•Before I Let Go•

•Chapter 3•

At what point had he talked himself into doing this?

Alida hadn't seen Cory in nearly ten years—at least not in person. She stopped feeding into the social media wheel of his life soon after he became a household name. It eventually became too painful; her anger had turned into sadness at some point in time that she couldn't specifically recall.

There was a part of Alida that wanted to do what Zora had done and shut the door in his face. However, Alida knew better than to do that.

Cory had too much power—too many resources to end her quiet little life if he wanted. She needed to play this smart, in case Cory's reasons weren't as wholesome as that innocently lost look currently plastered on his darling face.

"Have you been drinking?" Alida asked, already knowing that he had been.

"Am I drunk? No."

"That's not what I asked," Alida opened the door a few inches more, taking a good look at him. "I asked if you've been drinking."

"Yeah-"

"Then stop. You can crash on the couch tonight, but you have to stop—right now. Got it?"

Cory's brows pulled together confusingly, questioning if he had heard her correctly—perhaps he was drunk.

"You mean... like, ever again? Or-"

"Not in my house. You're a grown man, you can drink whenever you want, but not in my house."

Cory nodded, unable to comprehend the verbal agreement that was just bestowed upon him. "You mean... I can come inside? I can stay here tonight?"

Annoyed, Alida rolled her eyes and stepped out of the entry way; she opened the door wide as she gestured him inside.

Without giving her time to change her mind, Cory swallowed hard and entered through the doorway. Standing awkwardly, he watched as she locked the deadbolt behind him before moving toward the stairs.

"There's water and juice in the fridge—leftovers are in there too, help yourself." Alida spoke as if bored; as if Cory showing up like this was nothing out of the ordinary.

She was walking away—Cory didn't want her to leave—he needed to talk.

"Wait a second," Cory rushed to the bottom of the staircase, looking up at Alida that stood two steps above him. She looked back over her shoulder at him disapprovingly—as if she were nothing short of disappointed in him. "I need to talk to you. I- I have to tell you something. It's important."

"Can it wait? It's 1 o'clock on the morning, Cory." Alida snapped, instantly regretting her reaction.

She hadn't meant to scold him; perhaps it had only been her and Zora for too long. Alida was used to reprimanding the little girls' attitude regularly—the kid was too smart for her own good.

"I don't know... can it?" Cory asked genuinely. He couldn't believe Alida seemed so indifferent to his unexpected arrival. He presumed she'd be livid—that she demand he leave.

"Unless someone's gonna die, yes. Yes, Cory—it can wait." Alida nearly groaned as she started up the steps again.

"Your husband's not gonna shoot me dead when he comes downstairs and sees me asleep on his couch, is he?" Cory would be thankful for this outcome, but needed to tell her what he came there for before going out like that.

Alida huffed in frustration, trailing up the stairs, ignoring Cory's question.

She didn't look back, instead she went to Zora's room, locking the door behind her before crawling into bed with her. She laid behind her, brushing her dark yellow hair away from her sleeping face before planting a soft kiss on her temple.

Cory stood at the bottom of the stairs, staring at the top of the landing, wondering if Alida would come back down. He stood with his hands in his pockets, questioning reality.

He barely remembered the 8 hour flight—the brief exchange when renting a car—the hour long drive getting to Alida's house from Stewart International.

It wasn't until reaching the exit off I-84 that Cory began to realize just how demented this truly was. He hadn't factored in the time difference, nor that his liquid courage was wearing off.

He stopped off at the closest liquor store, taking a few swigs to calm his nerves before ultimately finding himself in Alida's driveway where he finished off the pint.

Cory thought about going back home; maybe finding a hotel to sleep off what he had consumed—she'd never have to know he had been parked outside her house for over an hour.

Cory finally assembled the courage to walk up to the house; he rehearsed his speech several times—knowing exactly what he was going to say.

However, everything Cory had planned to say vanished the moment he was greeted coldly by a small person wearing a two piece pajama set.

Confused, Cory had to lower his line of sight—having expected the person to be taller.

Though Cory was drunk and the house was dark, he could see this little girl was annoyed to have been awoken from her sleep.

He started to introduce himself; he didn't have time to ask if Alida lived there before the little girl had shut the door in his face.

Cory found himself still standing at the bottom of the stairs. He needed to get out of those wandering thoughts before they pulled him into a place he didn't want to go—a place he couldn't be brought back from. Only bad things happened when he let his mind drift.

Looking around the cozy kitchen, Cory's head began to swim. His vision swayed fluidly around him as he tried locating a sofa to crash on.

There was a chance Cory would wake to find he had dreamt this—that he hadn't just flown clear across the country and driven an hour to find himself standing in Alida's kitchen.