they managed to still see her as their little girl. The car pulled up to her parents’ house and she got out to her screaming sister calling out to her as she sprinted out the door to give her a proper greeting.
“Emily!”
Elizabeth was her younger sister by two years and at times her very best friend. Seeing her face again, she was glad that Elizabeth had convinced her to move back to Stanton Falls. She had considered at first moving in with her sister instead of her parents but ultimately decided it would be better to stay with her parents since her mother didn’t work and--in her own words--couldn’t have enough time in the world to pinch those precious cheeks. She embraced her sister for at least a few seconds. She had missed that part of life. Being a pediatric nurse and a single mother, she couldn’t even remember the last time she had hugged an actual grown up.
“Liz! I am so glad to see you sis.”
“Sure you are. Anyway, it’s nice to see you too, although you took your sweet time in coming back. Common sense finally showed you where you belong. Now on to bigger and better things. Where is my little niece at?”
“Wow sis. Not even a three second greeting and my return is yesterday’s old news already. Yes, you are definitely my sister. C’mon, she’s sleeping in the back. Help me grab her.”
They walked to the back seat of the car and stopped for a minute to watch the baby. Liz whispered softly to her about how she made a cute baby. Her attempt at stealth went in vain as Ashleigh’s little brown eyes blinked slowly a few times before she yawned and reached out for her mother, requesting release from her restraint in the car seat.
“Well, she’s awake now so get ready for a million questions. She’s at that age.”
“Wow. I still can’t even believe that you have a kid. My big sister. So much has changed in the past few years.”
“Not everything I bet!” Emily tickled her little sister and fought back her own side splitting laughter as Liz jumped at least two feet away. “Still can’t fight a good tickle, can you?”
The girls laughed as they unbuckled a laughing Ashleigh from the car seat, leading her into her new home. Their playfulness had triggered a feeling Emily hadn’t felt in a long time and if her laughter was any indication, Ashleigh was going to have a great time figuring out what all the fun was really all about. The truth was that Emily couldn’t think of a better place in the world to raise her baby.
***
Aaron sat at his desk working on designs and support for the website changes he was planning on making. With so much data hacking going around in the news, he had been researching and found some great ideas on new checks and balances to protect information. When he got a knock on his door, he tore his gaze from the screen long enough to see Nick standing in the hallway. He swiftly returned his attention to his work, silently praying he would be able to send him away without too much time wasted.
“Hey Aaron, what’s goin on buddy.”
“Well unlike you, some of us have to actually work for a living.”
His brief response was meant to give Nick a hint that he didn’t have the time right then. He didn’t have to be so curt about it, but that was how their friendship was.
They had been close friends since junior high. Nick came from a family that was loaded but he was still down to earth--always the one to be all about having fun. Any time Aaron had ever gotten in trouble, nine times out of ten Nick was not too far away. Of course, their kind of trouble wasn’t worthy of the six o’clock news. Just the silly thing teenage boys did, pranks and such. Nick’s family had resided in Stanton Falls since its founding and they owned the largest company in town. At one time it was