I had seen him, which was before he was stationed overseas. So many memories began to flood back from the times I had been with him.

"You've grown since I last saw you," Kevin said making me fight back tears. I had forgotten how important he was in my life.

"How did you get back? Are you staying for a while? When do you have to leave?" I said beginning to flood him with questions.

"Whoah, slow down, Annie, I'll tell you everything. But first aren't you going to introduce me to your friends? I mean besides Kate," he said motioning to everyone in the doorway.

"Oh," I said turning around. "This is my boyfriend Dylan and his brother Matt who is Kate's boyfriend."

"I had no idea you had a boyfriend, Annie. It's nice to meet you, Dylan," he said shaking his hand. "You'd better take good care of my sister, she's one of a kind," Kevin told him.

"Absolutely," Dylan replied to him. I felt my cheeks burning.

"I'm sorry if I startled you guys," Kevin apologized, "I was going to surprise Annie when she got home, but I guess I did more than that."

"That's alright," we all said.

"Kate, you've grown up a lot too since I saw you last," Kevin said to her as we went toward the living room to sit down.

Kate, Matt, and Kevin had a small conversation while Dylan and I went to the kitchen to grab something to drink for everyone.

"I didn't realize you had a brother," Dylan said.

"Well, he's been overseas for a few years and I haven't been able to see him but through Skype every once in a while," I said.

"Do you want to invite him to come surfing with us tonight? He seems like he probably has a lot of good stories from being overseas," Dylan asked me.

"Yeah, that sounds like a good idea," I replied.

As we came back in with the drinks, Kevin began to tell us how he got back to the U.S.

"Well, my General asked me if I wanted to take a local project at the Naval base near the San Francisco Bay Area for him. It will help research in the country that I'm in," Kevin began.

"No way," I said, "I've just started working at that Naval base."

"Really?" he replied. "I didn't realize you stopped working at Apple. I guess I haven't talked to you since then."

"I know," I said. "I've missed you so much."

"By the way, do you want to come surfing with us tonight?" I asked him.

"I don't know," Kevin began, "I haven't been surfing in a few years."

"Aww come on," I said, "it'll be just like when we were younger."

"Well..." he began, "I can go for an hour or two, but I'm really tired from the trip."

"Alright," we said.

"Are you guys hungry? We could talk over dinner if you want," Matt asked.

"That's a good idea," Kate said.

We decided on a seafood restaurant that Kevin hadn't had in a while.

"So, Annie, what happened with Carter?" Kevin asked me quietly as we sat down at the restaurant.