“Yes. Of course, we will.” I said.
“We can have a whole funeral tomorrow,” Luke added.
“Can we have a minute alone to let Penny say goodbye?” Ronnie looked up at me, his eyes glossy. I nodded and took Luke’s hand standing out of sight in the hallway.
After they said their goodbyes Luke wrapped Theo up and put him inside a small plastic tub with the cover on. Luke brought him out to the backyard and put him on the shelf in the shed. We all sat on the couch and watched “The Parent trap” until Ronnie and Gia fell asleep on each other with tear-stained faces and puffy eyes.
I clicked my phone on and checked the time. “8:37,” I said out loud. Luke was half asleep next to me. Poppy sprawled across our laps. “What?” He croaked. “Sorry Sutton, just super tired. I had to get up at 4:30 this morning to go to the shop for a delivery.”
“If you wanna get going you can,” I replied.
“I will never give up spending my time with you voluntarily, even if I’m spending my time snoring next to you.” He chuckled and pulled me in for a kiss. We were interrupted by the sound of a car pulling into the driveway.
I could hear the screen door slam shut. Luke and I sat frozen in time just staring at the door. It opened up and my mom walked in alone. She looked happy.
“Hi, guys! How are you, Luke?”
“I’m good Lynn. How are you today?”
“Not too bad.” She replied.
“How was your night guys?” I was so focused on what the night entailed for my mom and dad I almost forgot about the catastrophe with Gia’s turtle.
“Well. It was crazy, to say the least.” My mom raised her eyebrows motioning for me to go on. “Gia went into her room and found Theo dead. She freaked out as I’m sure you could imagine.” My mom put her hand over her mouth in shock. “So we called Ronnie over to calm her down. He’s actually still here; they're both asleep in the bedroom. We told her we’ll do a funeral tomorrow.”
“Thank you guys for being so great. I feel terrible. You could have called me!” She pulled Luke, Poppy, and I in for a hug. “I’m going to go get ready for bed now. I guess I’m on the couch tonight. Luke look at you. You look exhausted. You two should just go to sleep. I’ll see you in the morning?”
“Goodnight Lynn,” Luke said.
I followed my mom into her room. Ronnie and Gia were cuddled up together. My mom was perched at her dresser removing her earrings.“So how’d it go? What was it about?” I whispered. “It was great actually. We talked the whole time. We talked about the good times, where things went wrong with us and we talked about the future too.”
“The future?” I questioned. My mom shushed me.
“Yes. Your dad was telling me he’s not really happy with his life. He wants to be able to see you, girls, more and that’s impossible with his job. He wants to retire soon. He has the means to do so and he wants to live a life more dedicated to family.”
“You’re being very vague.” I snapped back. “Does that include you?”
“We’re not sure yet Sutton. He has one last trip to go on and then we’re going to touch base again. He really does seem to have a new outlook and he wants his family back.”
The gears in my brain were spinning at a million miles per hour. I couldn’t believe this was happening and I wasn’t quite sure if I wanted it to or not. It’s not like if my dad did move back home things would go back to what they used to be because he used to be traveling 24/7. This would be my dad, home, at my house all the time.
“Well, I’m glad it went well,” I whispered and kissed my mom on the side of her face.
“Goodnight. I love you,” she replied. I scurried back into the living room to find Luke nowhere in sight. I tiptoed into my bedroom and found Luke and Poppy sprawled out on my bed. Poppy was snoring and Luke was drooling. I took off my pants and bra and slipped into bed next to Luke.
He immediately groaned and pulled me close to him and whispered “I love you.” Butterflies filled my stomach.
“Hey, Luke,” I whispered, gently tapping him on the shoulder.
He stirred a little bit and mumbled “Yes Sutton?”
“I might be reading into things too much but I think my parents might be getting back together.”
Luke just pulled me in closer and whispered back. “There’s a reason for everything and God has a plan for all of us. Trust in it.” He kissed me gently on the lips and caressed my arm until he drifted back to sleep.
Chapter 6:
When I woke up the next morning it was still pretty dark out. Luke still laid next to me. The rhythm of his breath was like a song and his body was closely pressed against mine. I checked my phone. It was 5:45 am. I had an unread text from my dad.
Mom told me about the turtle. Text me when you’re all up. I’ll be over for the funeral. Love you, Sutton.
I rested my head back on my pillow when my phone suddenly buzzed and startled me. Who would be texting me this early?
What happened with mom and dad?
It was from Reagan.
Feel like I’m in a parallel universe. My dad is getting sick of his crazy job traveling and talked
