A Tiny Home

Chapter 20

Authors Note at end of Chapter!

***

By the time we're in the car and on our way, we've missed the dinner reservation and the start of our movie. But neither of us cares. We laugh as we make our way into town through winding back roads until finally coming up to the McDonald's drive-thru.

"Six piece of chicken nuggets?" Will asks me with a smile.

I nod, "with a root beer!"

"Done."

He makes our order and as I sneak a few fries from the bag, drives through our childhood neighbourhood.

"Where are you taking me?" I ask around a mouth full of fries.

He chuckles as he pulls into our old school.

"Come on." He says turning off the truck and grabbing the bag of takeout.

I climb out after him.

"I want you to know I'm only following because you have my chicken nuggets."

He laughs, "yeah thats the only reason we stopped for chicken nuggets."

"Ah, we have ourselves a wise man here ladies!" I joke.

He grabs my hand, "You have no idea, I've always been wise."

"Oh I know."

"I bet you don't." He sings.

"Prove it then." I play along.

He hops, takes off in a sprint across the old soccer field to the edge of the forest. He stops beneath the smallest of the maple trees and sits cross-legged on the grass. I join him as he hands me my dinner.

For a while we chat and eat, laughing about old teachers and old classmates. The schoolyard is hauntingly familiar and I can't help but smile as I take in all the places I used to run wild.

"I climbed that tree." I say pointing over his shoulder.

"I remember that, you came crying to me cause you were made to climb back down."

"Yep. You and Hank took me for a walk after school so I could climb back up and grab my acorn."

"I remember." He says, color paints his cheeks.

"What is it?" I ask gently.

"It's why I wanted to bring you here. Remember what we did with that acorn?"

I think back and draw a blank.

"No, I just remember Hank getting mad at us for taking so long to find him up that tree, that's when he fell and broke his arm right?" I ask thinking of cast that he complained about all summer.

Will smiles, "Yep. We never talked about why we were late but..." he looks behind us at the small sapling we're seated under.

"No way." I say remembering. "Did we?"

"We planted your acorn." He pats the bark. "I was driving by the other day and saw it, I came back to see but I'm sure this is it. We planted this tree."

I think back to digging a hole and gently placing the acorn in the hole. I remember the way Will explained how tress grow, the way they need sun and rain.

"You said the tree would grow into something strong just like me." I smile, tears clouding my eyes.

"Yeah, and I was very right." He smiles. "You were right too."