Keepsake of My Love

47 Coming home

Lydia

When Violet was about a year old, Jake and I moved to Port Willington, a couple hours' drive from Gainsville. It was the city we lived in during our college years. We visited our parents and during that time, Jake was in contact with the editor of a news publication in the big city, not far from Willington State University.

When Jake was offered the opportunity to join the editorial team at Willington Chronicle, he took it.

He was tired of the demands of travelling, the high pressure, and the long hours of a fast-paced job in the world of TV news. He wanted to spend more time with us and take a different approach to his career.

The new job was for a respectable publication that featured high quality articles. Jake could now focus more on photojournalism, which he was passionate about. He loved interviewing people, and he bonded well with them. In other words, he would still continue doing what he loved. He was a people person who could now capturing moments in photography.

Some work travel was required but, in general, he would be home more often and the working hours, while they would still be long, were not so crazy.

Although it was sad to say goodbye to London and my friends Celine and Rosa, I was excited to be back in my home country. At first, during the settlement period, we stayed at Jake's parents' place in Gainsville, which was practically a second home for me. He had a couple of weeks off before starting his new job.

We bought a gray Audi Q3, a family SUV that Jake liked driving, and a Nissan Leaf for me, which was the perfect city car that depended on electricity rather than gasoline. We sold the white Mercedes before I moved to London to be with Jake.

"Try not to scratch this car," Jake said, when he handed me the spare key to the Audi.

Angie and my mom loved spending time with Violet, who was walking now. She took her first steps a few weeks before her first birthday. Angie visited us while we were in London when Violet was only a few weeks old. She was fantastic, and took care of Violet while I caught up on lost sleep.

Mom and Dad were thrilled to meet Violet when we came home. Dad's blue eyes welled with tears when he held his granddaughter. I had never seen him so emotional. Mom dabbed her tears of joy with a Kleenex tissue.

We eventually bought a house near where Jake worked in Port Willington. Jake's parents had helped us with the down payment, and we moved in, with Batman in tow, right before he started his new job.

Carrie and Dean were ecstatic about us being closer to them. Yes, they were living together now. They bought a townhouse that was about a twenty-minute drive from our place. She absolutely fell in love with Violet.

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Zach, Greg, Jake and I were over at Carrie and Dean's place one weekend. Greg brought his live-in partner, Christopher, with him. Jake was happy to see the guys again.

"She looks like you with Jake's eyes! She's so adorable," Carrie gushed as she played with Violet.

"She looks cute, but having children is hard work. Violet has so much energy." I sighed.

Carrie giggled, then touched my arm. "You and Jake have come a long way," she said.

"Jake really hung in there for me," I replied.

"He was no angel, though. Still, we had a lot of fun. Remember when we celebrated my birthday after Christmas in our freshman year of college?" Carrie asked.

"Oh no, please don't remind me! That whole night was so embarrassing!" I groaned. "Your party was the weekend after I saw Jake and a girl making out at a club!"

"Yeah, I remember you wanted to catch his attention, so you went totally glam with your look!" Carrie chuckled.

"I wanted to be glamorous, bold and sexy. Just like the girls that Jake was into at the time," I said.

When I looked back at my college years, I remembered the struggles of being a poor student. I couldn't afford expensive beauty products, so I had to rely on cheap. To create the look I wanted for Carrie's college party, I bought false eyelashes, breast boosters-Carrie called them chicken fillets, hair extensions, and fake stick-on nails at a bargain shop.

The shop was recommended by a YouTuber, who made a video about going cheap to look a million bucks. You'd think that I learned my lesson to not follow YouTube advice, after Jake cut my hair in high school. I was a sucker.

I recalled that Carrie's birthday party was crowded with college students. I also remembered that, at the time, Jake was on the other side of the room, flirting with two girls. Like a kitten with a lion's courage, I felt the impulse to walk over to Jake. After a bit of vodka and Red Bull, I felt that I had wings. I was flying!

I had not even reached halfway through the messy pit of sweaty bodies to get to Jake, when the birthday girl dragged me to the bathroom and locked the door. I looked at the mirror and saw a disastrous creation.

My eyelashes had fallen off, pieces my extensions were missing, some of my fake nails were gone, and my breasts were a mad artist's creation. One of my 'chicken fillets' tried to make a great escape, and it looked as if I had a third boob in the middle. It was a night that neither Carrie nor I would forget-I stopped relying on YouTube for advice after that.

Long story short, Carrie saved me from making a fool of myself to the world that night.

"Oh my goodness, the look on your face was priceless when you saw yourself in the mirror that night." Carrie snickered, as we reminisced, while tears of amusement rolled down my laughing face.

"At the start of the night, you looked as if you were going to the Oscars, but it all melted off you." Carrie threw me a cheeky smile, as I watched Jake and Dean play a peekaboo game with Violet.

"I should have listened to you and raided your accessory collection! At the end of the night, I looked like a poor man's Cleopatra!" I shuddered.

We both cackled and cringed over my follies and foibles. While Jake was my soul mate, Carrie was my spiritual sister.