Bad Luck or Fate?

Chapter 14

I awoke with a jolt. I looked out the window and saw a familiar sight of KCI airport outside. I must have been exhausted from all this Mike stuff happening lately. I thought all this stuff was behind me when he was sent to prison for attempted manslaughter. How he got out of prison, I have no idea but I knew I was going to get the bottom of that before I left town again.

Leaving town again. New York City. I was leaving my cozy little home in Missouri to go to New York City. To live there, in a chaotic but beautiful place.  It would be a nice change of pace and it held Jimmy.

Just thinking of Jimmy brought a smile to my face. I made my way through the terminal. As I made it through my gate, I pulled my phone out of my purse. I unlocked my phone to switch it out of airplane mode. I had completely forgotten about changing my screensaver. I smiled as I stared down at the screen. There we were, in all our glory. Jimmy and I kissing. This really was a great picture. For that one moment, frozen in time, there were two people completely lost in the moment. I could still taste the coffee/mint that Jimmy left on my lips. I could still feel his five o clock shadow tickling my lips, and as I let myself drift back to the moment, I swear I could still hear him let out a low groan. I can still smell him.

God, I missed him so much and it had only been hours. As I thought to myself how crazy the last 48 hours had been, and all the bullshit I was having to put up with now, in that moment, I knew it was worth it. I still couldn't comprehend how much my life was beginning to change in such a small amount of time. I wouldn't have time to comprehend it while I was here, either. Which, is probably a good thing, because I was sure if I sat down and thought about all this, I would try to talk myself out of this.

"Brecks! Over Here!!"  the familiar voice of my little brother, Jake cut through my daydream. I immediately ran over to Jake. Jake was not little by any means. Jake was 6'3 and weighed about 220. He was a linebacker at his college. He staggered over me easily.  He caught me and spun me around. "I missed you, sis! We've been waiting here ever since 5 o clock. We wanted to make sure you got home okay, you know, since you know who is out of prison." He said as he sat me down.

"Mike. You can say his name." I said as I looked down at the floor. Jake lifted my chin, much like Jimmy did when I was starting to get down about myself. "Brecks, I don't know how this happened, but we're going to get to the bottom of this. I promise you that." He pulled me back to look at me. He grabbed my arms. I hissed out of the pain that came from my right arm. I had completely forgotten about that until Jake grabbed it.

"Oh, shit, Brecks, I'm so sorry! What happened?" he said as he gave me a once over. "Are you ok? Did Mike show up in New York?!" he asked, worried.

"No, Jakers. He didn't. Its just that your sister is the biggest klutz there is. It's a long story, trust me." I said as I picked up my bag off the floor.

"Well, if you get time, you're gonna have to fill me in on that." He said as he grabbed my luggage from the baggage claim. "Trust me, it's a VERY long story." I laughed.

I was going to have to explain to them my plan sometime but tonight I was too exhausted to do anything. I looked over at my mother. Her eyes were red and swollen. She had clearly been crying for quite some time.

"Hey Momma." I said, pulling her in for a hug. "It'll all be okay, I promise."

"I'm just so sorry that you had to cut your vacation short for this. I wish with all my heart that this was not happening to you. If I could take this all away from you and handle it myself, I would. A parent never wants to see their child go through pain, especially the kind that you have had to deal with." She looked down, her lip was quivering.

"Momma, I'm fine, really. I can't keep running from Mike my whole life, or it wont be worth living if I'm always having to look over my back. I have to do this for myself so I can have a real chance of a life and moving on. I'll be fine, I promise."