Being with him had ironically held no awkwardness thus far and I wondered how we would go on the road together for the foreseeable future given our stark differences.
While pondering, my fingers followed the pattern of the S written backwards in the trunk of the tree, the naivety of a five-year-oldstill learning to write their name, carved alongside the initial of her closest friend.
Cee plus backwards ess.
Corbin, bright even as a child, had corrected me, but easily distracted, the carvings remained as they were for all these years. And it was a symbol, as adorable as childhood, for the two little friends who a few years later would be separated by The Pacific Ocean and 9000 miles. An insurmountable distance at that age. Retrieving my phone I snapped a photo, wanting to keep the memory fresh forever now it had resurfaced.
“I wondered if you would remember that.” I jumped, startled by his proximity as I turned, lost in my own bank of memories.
“I can’t believe it’s still there,” I replied with a quick grin over my shoulder. “We got up to a lot of things back here,” I remembered, not daring to look back at him in case he saw the blush creeping up my neck.
Clearing his throat and ignoring the inference in my words, he said, “Mum spends a lot of time back here, especially over the last twelve months.”
Since my mother’s passing, left unsaid but in the air all the same. Mum’s illness affected Aunty Ash deeply. Like Corbin and I, they’d been best friends since childhood and the distance had never been an issue for them. Mum spoke to her more than she spoke to the people who lived next door. They were each other’s constant and losing her was a grief Corbin’s mother and I now shared.
The loss of my mother but her soul-sister.
I’d had flashbacks to my younger years since arriving in my childhood street this morning. The house I’d lived in looked so very different now with wild gardens and untethered hedges blanketing the property, turning it into a jungle oasis compared to the giant plot of land it used to be. The Chambers and Hudson households lived in each other’s pockets so often it was easier to have nothing acting as a barrier to our afternoon play time and that included fences orlandscaping. The new street sign had followed me as we turned in, the bold font of Evermore Circuit, staring as though it remembered me too. Knew I would one day return as if the street itself was a visionary.
“She loved it out here,” Aunty Ash’s voice pulled me from my reverie as she patted down to join us. I looked around at the backyard which was much smaller than I remembered as a child but recognisable by the tyre swing which still hung from the same tree only now it also housed a set of chairs and some freshly potted plants. “Your mum, I mean. We would sit back here with a sneaky glass of wine while you kids played. Complaining about how tired we were,” she chuckled as her eyes filled with tears.
“She’d be so happy knowing you brought her home,” she added, and I reached out and squeezed her hand. “They both would.”
“As if I could ever keep you two apart for long,” I wiped a stray tear from my own cheek. “And we know my parents were always going to be together.”
“She followed him for love, and I never begrudged that. I would have done the same. Although, when he passed away, I begged her to come back. But Blake had started school by then and you’d settled into your new high school. She didn’t want you both to deal with any more than you already had.” She smiled kindly and I nodded. I never knew Aunty Ash begged her to come back. It made sense now I thought about it, we’d only been overseas for two years, but hearing Mum’s reasons wasn’t surprising. She always did put us first which was why I found putting my life on hold when she needed me, so easy.
“We’re heading to Serenity Ridge first up. Anything we should know?” I asked, ready to move away from the emerging sadness of discussing her passing.
We’d told her and Uncle Chris our plans over brunch, and they loved the idea.
“Don’t tell my son everything we got up to,” she whispered, and I laughed.
“He is on a need-to-know basis,” I replied with a wide grin towards Corbin who was shaking his head with mock disgust.
“I’m going to say bye to Dad. Meet you out front in five,” he called, retreating as Aunty Ash, and I slowly followed.
“Some of those entries are wild. I wish I had a friendship like yours,” I admitted.
She laughed but it held a sad tinge. “Talia was my greatest love. We were inseparable, even an ocean apart. Thank you for bringing her back to me,” she choked, and I paused, turning towards her with equal amounts of grief.
“Mum loved you as much as she loved Dad, I think. She would want you all together again.”
She nodded, wiping her eyes. “Your mum always got me to do the wildest things and now you have my son agreeing to take time off work and travel. You Hudsons are something else. Hecanget cranky when he is out of routine so be patient with him.” She smiled softly.
“I’m more worried about him with me,” I joked, eliciting a laugh.
“I think you are exactly what he needs, Shel,” she replied. “He just doesn’t realise it yet.”
“Look at the fresh powder. It’s the first decent fall of the season and guests have gone crazy,” my brother drawled, his excitement evident in his fast-paced camera panning.
“It’s so hot here, Blake. I was desperate for the heat but I’m not so sure anymore.”
“I’m slightly jealous of your tank top and shorts weather,” he smiled, flipping the camera back onto his face. “But keen to hit the slopes tomorrow.”
“I bet. But just be safe okay. No stupid hills. I don’t need to come home to broken bones.” I chastised, easily falling back into the self-appointed role of parental figure.
“Seriously, I’m twenty-two years old. I have a mortgage now for God’s sake,” he added with pride, referring to the unit he’d purchased with the money he received from Mum’s life insurance. Something else Corbin had sorted for me, without question, from the other side of the planet. “You don’t need to worry about me,” he continued, rolling his eyes and I smiled.
