She’d patted my head and smiled. “It’s okay. He is happy that we’re all together and these just remind him that we are blessed that’s all.”
I didn’t understand when we had read the letters, but I did after a few years. The letters had reminded my dad of the hardest time in his life—when he thought he’d have to live this life without my mom. I couldn’t imagine living life without her. I understood his pain. I never mentioned them in front of him again.
Dad picked up my suitcase. “Can’t believe this is all you’ve packed.”
“I travel light,” I told him.
“And here I thought I was going to turn your bedroom into my private gym. You’ve left everything behind.” Now he was teasing me.
I shrugged and tried to appear playful. “I wanted to make sure it was all still here, and you that wouldn’t forget me when I decided to come home finally.”
Dad put my suitcase in the back of my Rover.
“We’d never touch your room. You know that,” Mom said seriously.
I laughed. “I know.” Although I never planned on moving back. For now, this was all I needed.
“Be careful, Lila Kate. We love you very much,” she said as I hugged her one more time then headed to the driver’s side where my dad already had the door open waiting for me.
“Don’t stop at service stations that aren’t busy and well lit. Try to get there before it’s dark. You got your pistol under the seat?”
“Yes, Daddy. It’s there. I’ll be careful,” I assured him.
With another hug, I climbed inside the Rover and drove away. I looked in my rearview mirror to see my parents waving from the front yard. My swing still hung from the tree there like it had my entire life. My world where I’d always known comfort—in this town where I only found the same emptiness every day—faded away behind me as I drove west.
I turned on the Bluetooth in my car and then found the travel playlist on my phone I’d put together last night. I felt free. Excited. I didn’t feel like me. I didn’t want to feel like me anymore. I didn’t want to be labeled as prim and proper. Or icy . . . icy was the worst.
I’d thought about Cruz’s drunken words and realized they had been true. And I hated him for saying them as much as I hated him for being right. I didn’t want to be that girl. I wanted to be different. Take chances. Find my adventure.
Reaching for my bottle of water I sang along to the music.
The girl everyone met from now on would be a much different Lila Kate Carter.
I would never be labeled proper or cold again. I’d be fun, exciting, ready for anything. The idea made me somewhat nervous, but it also gave me a thrill I hadn’t experienced before.
Bring on my new life. Every crazy, wild, disorganized bit of it.