River & Colt [Completed]

26. After

unedited

26. Twenty-two

River

The diner is busy today. I am rushing between customers attempting to keep all of their orders straight. Don't forget to refill coffee I tell myself. I enjoy the back and forth and the banging of pots and pans in the kitchen.

Somehow I feel like my life fell back together in this tiny diner where I spent so many days, my best friend back in my life, Colt, and now Luna. It's like suddenly I understand why people say that things fall apart just to fall back together again.

I had to get through the darkest parts of my life to finally be able to see and appreciate the things that have been right in front of me. Colt has been here the whole time I was trying to find myself and now I know that I'm only me when I'm with him.

The bell jingles as the door opens and I automatically look to see who's entering. My mom has her hair pulled up in a tight neat bun and she's in nice clothes. She looks nothing like the woman I've been trying to get to know again.

"Hey," I say pouring her a cup of coffee as she sits on a stool in front of me.

She smiles but it doesn't reach her eyes. I don't remember the last time my mom really smiled. "I have a couple of things to tell you," she says taking a long sip of coffee. My stomach twists into knots because the expression she's wearing looks so much like the expression she was wearing when I found out about my dad.

"Okay," I say and rush off to tell everyone I'm taking a 5 minute break. Mom follows me out the door and into the cool day.

"I need to get out of here," she says looking around the town that created us.

I shake my head, "but I'm back and Luna."

She takes my hand in hers. She is cold and I can feel her hand slightly trembling in my own. She's just as nervous as I am.

"I want you, Colt, and Luna to take the house. It's all paid off," she says and looks towards the sky. She is probably reliving how she was able to afford to pay off a house only because of her husband's death.

"Why?" I ask and try to hide the hurt in my voice.

She wipes a tear, "River, I've been trying to figure out how to move on and become a person again. Everywhere I look your dad is there. I need to go somewhere where he wasn't. I need to move on and I can't do that here. You understand that."

I nod because I do. I would have never been able to find my way back to who I was before Dad's death if I didn't leave first. I would have still been a sad angry girl trying to escape the only life I've ever know. I understand what my mom needs so well but I don't want to see her go.

"You'll visit?" I say because there isn't anything else to say.

"Of course," she says handing me the key to the house. "Come by later and we'll get you three settled in."

I nod and head back to work and hope that the loud sounds of the diner with dull the ache in my heart.

When I reach the apartment I can hear Colt speaking to Luna. He is telling her stories that she doesn't understand of a girl and a boy who fell in love running from the cops on a dark field filled with bright stars.

I can't help but smile when I see my little family and how I would relive all the pain just for these simple moments.

"Did you have a good day, Vi?" Colt asks kissing my quickly on the lips and handing me our giggling daughter. I nod and hold Luna tightly to my chest.

We sit down on the couch and I can tell Colt knows I have something I want to say. I place Luna near her toys and go back to sit with Colt. I grab his hand and smile so he can relax.

"My mom is giving us her house," I say simply. Colt's eyes widen in surprise and then in understanding.

"She's leaving?" he asks.

I nod and allow a few tears to escape, "she has to. Just like I had to."

"Okay, so we're going to move in?" I can tell her wants to talk more about my mom but is allowing me time to process. It is the tiny things that make us work so well, the ability to read each other when sometimes it's hard to even read ourselves.

"Yeah. We can give Luna a life here. A good life. We can start over and pick up all of the pieces of us scattered all around this town. We can finally just be," I tell him.

He smiles and it lights up his whole face, just like it did that night on the field with the cops and the stars and the moon.

I understand now that it won't always be perfect. I understand that it's the imperfections that create beautiful stories.

And I'm done running from those imperfections.

The End.

***

Thank you all so much for reading this story!! And for sticking with me through terrible writer's block!

I will have an epilogue out hopefully this week!

Thanks again for all of your support <3

-Brooke