Sam--short for Samantha, if you please--has been living in Crawley, Maine for about a year in her grandfather's lighthouse. A promising advertiser, she works from home and the local coffee shop, where she gets her daily hot chocolate fix. For her, l...
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"We'll be pulling up to the gate in a few minutes. Please remain buckled until we have come to a complete stop, thank you." The intercom buzzed, and I pulled my headphones off my ears.
Grabbing my duffle, I squeeze my way through the aisle and off the airplane. Home again, I easily find my way to the baggage claim, where I spot a couple familiar faces.
"Tracie! Andy!" I wave, excited. They wave back, and bust over there to give my cousins a giant hug.
"How are you, stinker? It's been ages since you've been home!" Tracie cried, her curls crushed against my face.
I spat a few stray ones out.
"I'm doin' great! Gettin' paid to stay at home, ya know?" I mumble from the mane that was her hair.
"Tracie, she's straight up snogging your hair, let 'er go." She did as requested, and I turned to my savior.
"C'mere, Andy," I sang, arms open wide, and he grinned. He stepped into my hug, and then let go. Ruffling my hair, he said,
"It's good to see you, kiddo. We're all happy you're home."
"Yeah," I replied absently, thinking of somewhere else, somewhere with a mangy outdoor cat, and a pair of soulful brown eyes and smile lines,
"It's good to be home."
***
I yawned and stretched, Evelyn's trundle bed screeching obnoxiously. I smacked my lips, running my fingers through my bedhead, and looked over to Evelyn's bed.
Empty.
I sighed, preparing myself to see a crap ton of people and grabbed my toothbrush from its resting place on Evelyn's vanity.
I quietly opened the door, then booked it to the bathroom across the hall. After ridding myself of my dastardly morning breath, I left the travel toothbrush back in my little sister's room and shuffled down the stairs into the living room.
"Mornin', Sam!" Called Dad from the closest armchair.
"Good morning!" Came a couple other much too cheery cries. I blinked and scowled.
In no particular order.
"Morning, Dad. Morning everybody." I called back, as a couple relatives got up to give me a hug.
It was too early for this.
"How was the flight?"
"Decent, no crazy turbulence, but it was stiller longer'n Hades."
He chuckled,
"Your grandpa said the same thing when he first came to visit."
"How is Grandpa? Where is he?" I looked around, not seeing his balding pate anywhere.
