I was humming and baking. And my son was smiling and laughing.
Guilt wrapped around my chest. I remembered feeling this way before. All those years ago whenever I’d been happy after my mom’s death. And my uncle’s. And when Matt broke my heart. I felt guilty for being happy all those times.
I exhaled slowly. I’d never be as happy as when Miller was here. But I’d never feel guilty for my son’s smiles or laughter. Never. And I never wanted him to feel that same pain I did. I never wanted him to feel guilty for living. I wanted him to keep smiling just like this forever.
He gave me hope that we could get through this. Together. It still felt like my heart was shattered. But I was wrong when I thought I’d never have a home again. Because Kennedy’s place had always felt like home to me.
I had planned on running after speaking to my dad. But now I was rethinking all of it.
Homecoming - Chapter 7
Sunday
Matt
“Can you clean this for me?” I asked and pulled Brooklyn’s ring out of my pocket. This was the third jewelry store I’d been to this afternoon. And each store clerk told me the same thing after looking at the ring with disgust…that I should just put the diamonds on a new band. They immediately gave me the ring back and started showing me their newest inventory. But that wasn’t what I wanted. I neededthisring back. It was like it held a piece of my heart. I just wanted someone to fix it.
The old man adjusted his glasses. “Oh my,” he said in a thick accent. He lifted it out of my hand and put it up close to his face. “What happened to this?”
“It’s a family heirloom. We found it in the backyard when we were doing construction. Buried in some dirt.” It was the same lie I’d told the other two jewelers. I didn’t want to go into my sordid past with a stranger. And digging it up from beside Brooklyn’s grave sounded bad. Really bad. If he knew the truth, he’d probably call the cops and have me arrested for grave robbery.
“Hmm.” He turned the ring around in his fingers and looked up to me. “Buried, you say?”
I nodded.
“How long in dirt?”
I shrugged like I didn’t know for sure. “Maybe like…16 years or so.”
He pointed to the band. “Oxidized.”
“Is that why it’s black?”
“Yes, yes. But I can fix that. I’ll need time.”
“Yeah, of course.” I breathed a sigh of relief.
“Such a beautiful piece,” he said. He pulled out a cushioned box and placed it inside like it was a prized item instead of trash like the other jewelers thought.
I should have come straight here. Those new jewelry stores didn’t appreciate stuff like this. But this place had been around for ages.
“I’ll need your paperwork.”
My paperwork?
He grabbed a clipboard with a sheet of paper for my information.
Oh.Yup, this was definitely an old-fashioned place. The last jewelry store I tried had made me look at diamonds on an iPad after I specifically said I wasn’t interested.
I quickly filled out the information and handed the clipboard back to him.
“Come Tuesday or Wednesday. I have fixed this.”
“Thank you so much.”
“You have good day now.”
No upsell. Or cross-sale. Or anything. He lifted up the cushioned box and turned to go into his backroom again.
