True to You

The Truth

2019

Matt glanced back down at his phone to make absolutely certain that he had the address that Brian had sent him correct. He double checked the GPS in the car and then squinted at the number on the letter box again. Yep, he was at the right house. He shouldn't have even bothered checking. The SUV that Brian and Steph had rented along with the BMW that Sean had picked up was parked in the driveway alongside the Toyota McKenna had selected. If he'd needed a hint the cars should have provided it.

"You okay babe?" Caitie asked him from the passenger seat. "Is something wrong?"

"No, no everything's fine," he hurried to reassure her. And it was. Confusing but fine. "It's just that this doesn't fit with what I thought Elliot's house would look like." Matt leaned across her to take another look at the adorable grey painted craftsman with its cherry red door.

"Oh, okay I get it." Caitie did not sound as if she got it. Matt rubbed a weary hand over the stubble on his jaw. He didn't really get it either. It wasn't as though he'd ever really thought about where Elliot would have lived. It was just that if he ever had, his opinion would have been coloured by his memories of the teenage Elliot with her crazy eclectic music collection, her band t-shirts and her penchant for staying up late, drinking and telling ridiculous jokes with Jimmy. And it wasn't as if he'd never heard of her after they'd all taken Jimmy's side in an argument they didn't even understand. If he'd combined his memories of her with his knowledge of her glittering and respected photography career he'd have imagined her living in some kind of bohemian artists collective. Definitely not the vision of the suburban dream in front of him. People could behave in unexpected ways.

Matt glanced in the rear view mirror to see Brooks and his wife Kelly watching him expectantly. He leaned back into his seat and switched off the engine. "Alright then, let's get inside and make sure those other bozos don't trash this very quaint little house."

The four of them piled out of the car and made their way to the front door. Brooks and Kelly carried a couple of bottles of wine each, Matt carried beer and a bag of snacks and Caitie carried a bag filed with fruit, cookies and vegetable juice in a death grip. Her morning sickness had pretty much subsided but she was now ravenously hungry for the best part of the day. She didn't seem to have put on much weight although she was more lushly curvaceous than ever although Matt had noticed that her baby bump was far more prominent than Kelly's or, from what he could remember, Val's had been at a similar stage of pregnancy. Not that he minded. He loved to look at her and know that his child was growing inside her. He was guessing that it was another boy and that he was going to be a bruiser.

As they reached the top of the steps the front door was flung open to reveal Steph welcoming them inside with a broad smile. "Greetings! Matt, you may as well head in that direction," Steph said gesturing to the sitting room on her right where Zacky, Johnny and Brian sat huddled around the coffee table flipping through photographs. She relieved him of the beer and snacks. "The vortex of nostalgia will suck you in anyway so there's no point in resisting." Matt had every intention of indulging in a trip down memory lane but first he was curious about the house. Caitie drifted past him in the direction of the kitchen, visible through an opening from the dining room on his right, and murmured a question to Steph about the whereabouts of the other girls.

"Laine, Kelly and McKenna are upstairs sorting through Elliot's clothes upstairs. Brooks unless you want to laugh at baby faced pictures of these jokers you might want to check out the basement. It's pretty fucking cool down there. Brian nearly blew a load," Steph laughed.

"I'll head upstairs and see if they need a hand," Kelly said and deposited her wine bottles on the hall table. Brooks disappeared in the direction of the basement door that Steph had pointed at.