Chapter 1
Alexa – Earlier that year
While I sat waitingfor the plane to board, I sipped on my coffee and fiddled with my phone. The airport was busy, as always, and I was on my way to my next photo shoot location. I had spent the last three years freelancing as a photographer and had traveled halfway around the world, visiting places like Paris, Italy, France, and Australia. It had been a wonderful experience, and at the young age of twenty-six, I had seen more of the world than people double my age. The traveling was amazing and part of the reason why I had gone into this line of work, but lately it wasn’t enough; I felt something important was missing.
Those feelings began two days ago, while I was photographing this girl, Jasmine, on the day of her wedding with her mother. As I looked at them, laughing, through the lens of my camera, I began to miss home something terrible. Not only did I miss my parents, but I missed my bed, the sounds of the house, the homemade meals, everything. I had to put those feeling out of my mind in order to go on with rest of my day, being as happy and professional as I could, even though I was fighting back tears.
When I’d returned to my apartment that night, I was exhausted. I’d dropped my equipment to the floor and headed into the kitchen to make tea. However, it wasn't long before I found myself curled up on the kitchen floor crying my eyes out over everything that had happened over the last year. I’d hit a rough patch, and something had to change.
Eight months earlier, I had started dating my boss, something I had sworn I would never do, but he had been charming and relentless, so I had given in. Things had been going well, almost too well, and then what I feared the most happened. I had returned to the office after a rather rough day four weeks ago, and I’d found a letter addressed to me sitting on my desk. It was late, I was tired, so I shoved the envelope in my bag planning to read it at home. That had been a good plan on my part because inside the envelope, I’d found a letter explaining that things weren’t working out between us and he thought it would better if we parted ways. We were over and I'd been fired.
For whatever reason, I hadn’t been able to get the letter out of my mind. I’d wiped the tears from my cheek and blew my nose. I’d desperately needed to talk to my mother, so I’d pulled my phone from my pocket and dialed home. I’d needed to hear her voice and crossed my fingers that she was home, and she answered. I’d felt so defeated and wondered if maybe it was time I went home for a longer visit than my regular thirty-six-hour period.
Mom's voice finally broke through the other end of the phone. "Hey, sweetie, you’re calling late." Then her voice quivered a little. "Everything okay?"
Shit, I had forgotten to do the time conversion before I called. It had to be eleven at night back at home.
"Everything is fine, Mom. Just really missing home," I answered quickly, sniffling and picking at my broken fingernail. I didn't blame her for worrying. I was her baby, off on the other side of the world, most of the time in the middle of nowhere, generally photographing animals and local people for magazine articles. Of course, she would worry when I made a call this late at night.
"Lexi you don't sound okay."
"Just a tough day, I guess. What’s new?" I wanted to change the subject. I didn't want to focus on the troubles I’d had today. Hell, I still hadn’t told her that I had broken up with Gary and that I’d been fired. I’d been holding out because I didn’t want her to worry about me. She still didn’t even know that I was working for someone else.
"Well, really, we are just getting ready for the wedding tomorrow."
"What wedding?" I asked, sniffling.
"Drew and Laura's. Your brother just got in tonight and they've gone out celebrating. I wish you could be here for this. I know Drew would have loved to have you there."
"Wow, really, already?" I glanced up to the calendar that hung on the wall and, sure enough, the large red heart I had drawn around the date stood out to me. I had received an invitation in the mail, but my bank account had ultimately decided for me that I couldn’t go. I figured they would understand why I couldn't make it, and knowing Drew, he had probably sent me the invitation out of courtesy. He’d probably expected me not to be there. "I couldn't afford it, Mom."
"You should have said something. We would have paid for you to come home. We miss you, Lex."
"I know, Mom. I miss you guys too." I sniffled again. I got up off the floor and took a sip of my tea and pulled something to eat out of the fridge while listening to Mom talk about one of the neighbors. I took my plate of cheese and crackers over to the small table and sat down, picking up a pencil to write something down quickly.
"Oh, and your brother is coming home for Christmas this year," she said, changing the subject once again. "Would be nice if you could join us."
I fiddled with the pencil, holding back tears. I would give anything to sleep in my own bed, breathing in the familiar scent of Downy scented sheets. Right about now, I wanted nothing more than to taste one of her home-cooked meals and fresh-baked goodies too. I could barely cook, and I certainly couldn't bake. I stared down at my half-eaten cheese and crackers and pushed the food around on my plate while thinking about how close to heaven her food would be right about now.
"I know, Mom. Maybe next year."
We talked for another twenty minutes before I had to get off the phone with her. If I hadn’t, I was sure the tears would start to fall as we talked about old times. I choked down my meal in silence, just like I had done most nights since I had been gone. When I put my dirty plate back in the kitchen, I turned and looked up at the calendar, that bright-red heart screaming at me. I let out a deep breath. She was so lucky to have him, I thought to myself and picked up the invitation that sat on the pile of mail on the table. These had to have been expensive, I thought to myself as I ran my fingers over the gold-leaf paper. Laura was so lucky. I threw the invitation down, took a couple of cookies from the bag on the counter, and my tea, and headed into the other room to watch some TV.
Fifty minutes later, the thought of home still hadn't left my mind, and I had begun checking out every airline for a flight home, finally booking one for December. I put it on my credit card, since my bank account certainly couldn't handle the cost of a flight right now, and decided that I would worry about it later.
As I sat waiting for the boarding call for my flight, I counted the weeks until I would be home—only twenty-six more weeks. I was so excited. This Christmas I would be sitting around the tree with my family for two weeks, instead of wallowing alone in misery.
Chapter 2
Drew - June
"Today is the big day,man. You sure you're ready?" Zach looked over at me while tying his right shoe.
I was silent as I slid into my dress pants, pulling them over top of the black boxers with little red hearts that Laura had insisted we all wear for photos. I looked at myself in the mirror. Something about today was just surreal to me. It almost didn't feel real to be standing here getting ready for my wedding.
"Earth to Drew!"
I blinked hard and turned to look at Zach. I cleared my throat. "Yeah, I guess. As ready as I'll ever be." I let out a sigh, looking at myself in the mirror again. I wondered how long it would be before I put on an extra forty-five pounds, said good-bye to my eight-pack that Laura loved so much, and replaced it with a beer gut.