A Tiny Home

Chapter 9

Amy is here. My mom repeats the words again and again as she dances towards the door. I stand resentfully from my seat in the backyard and walk into the house to meet my brother's future fiance.

I watch as my mom wraps her in a loving embrace and see her smile. Her teeth are perfectly straight and white. Her brown curls stick out in all directions vaguely reminding me of a poodle with the eagerness of a golden retriever. When her brown eyes lock on me, I suppress the urge to run.

"Hannah!" She exclaims as she wraps her arms around me in a bone-crushing hug similar to those of my mothers.

I once again mentally note to call my chiropractor.

"You must be Amy," I say with the air left in my lungs.

"That I am! I'm so happy to meet you! Oh my goodness, you look like a pretty version of your brother!" She turns to my mother as she points at my face, "It's incredible the pictures didn't do you justice, your eyes are the exact same!"

"Yeah, we get that a lot," Hank says casually placing an arm around her shoulders.

"Do we?" I ask deadpan.

Hank shoots me a look but Amy misses it entirely.

"I'm so excited to get to know you better, I feel like I already know you Hank talks about you so often but wow! Meeting you in the flesh! You're probably as funny as he says you are too!" She laughs like wind chimes and continues without a breath, "Anyways we should grab lunch just us too. Maybe tomorrow? Or another day?"

"I'm building tomorrow but for sure, sometime we should," I answer trying to be polite.

Internally I'm pretty sure lunch with Amy would take hours as she'd give me a soliloquy between every bite. But I smile warmly as my mom pours her a glass of wine and we all settle around the dinner table.

After a drink, the doorbell rings again.

"That must be the pizza," I say as I stand, eager to escape the table.

I walk down the familiar hallway to the door.

I see the tall figure through the glass and pause.

I'd recognize him anywhere. So I take a minute and look at my reflection in the entryway mirror. I brush my bangs to the side and fix my ponytail, check my teeth and exhale.

"What are you doing here?" I ask as I open the door.

"I am bringing pizza?" He answers holding up the boxes.

"I'll take those," I say and he hands them over.

Then I kick the door closed and turn away.

Will laughs as he opens the door. "Very funny, but you didn't lock it."

"I'll remember next time." I smile sweetly at him and then ask, "Are you here to see Amy."

"Yeah, Hank asked me to come by. Then you're mom called to tell me I was to show up or else."

"Sweet of her." I joke. We both know when my mom sets a command it's anything but sweet. 

More like terrifying.

"There's our boy!" My mom yells as Will comes into view of the back door.

He slides through the door as I grab plates and stack them onto pizza boxes.

For a second I stand there and stare. He is enveloped by them, completely welcome, completely at home. I can't help but compare the reaction to my homecoming and quickly shove it from my brain.