Adam&Audrey

Rule #14: Best Thing I Never Had

It was kind of sad how I’d been away less than half a year and already the roads were becoming fuzzy. To be fair, Dad didn’t let me drive a lot in the two years I did have my license.

Audrey continued dictating directions to me, and I turned onto a heart-wrenchingly familiar road, and an even more familiar driveway outside a detached red brick home. Audrey’s home. Almost immediately, the tension in the car thickened.

The journey was over, however crazy it may have been. But we were here, and it was time to face reality again.

The sullen quietness Audrey had when we first left Toronto was back, and I opened the door for her to get out. She looked at me briefly, as if she expected me to escort her in like I had been doing for so many months now, then flushed as if realizing she was just outside her home and the idea would be absurd. It was all clear in her face.

I bit my lip, focusing on the cobblestone pathway leading up to the stained glass door. Little did she know that I was just avoiding touching her for the time being. I couldn’t handle that, not so soon.

“My babies!” The door flew open before we could even knock. Mom and Mrs. West hurtled out, launching themselves at us and squeezing the life and this morning’s waffles right out of our system.

“Mum… can’t… breathe…” Audrey gasped, and Mrs. West let her go sheepishly. “I’m sorry; it’s just been so long since I’ve seen you!”

“You saw us on Skype like two days ago, didn’t you?” I said, raising an eyebrow at Mom who was beaming widely, her short frame looking up at me. Then I flushed, looking at my feet, remembering what day that was. The morning had been so... and then…

“You know what I mean,” Mrs. West tittered, and then our mothers sobered up, reminding me why we were home in the first place.

“Come,” Mom said, biting her lip. “Your fathers have gathered what belongings she left behind, and there was – there was a letter for each one of you.” Audrey and I looked at each other properly for the first time since the morning, and shrugged.

The house had a gloomy atmosphere, and since it was still hours before the service started, there were no visitors or anything. Not that there would be too many, not many people apart from those at the House and our families were close to Granny.

Walking by the living room to the kitchen, I picked up a photo frame from the dining table of me, Granny, and Audrey. Audrey walked up behind me, her electrifying presence signaling her closeness. “I can still feel her presence in the backyard garden, beside her apple tree, you know.”

I just nodded, too choked up to reply.

The familiar voice of Audrey’s brother floated down the stairway, and Audrey’s face broke into the biggest smile I had seen since we had moved away. “Rickie!”

The tall man loped down the stairs, his familiar wide grin brightening up the room immediately. Audrey was in her big brother’s arms in a second, being picked up and whirled around. He set her back on her feet and she stepped back, her eyes sparkling with emotion. “I missed you so much!”

I looked at the siblings, my own wistful smile on my face. Rickie was five years older than us; he was like the older brother I never had. Looking at Audrey and him, you’d never guess they were related - her fiery red hair and his inky black hair differed since Rickie took after his mom’s side of the family. Only their eyes were the same shade of brown.

“Maria,” I greeted. Rickie had gotten a full-ride scholarship to Florida about eight years ago, and there he had met his now-wife Maria. They had gotten married two years ago and were immensely in love; it was enough to make anyone go ‘aw’.