All I Want - 3 - ON HOLD

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I've never been one to be impulsive.. impulsivity seemed so abrupt and obnoxious. Meals were planned, outfits were planned, everything was chosen and prepared for. But I lost that control a while ago. Because who could have planned for this?

That's how I find myself on the first flight out to Oregon. Completely unplanned and unprepared for, but I had to get out of here. I can't deal with Tom right now, and I need a break from what I know my life to be. Maybe staying in Oregon for a while will help with that. Being with family and trying to heal myself.. I need to find who I am outside of Tom and all of this trauma. I've forgotten..

I watch out the window as the plane begins to land. No one knows I left. Not Haz, not Stassie, and definitely not Tom. I hope they'll give me the space I need to relax, but I am going to assume the worst. The worst being that Tom flies out here.. which is a possibility. So instead of staying at my mums I'll be staying in a short term rental. I need to do this for myself. And who knows.. maybe I'll love it out here. Maybe.. I'll want to stay. I know Haz and Stass would be heart broken, but I think it's about time I start doing whats right for me. I'm always trying to make everyone else happy. I never get to put myself first. But now that all my life plans have been thrown out the window, I have a fresh beginning. Maybe this is my chance to start really putting my hopes and dreams first and making myself a priority.

"Mum, Noah!" I say happily, hugging the two as I walk up to the door. It's been so difficult going through this without them.
"I'm so happy to see you sweetheart." My mum says with a warm smile. I can see new lines formed on her face. She's aging.. it's sad how quickly time passes. Especially when I live so far away.
"Hi Lia."
My eyes lift to see an older man with brownish hair that definitely has some gray in it. He gives me a smile with slightly crooked teeth and squinted eyes. Who is this man? I don't know him?
"Lia.. this is Adam." My mum says.
I look to Noah for a clue, but he avoids eye contact.
"Hi?" I say with confusion.
"Adam and I um.. we got married a few weeks ago."

She can't be serious.. can she? I didn't even know she was seeing someone. And she's married to the guy!
"I'm sorry I'm confused." I say.
"I know.. let me explain." She starts but I stop her.
"Explain that you secretly got married? Without telling me a word about it? How long have you even known this guy?" I ask.
"I am not just some guy.. you're being rude to your mother." Adam says and my mouth drops, a scoff coming out.
"Woah okay.. I'm not going to be apart of whatever is going on here." I shake my head with a laugh.
"Lia.." my mum sighs.
"I gotta go."

I walk off, not even caring that I have no clue where I'm going. That was too much.. not only did they get married in secret but then he thinks he can talk to me like that? Absolutely not. Don't get me wrong, I want my mum to be happy. But this was just a really bad time to spring that on me, and it was done in the worst way possible. He shouldn't even feel welcomed to speak to me like that. We've just met and already he has zero boundaries. If he's thinking he'll be like a dad to me now that he's married to my mom then he's dumb. I was so excited to come home, and this completely ruined it.

I pull up my directions to the rental I have, and luckily it's close by so I won't need to get another Uber. I can just walk. It only takes me about ten minutes walking through the neighborhood embarrassingly with my rolling suitcase before I approach the triplex building. It's nice.. but not too nice. Definitely a little small and not what I'm used to. But since I'm not working right now I don't want to blow through my savings.

I see the front door to my place, walking up and kneeling down to get the key out of my suitcase. I have no clue where in here it could be. I honestly just threw it in and now I realize how dumb that was. I groan to myself as I dig through my clothes.
"There it is!" I say excitedly as I pull the silver key from the bottom on my case. I see a pink top being pulled from my suitcase quickly and my head shoots around to see what happened.

"No! Drop it!" I sigh as I watch the husky run around the front yard with my shirt hanging from its mouth.
"Drop it Riley!" I hear a voice say and the dog instantly drops my top. I walk over, grabbing it and the dog sits and stares at me. "Sorry about that."
"It's alright." I say as I turn around, coming into eye contact with the voice. It's a tall, blonde haired guy with freckles and a shy smile. "Riley gets a little.. excited around new people."
"Well she's adorable." I smile.
He looks over to the opened suitcase sitting by the door, then to the key in my hand.
"You must be the new neighbor." He says in a questioning tone.
"That's me." I nod.
"Oh cool, I live to your right." He points to the end of the triplex.

Okay.. so the new neighbors are going to be better than I expected. So far so good.
"I'm Carson by the way." He introduces himself, jutting his hand out to shake mine. Manners... impressive.
"I'm Amelia, but you can call me Lia." I smile.
"Well Lia, can I help you unpack? Where's your moving truck?" He questions.
"Well.. as of right now I have absolutely nothing so maybe if you could recommend a good furniture store? I'm starting over." I inform him.

He gives me a confused look, but it melts away pretty quickly and is replaced by a thinking face.
"Well, Lennys is affordable but low quality-" he starts.
"Price isn't an issue." I say plainly and he lifts his brow with a chuckle.
"If I didn't know better I'd think you're involved with the mafia or something."
"Not the mafia, just a very big business." I shrug.
"Which by the sound of your accent is based in the UK. Holland enterprises?" He asks and my eyes widen.
"How'd you know?!"
"The company I work for has done some projects with them." He informs me. He then begins to look at me a bit more closely, his eyes squinting. "Oh shit- Amelia Holland?"
What am I supposed to say? It would be awkward if I brought up my divorce that isn't even finalized yet. I guess I just go with it?
"Yeah.. that's me." I nod.
"Oh my god I love your work! You are so successful!" He smiles widely.
That gave me a feeling a joy that I haven't felt in a very long time. Someone appreciates my work. Tom hasn't told me that in a while..
"That's so sweet of you, really."
"Well.. if you want- I can help you get this place furnished." Carson offers as he gestures towards my house.
"You know what? I'd love that." I smile.

Maybe Oregon won't be bad and lonely after all.