The Kiss (Addison #1) (2 page)

Chapter Three

“Mom? Hello? You’re cutting out, I can’t hear you. If you can hear me, I’m—”

The call was lost. She must have been driving through the country, there’s never a signal out there. At least she knows I landed since she answered the phone.

The airport is about forty-five miles away from Norton. God, I don’t want to be back here. I mean, I do, but I don’t. I decided to check Facebook and update my status. At least this way the news of me being home gets leaked from me, instead of going around town as some crazy ass rumor like, ‘Addison is back home. I heard she has a flying pink hedgehog that gave her rabies, so she has to move into the barn at her mom’s house.’

Addison Allmon
To my Iowa friends! I’m baaaaack. I lost my awesome job and I lost my fiancé to the pool boy. Oh and a word of advice, don’t drink and drive. Life=Over! I’m definitely going to need a lot of drinks tonight, but will someone be my DD? ;)

I click to post my update and blow out the breath that I didn’t realize I was holding in. I feel so empty, ashamed, and more insecure than I’ve felt in years. It’s almost the same way I felt when I was fat, ugly Addi. I’ve gotten so used to a perfect life. A life of luxury. This is hell for me. People have looked up to me and envied me for the last six years. I was the only one that got away and now I’m back. What can they possibly look up to or envy now? I had everything and now I have nothing.

***

“Finally!” My mom is here! She pulls up to the pick-up drop-off area in my granddaddy’s old truck, a 1986 Chevrolet C10. He was so proud of that damn thing; he treated it like his baby.

I run over to the truck, and just before I get to the passenger side door, I slip on the ice and bust my ass. I quickly get up and brush the snow off of me, then slide into the passenger seat and let out a big sigh of relief. I could feel my cheeks burning from embarrassment. My mom is laughing so hard it’s silent.

“I guess I forgot you’re not supposed to run on cement when there’s ice on the ground.” I chuckle and my mom continues laughing her silent laugh, then finally the loud snort comes out along with tears of laughter.

“Welcome home, sweetie. I bet you missed it here!” She laughs some more. Yeah, this is extremely fucking funny.

“Can we just drive away now, please?” I’m shivering, it’s so damn cold in this old truck. I turn the heater on full blast. “I’m freezing my tits off and they’re already pancakes, I can’t afford to lose the little that I do have!” I shiver some more. My mom laughs at me as if I’m joking.

“Sorry I lost your call, sweetie. I don’t get very good service when I go through the country. How was your flight up here?” she asks in a soft, motherly tone.

“It was long.” I arch my back and rub the right side of my neck. “Oh! And there were about six babies on that flight and every single one of them cried the ENTIRE five hour flight. It was horrific. Best birth control known to date, I’d say,” I whine. My mom chuckles a little.

“I’m sorry. I’m so glad to have you back home, though. I missed you so much, Addi.” I could feel a lump forming in my throat. As each millisecond passes, the lump grows larger and larger, until it bursts out of me in the form of tears.

“I missed you too, Mom, and I’m so sorry I let you down. I really did give it my all. I had everything and then in just a matter of a week it was all gone. I literally had everything and now I have nothing!” I sob.

My mom’s eyes fill with tears and she looks over at me with sad, yet proud eyes. It was as if she didn’t see me as a failure, but as a masterpiece. “You have a lot more than you think, baby girl, you’re only twenty-four. You’re young, beautiful, and smart. You can do anything you want to. You’ll get a better career, meet new people, and fall in love again. You can’t be so hard on yourself. Just don’t drink and drive ever again, you could have killed yourself or someone else.”

“I know, Mom.” I sniffle and turn my head toward the passenger side window to watch the snow fall.

“Are you hungry, Addi? I was thinking we could stop at Sam’s Sandwich Shoppe since that was always your favorite place to eat?”

My eyes light up and my stomach instantly growls. “Yes, I would
love
to go to Sam’s.”

My mom smiles and turns the stereo on. “Maybe this will help.” JoDee Messina’s “My Give A Damn’s Busted” starts blaring. I look over at my mom and return the smile.

Chapter Four

After eating at Sam’s, I was finally
home.
My mom drove up the long gravel driveway to the home I had grown up in; nothing about it had changed. We still had the old rusted red mailbox at the end of the driveway and the old tire swing still hung from the big oak tree out front.

I couldn’t help but notice an obnoxious clinking sound, so I look around to see what it could possibly be. Then it dawns on me, it’s the sound of the gravel hitting the sides of the truck. It suddenly changes from an annoying sound to sweet country music to my ears.

My mom parks the truck and I get out. I look around and see the cows drinking from the water tub, a couple of cats dart under the barn door, and I notice my old basset hound Betty is wobbling to greet me.

I hate to admit it, but I really did miss being home. I missed the peacefulness of living out in the country, I missed my mom and I blaring country music and singing our hearts out, even though we’re both tone-deaf. I even missed the cold ass winters, sort of. It was only because I hadn’t seen snow in six years.

Everything about Iowa seems so much more beautiful now, especially my old home that used to embarrass me. It’s just a pale yellow two-story home with broken white shutters and a white wrap around porch. Though it’s old and worn down, it looks beautiful. It was home. I soak it all in and tears begin to form in my eyes.

This is home, this is where I belong. I’m not a big city girl at heart like I always thought I was. I’m a country girl at heart, but with a twist.

“Well, hello there, Betty! Looks like you’ve aged a bit, you poor old bitch.” I laugh and rub behind Betty’s floppy ears. Betty groans and wags her tail.

“Do you know what time you’re leaving tonight, Addi?” my mom asks. I brush the hair out of my eyes and stood there chattering my teeth.

“Can we talk about this inside where it’s warm?” I ask.

“Boy, Florida sure turned you into a little wuss!” my mom says as she messes around with the fifty-million keys on her key chain, trying to find the house key.

Mom finally unlocks the door and we walk in. She takes her coat off and hangs it on the coat rack behind the door, then walks into the living room and lights the fireplace. She’s lost weight, which is weird. My mom has always been a heavier woman, but her pants sag in the butt area and her shirt looks about two sizes too big.

“Mom, you need some new clothes. You look like you’ve lost a ton of weight!” I exclaim, thinking she would be happy to talk about her new figure. She’s always been extremely self-conscious about her weight, but she never did anything about it before. I wonder if there’s a new man in my mom’s life.

“Would you like a cup of coffee, Addi? I bought a hazelnut blend just for you, and hazelnut cream, too,” my mom offers, changing the subject.

“Aww, you didn’t have to do that, Mom, but I would love a cup!” Instead of pressing for more information on her weight loss, I go along with the change of subject.

“Addi, you never did say what time you’re leaving tonight.”

“I haven’t heard back from anyone yet. I thought for sure Stephen or Liv would have texted me by now,” I respond while taking a deep breath.

“Well, why don’t you just take a hot shower and get ready. By the time you get out, someone will have gotten ahold of you, I’m sure,” my mom says. “I’ll bring up your coffee when it’s done brewing.”

“Okay, thank you.”

I walk up the old creaky wooden stairs to my bedroom and think about how just yesterday I was storming up a beautiful white spiral staircase in a mansion on the beach, now I’m in my old home in the middle of winter. I shake the memory away and put my bags on the floor in my old bedroom.

I look around and everything is exactly the way I’d left it. Something about being in my old room brings back so many memories and emotions. This whole moving back home thing turns me into a blubbering mess. I go into the hallway to the linen closet and grab a towel and wash cloth, then head to the bathroom.

After showering, I immediately check my phone to find one text message from a number unknown.

Addison! It’s Liv, I got your number off of Facebook after I read your status. :( What the hell happened? I can pick you up at 9:00pm and we can go to Hadan’s Hideout, it’s a new bar on Main Street. I’m excited to see you and celebrate your homecoming! You should totally wear your crown. ;) Make sure you look good because I have a surprise for you! LOL! See ya at 9!

Hadan’s Hideout?
I think about it for a moment. No way! It can’t be. The ONLY Hadans around here are Stephen and his parents. I can’t believe they would have opened a bar, that just seems kind of out of character for them. Especially since his mom had to go to rehab for alcoholism. There’s no way, but I guess it had to be.

I rush to my room to get ready. I don’t know what to wear. This is the first time I’m going to see my best friends, and it’s been six years! I never came home from college for summer vacations or any breaks. I had gotten an apartment in Florida with a few of my girlfriends and worked summers waiting tables at a restaurant on the beach.

I hear a soft knock on my door. “Addi? May I come in?” my mom asks.

I’m in the middle of applying mascara and the knock startles me, so the inevitable happens and my hand slips and smears mascara on my eyebrow. “SHIT! Yeah, come in.” My mom NEVER used to knock, she’d always just barge right into my room.

“What’d you yell ‘shit’ for?”

I point to my eyebrow. I know there’s a look of frustration plastered on my face. I never have been able to hide my feelings because they’re always written on my face.

“Oh, I’m sorry.” She laughs.

“Since when do you do knock?” I ask.

My mom comes in and sits down on my bed. I notice her looking around my room at the white and teal striped walls, the shaggy teal rug right next to my bed, an antique jewelry box that was handed down to me from Grandma Tilly, and all of my clothes scattered upon the old white wooden floor.

“Sorry about the huge mess, Mom,” I say while trying to wipe away the mascara without ruining the rest of my makeup. “I’ll be sure to get it all picked up. I just couldn’t think of what to wear. I guess I could wear this black tank top and this old red cardigan, along with my Jimmy Choo pumps. They were the only ones Carlos didn’t buy for me.”

My mom smiles, a nice genuine smile. “Honey, you’ll look beautiful in anything. And Jimmy Choo pumps? What the hell are those?”

“What are those? They’re Jimmy Choo, Mother! You should know that. Oh! Liv just texted.” I catch my mom rolling her eyes.

I’m on my way, I’ll be there in like 10 min :)

“
Well, please be careful tonight. I know you’re an adult and I know you partied in high school and in college, but I still worry about you.” My mom places her hands on my shoulders. I can see the look of concern on her face in the mirror. “Just don’t drink and drive. Call me to come and pick you up, I don’t care what time it is.” My mom kisses the top of my head.

“Don’t be getting into any stranger’s car, either. I know it’s a small town and everybody knows everybody, but a lot of people you graduated with kind of went down hill. Just because you were best friends in high school doesn’t mean those people aren’t strangers now.” She leans down so her face is next to mine. It’s crazy how much we look alike. We’ve got the same color of brown hair, the same deep brown eyes, and the same high cheek bones.

“I know you like Liv, just please be careful.” She sits down on the edge of my bed.

“I know, Mom. I got it, we’ve been through this song and dance thousands of times. But what happened with Liv since I left?”

“It’s a small town, Addi, people talk. Rumor is she got mixed up in drugs, as did a few others you graduated with. I’m not certain, but it’s what I’ve heard.”

“You can’t always believe what you hear. Remember when that rumor went around my senior year of high school and everyone said I got knocked up by some stranger at a party? None of it was true, but how many parents believed that? All of them. How many kids at school believed it? Ninety-seven percent of them. Everyone turned their backs on me, including some of my closest friends until I took a pregnancy test and shared the results with the entire class. The only person besides you that believed me and stood by my side was Liv.” I straightened out my black tank top and threw on my old red cardigan. “And Stephen.” My mom mumbled. I look over my face in the vanity to make sure my makeup is perfect. “I know, Mom.” Stephen was always there, no matter what.

I spray some body spray, grab my purse, and walk out of my room down to the front door. I slip on my
Addison
Jimmy Choo black suede pointy toe pumps. “
These
are Jimmy Choo, Mom,” I say with confidence. My mom looks them over and her eyes widen. “You know it’s snowing out, right? Don’t slip and fall on your ass again!” We both laugh. “I’ll let you borrow them sometime, Mom.” I smile and walk out the front door to Liv’s car.