When We Collide by A. L. Jackson Read Free Book Online Page B

close, muttering into her neck. “Missed
you, Mom.”
    She squeezed me tighter. “You can’t imagine how much
I’ve missed you.” She leaned back so she could see my face and then
suddenly grinned and squeezed my chin. “Look at my baby boy…all
grown up.”
    I laughed and rolled my eyes. “Mom, it’s only been
five months since you saw me last. I doubt I’ve really changed all
that much.”
    Waving me off, she laughed quietly as she stood
aside so Aunt Lara could step in to take her turn. She giggled when
she wrapped me up in a suffocating hug.
    “Don’t mind your mother, Will. Glenda is sure
getting emotional in her old age.” She shot my mom a playful glare.
“And she could hardly stand it that she missed your twenty-first
birthday.”
    “Oh hush, Lara.” Mom laughed, pointing an accusatory
finger in her sister’s direction. “Don’t pretend like you didn’t
sit over here with me on his birthday crying that our little Will
was all grown up.”
    Embarrassed by the spectacle they were making over
me, I dropped my gaze to the ground and shook my head, chuckling
under my breath. They always made a big fuss every time I came back
for a visit. I used to hate it, but now, not so much.
    Still laughing, Aunt Laura shifted to my side to
wrap her arm around my waist. She smiled up in my direction. She
always played the tough one, but I knew she was as soft as they
came.
    A gruff voice cut into their banter. “All right you
two…leave the poor boy alone before you go and run him off
again.”
    “Hey, Dad,” I said as I wiggled out of Aunt Lara’s
hold and crossed the room. He stood as I approached.
    He extended his hand, a wry smile lifting only one
side of his face. We shook hands and he patted me twice on the
shoulder. “Glad you’re home, son.”
    I nodded and took the seat beside him.
“Thanks...glad to be here.”
    Conversation filled the room as the five of us
shared breakfast. A million questions were thrown my way about the
last semester, complete with the expected good-natured badgering
I’d come to expect.
    Yes, I’d passed all of my finals, and my grades were
good. No, I hadn’t met anyone worth telling them about. Nope, I
still had no clue what I was going to do with my Bachelors in
Accounting when I graduated next year.
    Blake filled me in on everything that had happened
while I was away, told me work was great, and he’d been saving to
buy his own place. Said he had a new girl. When he told me who, I
teased him that I’d known her my whole life, and maybe I should
have had the first shot with her. Blake didn’t hesitate to smack me
on the back of the head, ushering in a round of our usual jest.
    We laughed and joked, and, once again, I found
myself thinking how great it was to be home.
     
    ~
     
    “Come on, man, hurry up,” Blake yelled up from the
bottom of the stairs, impatience seeded in each word. “I told Grace
we’d be there to pick her up five minutes ago.”
    “I’ll be down in a second,” I shouted over my
shoulder in the direction of the door as I pulled a clean tee over
my head. I was still dripping from my shower. Why I’d let Blake
goad me into this, I had no idea. All I wanted was a couple of days
to unwind from the trip, to sit and vege, but Blake was already
carting me off to a party the first night I was home. Blake had
guilted me into going by telling me to consider it a welcome home
party because all of my old friends would be there. He’d then
pushed me toward the stairs, warning me we were leaving in fifteen
minutes, shower or not.
    “Don’t make me come up there and drag your ass down
here.”
    I didn’t even respond. I just shoved my feet into a
pair of Converse and ran a hand through my wet hair, wishing I was
crawling into bed instead.
    It’d been established years ago I would do just
about anything for my brother.
    At the door, we called out a goodbye, and Mom popped
her head out of the kitchen archway. “You two have fun…and be
safe.”
    I