Cami watched her mother continuously look thorough the cabinets and fridge while she stood behind the kitchen counter. Her guess was that she was looking for something to cook for dinner. She was hungry all the time so she didn’t care what her mother cooked—just as long as she cooked something.
She still hadn’t told her mother that she was pregnant, and the truth was that she didn’t want to—at least not now. What teenage girl would be eager to tell her mother that she was pregnant? It was probably one of the scariest things that any parent feared hearing besides someone telling them that their child had been in some sort of accident and died. The day would come when her mother would have to hear her daughter say the words “I’m pregnant” but today was not going to be that day.
Diane spotted her lingering in the kitchen. She wanted to go to the store and do the grocery shopping but her feet were killing her. Since Cami had her driver’s license and loved to drive so much, she’d send her instead. “Cami,” her mother began, as she reached into her back pocket, “go to the store and get everything on this list,” she said, as she handed her daughter the grocery list.
As Kaci made her way into the kitchen, she saw her mother hand Cami something. She knew that she had to be sending her on a grocery shopping excursion, and she loved to accompany Cami on grocery trips so someone else could pay for the loads of junk food she’d throw into the shopping cart. “Mind if I tag along?” she said to her.
“No, I don’t mind,” Cami answered. Although she could be annoying at times, Cami enjoyed her little sister’s company.
Once the girls had arrived at the grocery store, Kaci grabbed a shopping cart and asked Cami for the grocery list. She read the list and then she said to her, “I’ll get everything but the dessert. Do you remember what that was?”
Cami closed her eyes for a moment while trying to remember what dessert her mother had written on the grocery list. She had read the list earlier, but she just couldn’t seem to remember what dessert she was supposed to purchase.
Her absentmindedness was quite obvious to Kaci. She couldn’t quite put her finger on it, but she was starting to suspect that Cami was hiding something. She pushed that thought to the back of her mind and tried to focus on the task that was at hand. Besides, if they stayed out too long, their mother would call and they would never hear the end of it. After all, it was dark out so she’d be expecting them to get home soon.
“She wants brownie mix and chocolate icing,” Kaci said. She gave the list another quick glance before saying, “I’ll call you on your cell when I’m done.”
Cami soon found herself walking alone around the grocery store. This was typical whenever she and Kaci shopped alone for groceries. Her younger sister would always take charge and she would be the one following her orders.
Although she was older, it seemed as if Kaci was the one who was the older sister. She had always been more mature and was always taking the lead. Many older siblings would hate taking orders from their younger siblings but she didn’t mind. This had always suited her just fine because she didn’t like being the one to take charge. She would rather be the follower than the leader.
Passing the magazine isle made her realize how much she wanted to read a gossip magazine, but she knew that if she didn’t get the dessert, she would forget it. It didn’t take her long to gather the brownie mix and chocolate icing. Afterwards, she found herself wandering into the magazine isle and flipping through a gossip magazine. Maybe reading about someone else’s problems will make me feel better about my own, she thought to herself. To make a long story short, it didn’t work. About ten minutes later, her phone rang. She figured that it would probably just be Kaci letting her know that she had gathered everything on their mother’s grocery list. She felt around in her purse until she found her phone but by this time it had already stopped ringing.
She was gathering the items that she would purchase in her hands; and as she turned around, she found herself nearly collapsing on the floor. River was standing directly behind her. For a moment, neither said a word to each other. She could feel her heart begin to pound in her chest and an uneasy feeling coming over her.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
Cami didn’t answer his question. Instead, she was taking in his appearance. He hadn’t changed a bit. It felt like it had been forever since she had seen his baby blue eyes. Because of his tall frame, he towered over her. His muscles were beaming out of his t-shirt so she knew that he had been making his regular visits to the gym. His curly brown hair neatly framed his face, and she was tempted to tuck a strand behind his ear.
He took a step forward before asking, “Are you okay?” for the second time.
Cami nodded with a fake, small smile.
“How have you been?”