“Hello,” Dallas croaked. It was easier to say something
when Katrina Smyth smiled at her with a soft, genuine smile.
Her eyes might have been slightly sad, but her smile wasn’t.
“Dallas! It’s been a long time.”
“I- I know.” Dallas held onto Danica’s gift and Billy’s hat
until her fingers felt tingly and numb from her tight grip. “I’m
sorry about Mr. Smyth. He was an amazing man. I was- I was-
it was hard to hear about him being gone.”
Katrina’s lips wobbled, but she brushed the back of her
hand over her eyes and managed to keep her smile in place.
“You should come in. Most of Danica’s friends are here.
Quinn and Billy are already here too, and Danica of course.”
Dallas stepped through the door and into the house that
held so many memories. The day that she’d let her parents
drive her away, she never thought she’d see it again. From the
inside. Even if she imagined herself, in some abstract way,
driving past, she never thought she’d be inside again.
It was a little like stepping through a portal and coming out
the other side into her childhood. The house was virtually
untouched, though things like the décor on the walls and items
of furniture had changed. The walls were still the same beige.
The carpet was still plush and clean. Katrina worked as a
paralegal, but even though she worked outside the home, she
was an amazing homemaker too. She was a great mom and she
had both a green thumb and a clean thumb, or whatever it was
they said about people who could snap their fingers and
magically have their whole house sparkling clean. That’s what
it seemed like she did. Dallas imagined it took quite a bit more
work, but it always seemed like magic when she was growing
up.