Find Our Way Back - T.H

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I lost my job.
I lost my apartment.
I lost it all.
All that was left was me, my six year old daughter, and our family back in London.
You know how some people move away from their hometown to 'get away from their past'
Yeah.. well that's what I did. I left London, and moved to New York. Six years later I'm moving back.
It's bitter sweet, but the worries far outweigh the highlights.
"I know you feel like you've failed her but i think she's going to love it here." my mom says as she helps me unpack the boxes into the guest house.
"I haven't told anyone I've moved back yet." I say and her eyes go wide.
"Why not?! Your friends will love to see you!" She exclaims.
"Because, I'll have to explain her." I say, looking over at my daughter, Audrey. As she sat on the ground coloring.
"How long do you think you can keep this up?" She asks.
"Mum.." I sigh.
"I know I said I'd stop interfering with this situation but it's a logical question."
"We'll stay on the down low, everything will be fine." I say. "Besides, I have nothing to worry about. The only person I'd need to keep her from is all the way in Los Angeles right now."
"Yeah that's true.." she agrees.
"I'm going to go take these boxes out to the recycling." I say, grabbing the boxes and walking out the door.
I make my way down the drive way and stuff the boxes into the bin. There's a loud dog bark behind me and soon after I hear a shriek.
"Oh my god! Allison?!" I hear.
I turn around and come face to face with Nikki Holland. The woman I've lived next door to since I was seven years old.
"Nikki!" I smile widely as she hugs me.
"What are you doing here? I haven't seen you in years!" She says.
"I've actually moved back." I say and her eyes light up.
"Well that's great! You've grown up so much. I remember when you were just a little girl.. crazy how time passes."
"Well is this Tessa?" I ask, looking down at the dog and she nods.
"I think she's done a bit more growing up than I have." I laugh at the drastic size difference from when I last saw her.
"So how are you?" She asks.
"I'm actually alright, I mean, some thing fell through in New York but I'm glad to be back with family." I say.
"That's great! I'm happy to see you back here. i hate that I have to go but I expect a coffee date out of you." she laughs.
"Definitely." I nod. "It was great to see you."
"You too sweetheart. I missed your bright smiling face." she beams.
She hugs me once more before walking to her house.
I missed Nikki. She was always so sweet and caring. She was like a second mom to me.
I go back into the house, and get back to unpacking.
"Audrey can you please go unpack the boxes in your room, put all your toys in your toy box?" I ask.
"Yeah." she nods, getting up and going to her bedroom.
I grab her drawing that she made, putting it on the fridge.
"That's uh, interesting." my mum laughs, seeing the picture of a monster eating ice cream on the fridge.
"Displaying your kids art is suppose to spark more desire to be creative so." I shrug.
"You've done a good job with her, especially with the circumstances." she says.
"Thank you." I smile.
"Worlds coolest aunt is here!" My older sister yells, walking through the door.
"Aunt Lia!" Audrey screams, running to the front of the house and hugging her.
Audrey and Liana are very close, even though they only see each other twice a year.
"I've got presents!" she says, pulling out a bag from behind her back.
"Yay! Can I open it?!" Audrey asks.
"Go for it!" Lia says.
Audrey rips open the paper and her mouth drops.
"A tablet?!" She yells.
I walk over, seeing the children's tablet in her hand.
"Umm we weren't going to do electronics until she was 10.." I say.
"Oh I'm so sorry!" Lia says.
"No.. it's fine." I sigh.
It is definitely not fine, but it's too late now.
"Can I go play with it mom?!" She asks.
"yeah go ahead." I nod.
She goes back to her room and I look over to Lia.
"You just threw off my entire plan" I say.
"A tablet isn't going to ruin her" she says.
"You better hope not." I say.
"Well good to see you too, it's been six months." she says and I laugh.
"I told Abigail that I was in town and she wants to meet up for coffee, anyone down to babysit?" I ask.
"Are you kidding? I've been wanting to babysit her for years!" Lia says.
"Anyone else want to babysit?" I ask.
"Sorry sweetie, I've got stuff to do." my mom says.
Lia smiles at me widely and I groan.
"No tablet for more than 30 minuets, she's allergic to pine nuts, not that you'd be eating that anyways-"
"Bye!" Lia says, interrupting me.
"Be careful." I say.
"Oh my god you'll be gone for a couple hours, just go!" She says.
"Okay, Audrey mommas leaving for a few hours, aunt Lia is going to watch you!" I call.
"Okay! Bye!" She yells.
I grab my stuff and walk out the door to my car. It feels weird, leaving Audrey with my family and going to see a friend. Back in New York it was just us. I didn't get to do much without her.
As I drive to the coffee shop, I take in the neighborhood, all the memories up and down these streets. The same people still walking their dogs, the same kids I use to babysit, but bigger. It's weird.
I get out of the car and walk into the familiar shop, instantly seeing my best friend since I was three.
"Abbi!" I squeal.
"Oh my god Allie!" She says, getting up and hugging me.
"It's been far too long." I say.
"I can't believe I haven't seen you in six years." she sighs.
We sit down at the round wooden table, and get caught up.
"So first things first... why the hell did you leave for six years and suddenly decide to come back?" She asks.
"It's a long story." I laugh.
"You just left, no one got a real explanation.. your mom wouldn't tell us anything. Not even Tom." She says. The familiar name making my heart hurt.
"All we knew was that on Monday you broke up with Tom and by Friday you moved out to New York with your sister.. then she moved back a year later without you." she frowns.
"I know I kind of disappeared.. there was a lot going on." I say.
"We were best friends." she says. "You and Tom were planning on moving to Los Angeles together.. what could be so big to ruin that?"
As I look into my best friends pleading eyes, I felt guilt. All she wanted was an explanation of why I just up and left. It wasn't fair to her. We've been joined at the hip since we were babies, we've never kept secrets from each other.
"You can't tell anyone okay?" I say.
"Okay." she nods.
"Like I'm serious, you really can't." I say.
"Oh my god did you join the mafia?!" She whisper yells at me.
"What? No!" I laugh. "You might hate me when I tell you this though."
"Allie, you left me without a word and I still didn't hate you, I don't think anything you do could make me hate you." she says.
"Okay.." I sigh. "I um, I have a daughter."
"What? A baby! That's so exciting! But that doesn't explain why you left-"
"She's 6 years old. She's Toms." I say simply getting straight to the point. her eyes go wide and her mouth drops.
"What?" She says in disbelief.
I pull out my phone, showing her a picture.
"Oh my god..." she says. "Why?.."
"I couldn't ruin his career Abbi.. he had just gotten the role for Spiderman.. he had too many good things. I couldn't do that to him."
We sat, talking out the situation for over an hour. It took a while, but she finally was able to see and understand why I did what I did. I know that it looks bad, and I know no one can understand, but I did was needed to be done.
"Well, I say we forget about all of this tonight. My best friend is back and We're going to celebrate." she says.
"How so?" I ask.
"Let's go get drinks tonight, my treat." she says.
"That sounds great, I haven't had a night out in a while."
"Glam yourself up, we're going to have fun tonight."

A/N: opinions? Do you guys like this and want me to continue writing it? Let me know :)