“Listen, let me get showered and we’ll meet. There is so much more that you don’t know and I want you to have the chance to look over everything before we try and make contact with her.”
“Fine, I’ll meet you at the Perk Spot on Peachtree in forty-five minutes.” He said before the phone disconnected.
I looked down at the phone and realized, that my life was about to change too. No more work trips around the country. No more anonymous one-night stands. No more being alone. Maddie was about to have her entire world upended, and I planned on being there to hold her through everything. She will be mine.
As I drank my coffee, Caroline chattered away from the drivers’ seat about something that I missed. I absently nodded my head as I looked out the window, watching the cars pass by, wondering where they are going.
Who is waiting at home for them when they return?
Do they have people that love them? Parents who lift them up to higher goals?
Is there support when they fail?
Jesus, I need to snap out of this funk. Its’ been years since I have thought about him and today, it seems like he is heavy on my mind.
Maybe it’s the fact that today I’m the same age as my mother when she had me.
The same age as she was when she was left to take care of me on her own. The same age as she was when she began the struggle that I’m convinced killed her.
I often wondered if she hadn’t had me, what would her life had become? Would she still be alive? Living happily with my father? Perhaps traveling the world having amazing adventures.
“Earth to Maddie. Did you hear what I just said?” Caroline asked, snapping me back from the endless questions rolling around in my head regarding my parents.
“I’m sorry Caroline. I must have zoned out. What were you saying?” I asked her, embarrassed that I hadn’t heard anything she said.
“I said its almost time for you to put on the blindfold. I don’t want to ruin your surprise before we get there.” She was practically humming with nervous energy. Now I started worrying. She only gets this way when we are about to do something really crazy or really stupid.
“Where are we going?” I ask in a rush as I look around trying to get my bearings on where we were located in Atlanta. Only, I didn’t really recognize anything around us. “Where are we?”
“Please, just put the blindfold on. I promise you’ll love where we are going and you don’t have to wear it long. Please?”
I can’t turn her down when she uses that small voice. The same voice I remember as a child, telling me everything was going to be okay after my mother died.
I tied the blindfold around my eyes, turning in her general direction. “I didn’t know you were so kinky Caroline” wagging my eyebrows up and down.
“Well, there are a few things about me you don’t know” she said and I can hear the smile in her voice.
“Really?!”
“No, silly. I’m as vanilla as they come. At least that’s what my last ex said.”
“Screw him. He was a jerk and he cheated on you with how many girls?”
“Too many to count. Forget about him. Today is about you, me, and adventure.”
Caroline turned the radio up and my favorite Breaking Benjamin songs started blasting through the speakers. I sang along at the top of my lungs, not caring who saw me blindfolded and performing karaoke in the passenger seat.
I felt the car make a left turn and then a short distance later, a right, and then the car comes to a stop.
“Can I take this off yet?” I asked the second the car rolled to a stop.
“Not yet. Give it just another minute. Someone will be here to help us very soon.” Caroline said, with her mega smile beaming brightly in her voice.
The next thing I knew, my door was being opened and someone took my hand to help me out. It’s difficult to move around when you can’t see where you are going, but I put my faith in the person holding my hand that they would keep me safe and unharmed.
I felt hands come around behind my head, just as I heard Caroline’s door close.
I blinked when the bright light hit my eyes and it took me a moment to recognize who was standing in front of me.
