Again

Chapter 35

Taylor opened his mouth to speak, but decided against it.  He felt better now that he'd spoken with his brother.  He was still unhappy about the way he'd left Kayla's house; they did need to have a better conversation when he'd gotten his temper, and his feelings, under control.  For now though, he knew his and Isaac's jobs weren't done.  Their parents and Zac were expecting them back with a report on Kayla, so he summoned whatever fuel his emotions were allowing him to still run on, and decided to get it over with.  Isaac stood, patted his brother on his back, then followed them into their mother's home.

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Kayla stood against her front door for what seemed like forever, before exhaling loudly.  She shook her body back to life slightly, and walked back into the kitchen, gathering up the empty water bottles Isaac had left behind, and walking towards her back door to put them into the recycling bin.  She opened the door, and looked to the right, the way she had her entire life when she'd gone out that door.  Memories instantly flooded her; images of birthday parties, water fights, backyard cookouts, championship soccer matches, and the boys' old tree house ran through her brain like a movie.  

She thought back to the day Taylor and Natalie had gotten engaged; the night she'd seen Zac tell Kate he loved her.  The tears came instantly; the way they had been the last couple of days since she'd been back in Tulsa.  She missed her old life, she missed her friends and the family she'd thought she'd become a part of for so many years.  

Most of all though, as much as she tried to deny it, she missed Zac.  She quickly tossed the empty bottles into the bin before wiping away at the tears.  She turned to walk back into the house, before something caught her eye in the home next door.  She looked up at the window, before the curtain closed suddenly.  

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Zac shut the curtain quickly, "Shit!" he whispered to himself.  "Did  she see me?" he thought to himself, "and where the hell are Taylor and Ike?!"   He walked back to his old bed, and straightened out the comforter that he'd rolled up during his nap.  He shook his hair out of the ponytail he'd been wearing before clicking off the light and heading downstairs.  Once he'd reached the bottom landing, he heard his mother's back door opening.

"Took you long enough," Zac remarked when his brothers walked into the living room.

"I see," Taylor replied, commenting on Zac's appearance, "where's Mom and Dad?" he asked as he sat down on the couch.

"I don't know, I was upstairs.  I just came down here, probably in the study though," Zac replied, "I'll go get them."  Taylor and Isaac watched him as he rose and disappeared into the hallway.  He approached the door, his hand ready to knock, when he heard his parent's voices.

"Diana, you have got to let this go!"  he heard Walker saying to his mother.

"Don't you think she's done enough damage, Walker?" he heard his mother reply.  There was a mixture of sadness and desperation in her voice that left Zac uneasy, "What reason does she have to pop up out of nowhere, ten years after she just up and left him?!  After everything that happened--"

"Don't do that," he heard Walker say, cutting his mother off, "you know good and well she didn't make that decision on her own.  Don't try to pretend like you didn't have anything to do with that."

"You will not insult me in my own home, Walker Hanson," Diana replied.  Zac heard his dad scoff, but before he was able to reply, Diana was flinging the door open.  She stopped short when she saw Zac, pausing, before she lowered her head and passed by her son towards the living room.