It was the first time I ever got caught stealing. It was the largest item I’d ever set my sights on. Without bringing Nora with me and making her complicit (which was out of the question), I didn’t know a good way to sneak the shoes out of the store. I went over it a few different ways in my head, but I couldn’t come up with anything plausible. In the end, I just grabbed the box and ran.
Not very slick.
I triggered the alarm, but I wasn’t leaving without those shoes. The past-his-prime mall cop gave chase, but when he caught up to me, I clocked him. He was a lot older and a lot bigger than me, but I had something driving me that he didn’t: desperation.
Nora didn’t know how I got ’em. She was just a little girl thrilled to death to have new shoes that actually fit and didn’t hurt her toes.
Autumn’s soft voice tugs me from my memories. “That sounds like a lot for a kid to handle.”
I shrug. “We got by. No thanks to her, though.”
She startles the hell out of me, reaching over and placing a supportive hand on my thigh. She gives it a squeeze almost absently as she looks out the window, then brings her gaze back to me. “Have you ever brought anyone home to meet your family before?”
“No. I don’t do this kind of thing. I’ve gone home for Christmas before, but only when I was a lot younger. I think it’s been…. Shit, I don’t know, maybe eight years since I last did this?”
“Oh, wow,” she murmurs, her eyebrows rising. “That is a long time.”
“Yeah. I’ve never even visited since she moved to Stillwater. This’ll be the first time. Probably the last, too.”
“Until we move here,” she reminds me, her tone gently teasing.
I look over at her and crack a smile. “Right. Until then.”
She offers me a little smile I know is meant to cheer me up, but I’m not sad. I’m used to my life; it’s only new to her.
“I don’t think we should wait until you retire,” she tells me. “Can’t you put in for a transfer or something? You didn’t get to grow up somewhere like this and I didn’t either, but I want to raise our babies here.”
My eyebrows shoot up. “We’re having babies now?”
I wouldn’t mind practicing making babies with her, but I’m not planning on actually procreating anytime soon.
Autumn nods, watching out the window. “One or two. They’ll be so cute.”
She says it so naturally, you’d think she’s serious about having babies with me.
“And here I thought I was the crazy one between us,” I say lightly, shaking my head and looking ahead at the road.
“Surprise,” she says cheerfully.
Once I finish taking her through town, I have to turn around without her realizing it.
The address my sister sent me for Mom’s house is back closer to the interstate, but after Autumn told me how much she loved small towns back at the Norwegian bakery, I wanted to bring her through downtown Stillwater first thing.
If I’m being honest, I guess I also wanted to put off getting to my mom’s house a while longer. I’m anxious to see my sister and hoping like hell her new boyfriend isn’t an asshole, but I am not looking forward to seeing my mom.
Autumn must not be paying too much attention to the road signs because she doesn’t seem to notice we’re heading back the same way we came. She’s too distracted by the town.
I’m rarely distracted by anything, so while we’re driving I pay attention to our surroundings, making a mental map of the roads for when I bring her down here to explore. We drive past a little inn right on the river—looks like it would have a nice view.
Maybe we’ll stay there tonight. Nora said they’re staying at my mom’s, and while I would like to spend as much time with Nora as I can since we’ll actually be in the same place for a few days, I’m guessing there won’t be room for us, too. Especially if Uncle Arlo comes this year. He’s on a fixed retirement budget; he’ll definitely need to stay with my mom.
Autumn will enjoy staying in town, though, and having a safe haven away from my family in case they drive me too crazy sounds good to me.
Since I don’t know the area well, I plug my mom’s address into the directions app on my phone now that I’m actually heading there.
When we get on the road that seems to be hers, it’s away from the cute Main Street. There are houses dropped between dense spots of forest, snow-covered trees on both sides of the road. It’s not outside of my expectations. I see a little beige ranch with a few cars parked out front and expect a house like that.