Chapter 230
I glanced at the time on my IAC as I flew down the stairs. It was just past 7:00, which gave me about thirty minutes to try to talk to my parents before I had to get ready for school. I wondered if my dad would even go to work today. For that matter, I wondered if I was even going to school. I assumed it depended upon what Dad and Aunt Lorraine had discussed the night before. One thing was certain: I needed to talk to them about moving to headquarters before I chickened out.
I was surprised to see both of my parents sitting in their recliners in the living room when I reached the bottom of the stairs. My dad was reading a newspaper, and my mom had a novel in her hands. I couldn’t remember the last time I saw her reading a book in the morning, especially not when we had company. Noise from the kitchen, along with the scent of something either cooking or burning—possibly both—piqued my curiosity even more.
“Mom?” I said getting both of my parents’ attention as they set their reading materials aside. “What’s going on?”
“Good morning, honey,” my mom said, smiling. “The boys insisted on fixing breakfast, so once I finished a batch of biscuits, they sent me out here.” She sort of shrugged, and I wondered what kind of disaster we would find later in the kitchen. I was sure that by “the boys” she meant Brandon and Elliott. I highly doubted Aaron would volunteer to cook anything since he hardly even ate.
My dad was wearing jeans and a sweater he often wore around the house. “No work today?” I asked as I sat down on the edge of the chair across from both of them.
“No, Lorraine and I need to finish up some of the plans for the memorial. We’ve decided to go ahead and have it tomorrow, get it over with,” my dad explained. “It’s a bit of a rush, but we agreed it would be better this way.”
I nodded, not sure what else to say. The idea that my grandma wasn’t up in her Queen Anne, puttering around the kitchen, was surreal.
“I called Mrs. Burk this morning and let her know to tell Lucy not to stop by.” Mom smiled at me. “I’ll call the school in a bit and let them know we’ve had a death in the immediate family and you won’t be there today.”
“Thanks, Mom,” I said, managing a smile. I should’ve known my mom would take care of those things. I was relieved to think that I’d get to spend the day with Elliott and Brandon, assuming they would both stay here until after the memorial was over. “About going back to school….” My voice faded off as I met my mother’s eyes and then my dad’s.
My mom raised an eyebrow and waited, not speaking. My dad looked at her and then back to me. “What is it Cass?” he asked.
With a loud exhale, I said, “There’s really no easy way to say this. I just spoke to Cadence, and she actually agrees with me about it.” They were waiting patiently, so I just spit it out. “I want to go ahead and go to headquarters. And she agrees that it is a good idea, so long as you both approve, too.” I motored on, afraid a pause would bring dissension. “I’m sure it won’t be easy for you to consent to this, but honestly, I just can’t do this anymore.” I stayed calm, trying not to get all worked up as I had when speaking to my sister. “I can’t keep pretending to be something I’m not—not to be something I am. I’m ready to get on with my training, to be around people who at least sorta understand what it’s like to be different.” I stopped then, waiting for them to disagree.
My parents exchanged glances again before my mom asked, “And Cadence agreed with this?”
I gave a sharp nod.
“What about Aaron?” My dad’s question was legitimate.
“She said she didn’t need his permission,” I replied.
“Maybe not his permission,” my mom began, “but he needs to be on board. Regardless of what Cadence’s title might be, moving to Kansas City means a lot more responsibility, lots of changes for him as well.” My dad had that look on his face that said we needed to consider all of the perspectives, and I agreed with him when he put it like that, even if I didn’t want to.
“Cadence said she’d talk to him. But… if he says it’s okay with him….”
Once again they looked at each other for a long time. This time, my mom spoke first. “Actually, Cass, I spoke to Aaron myself last night about the possibility of our whole family moving to headquarters.”
I couldn’t believe my ears. “What’s that?”
“Your father can retire if he wants to. I feel like I could use a little more adventure in my life, now that you two girls are older. I asked him what he’d think about it, and he seemed to think it was a good idea. Your father and I are still discussing it, but, there’s a good chance we all might be moving there soon.”
I looked at my dad, who didn’t seem to be completely convinced yet, but I could see he was considering it. That would make everything so much easier on me. As much as I didn’t want to admit I still needed my parents, my mother had proven just how reliant on her I still am with the phone calls she’d mentioned a few minutes ago. That would also take a lot of pressure off my sister and her fiancé who probably weren’t looking to raise a teenager before they even got married. “That’s… awesome,” I said, genuinely smiling.
“Yeah?” Mom asked. “We wouldn’t cramp your style?”
I giggled at her choice of words. “No, not at all.”
“Well, I don’t have an issue with you going a little earlier than us, but you’ll need to let us talk to Cadence and Aaron first,” my dad said, checking with my mom, who had a shadow of disagreement on her face, but she said nothing.
Yesterday, I’d had the shock of my life seeing Elliott standing on my doorstep. Today, I found myself in a total state of disbelief all over again. “Seriously?” I said, not able to control my smile.
“Why not?” my mom said, though her tone was reluctant. “But even if they both say yes, you’re not going anywhere for at least a couple of weeks. We need to get a transition plan in place. You’ll have to think about school….”
“That’s cool. I can do the same online school Brandon is attending,” I said, having already thought of that.
“And we’ll have to figure out housing for you. Your sister may not want you moving in with her, but you’re too young to live by yourself. Brandon is an adult.”
My mom had another good point. I’d just assumed I’d live in Cadence’s guest room, but that might not be cool with her. I didn’t mention to my mom that Brandon would no longer be living by himself because it didn’t fit the discussion. “Okay,” I nodded. “But… if they go to Philly, and I can potentially help find Gibbon, will you let me go, if Cadence and Aaron say it’s okay?”
My father shrugged and looked at my mom whose nod was slow but a confirmation nonetheless.
I flew out of my chair. “Thank you, Mom!” I said, throwing my arms around her. I’d moved so quickly, she never saw me coming, and now her arms were pinned to her sides as I kissed her cheek.
“You’re welcome, sweetheart,” she said as I released her and moved over to hug and kiss my dad. “Oh, I can’t imagine not having you here….”
“Don’t worry, Mom,” I said, moving back between them where I could see them both, “I think you guys moving to headquarters is an awesome idea. Just think, when Cadence has a whole bunch of babies, you’ll both be there to take care of them.” I winked at my mom and watched the thought ripple through her mind as she began to gush.
“Grandbabies,” she said, clasping her hands. “I can hardly wait.”
My laugh was slightly devious. I loved teasing my sister about having kids.
“Don’t mention this to the boys yet,” my mother warned, once she came out of her grandmother-induced stupor. “Let us confirm everything with Cadence and Aaron first.”
While part of me couldn’t wait to tell Brandon, I nodded. “Right.” Her point made sense. I smiled and said, “Thank you,” again as I headed toward the kitchen. I pushed thoughts of saying goodbye to Emma, Lucy, Milo, and Wes, out of my head for now. It was hard to believe I might actually be leaving this boring old life behind.
The scene in the kitchen was a bit reminiscent of a war zone, not that I’ve ever seen one. Aaron was sitting at the table in the breakfast nook with a mug in front of him, though it didn’t look like he was very interested in it. Across from him, Brandon and Elliott were apparently fighting over burners on the stove. A plate of very crispy bacon, a leaning tower of pancakes about a foot tall, and an overflowing bowl of scrambled eggs sat nearby. I surveyed the food closely before asking, “How many soldiers are coming over for breakfast?”
“Hey, lil girl! You’re just in time,” Elliott said, topping off the pancake tower with two more semi-round-shaped cakes. “Will you tell your friend here that bacon cooks better over low heat?”
Brandon shook his head and scooped a few pieces of almost black bacon onto the plate with the rest of it. “Doesn’t matter now. That’s the last of it.”
“Uh, why did you guys not want my mom, who is an excellent chef, to cook breakfast?”
“We were being nice,” Brandon said.
“Not to the smoke detectors,” Aaron muttered, and I turned to look at him. He shrugged, and I glanced up to see the one overhead had been disconnected and wondered if the one in the dining room had been as well. I hadn’t noticed.
“Can you be a doll and go grab your folks?” Elliott asked, smiling at me. I couldn’t be upset with him about not being the best cook in the world. It was enough that he was breathing and that he’d tried. Still, I was a little surprised he wasn’t better at making pancakes since he was so great at warming milk. I supposed those weren’t similar skills. Or maybe his flapjacks tasted better than they looked.
“Sure,” I replied, hugging him quickly before I left. I still had a goofy grin on my face when I turned around, and I caught Aaron’s eyes. He seemed a little less rigid than the day before, like he’d accepted what Cadence had done, and he even managed to smile back at me.
I walked back into the living room and sent Cadence an IAC message at the same time, though I imagined Aaron had as well. “Breakfast is ready.” I used air quotes around the word breakfast, but I didn’t think my parents saw since they were both reading again. At least we knew the biscuits would be good.
“Great. I’m starving,” Dad said, standing. Mom got to her feet as well, and I bounded back into the kitchen, eager to see if it was true that appearances can be deceptive.
By then, there were extra chairs from the dining room around the table, with a plate for each of us, and “the boys,” as my parents had taken to referring to them, were loading up their plates. Cadence was there a split second behind us, like she must’ve run down the stairs, and we all set about loading our plates like the Apocalypse was starting the next day—all of us except for Aaron, of course.
I grabbed a seat next to Brandon and Elliott sat down between me and Cadence. My dad suggested we say a prayer, and even though Brandon already had a big bite of eggs in his mouth, we all complied. Taking both of their hands in mine immediately brought a smile to my face. I didn’t care if the eggs tasted like mush and the flapjacks tasted like flannel. This day was the beginning of awesome things to come. I could feel it in my bones.
