text: It had been twenty-four years since she’d last seen it, but the place looked exactly the same. Veronica had left home at 18 years old and never looked back. She traveled as far away as she could, taking a full time job as a waitress in a greasy spoon. Rented her first apartment, a room above a tattoo parlor in town. Not even missing Jake, the boy next door, her first boyfriend, first and only love was enough to bring her back. Now, at 42 years old she’s standing in front of the house her mother left her. Heartbroken and regretful for not keeping in touch with her mother all these years and this is what she had left of her. The house where it all happened. The house where she grew up too quickly and for the wrong reasons. She felt eyes on her and looked to the left. There stood a young boy, he was about 13, maybe 14 years old. She knew those eyes. No, she thought to herself, can’t be. She smiled at him and he waved to her. He walked over and said, “Hello Miss, are you Miss Wendy’s daughter?”. “Yes”, Veronica replied. “I’m Henry, me, my sister Maddie and my dad live next door right there”, he said as he pointed to the house where Jake had lived. “Oh, how lovely - it’s nice to meet you Henry”. “Nice to meet you too Miss, if you need any help just knock on the door, Dad likes to help people.” “Thank you Henry” “Bye Miss!” And she watched as Henry walked up the stairs and into the house that she had practically lived in throughout her childhood and adolescence. Veronica walked through the old house. Everything was covered in cloth to keep from getting dusty. Through a private investigator she had been notified of her mother’s passing 5 months ago. A heart attack she was told. Her mother’s attorney would be reading the will to her later in the week, but he had suggested she come to see the house. The memories came rushing back. Trying to tell her mother what happened, her mother not believing it. Her mother chose HIM over Veronica. She saw no other way out than to leave and never come back. HE did this to her and her mother. She had no relationship with her mother because of HIM. Twenty four years earlier . . . Veronica and Jake had graduated from high school that week. They were so excited to be planning the next four years of their lives together. Both choosing to go away to school - together. Of course it meant saying goodbye to the only home each of them knew their entire lives but it was worth it. Veronica and Jake had been inseparable since they first met 12 years ago when Jake’s family moved in next door. They were each other’s first boyfriend/girlfriend. They hadn’t done more than a little touching and some major kissing, but Jake wasn’t in a hurry. He knew Veronica would be his forever so why rush it? That night he kissed her goodbye at the door and said, “In the morning, we’ll go get some donuts and coffee, k Ron?”. Veronica replied, “Sounds good to me”. As he walked away, Veronica watched him. I’m so lucky, she thought to herself. She entered the quiet house. She figured her Mom and Derrick were already in their room, watching tv or sleeping. She undressed quietly in her room and walked across the hall into the bathroom with her robe on. She turned on the water, took off her robe and stood under the warm drops of water. As she started to wash her hair, she heard the door open. “Mom?” She said. Before Veronica knew what was happening, Derrick got into the shower with her. He was drunk, drunker than she’d ever seen. He put his hand over her mouth and told her to keep quiet. Derrick took something from her that she had been saving for Jake. She would never be the same. The bruises on her arms were visible as she looked at herself in the mirror. She couldn’t go meet Jake for donuts like this. She called him and cancelled saying she wasn’t feeling well. He understood, Jake always understood. That’s the kind of boyfriend he was. Veronica heard her mom say goodbye to Derrick. She went down the stairs with tears in her eyes. When her mother turned and saw the bruises, she asked Veronica what happened to her. Veronica told her mother, in detail, EVERY detail about the night before with Derrick in the shower. Her mother called her a liar and told her if she was going to be a filthy liar to get out. They shouted hateful things to each other. Veronica packed all she could in a suitcase, including all the cash she had in the house, and ran out. Never stopping to look back, never thinking she could rely on anyone, after all, Derrick was Jake’s uncle. Veronica sighed and went about her business checking on each room. In her old room, she found it to be exactly as it was the day she left. The bed was unmade. Posters of boy bands on the walls. On the top of her dresser sat a photo of her and Jake at prom. It was as if no one had entered this room since she ran away. She began going through things in the house, deciding what to keep, what to throw away, and what to list at the estate sale. After a few hours of this she heard a knocking on the front door. Veronica made her way down the stairs and when she opened the door, there stood the boy, well now the man who had taken her heart all those years ago. “Ronnie”, he said, “Henry told me you were here but I had to see it for myself. I can’t believe it’s you. Why are you back now?” Veronica sighed and held back tears. Jake couldn’t have known what happened to her all those years ago. How Derrick had taken what she promised him. How she thought at the time no one would believe her, when her own mother didn’t. “Jake I came because I had to take care of things here, I wanted to reach out to you so many times over the years, but I . . .” “Yeah well that 18 year old kid you left behind was heart broken over you for years. Took me a long time but I met someone, fell in love, got married, had kids, you know all the things you promised you’d do with me! Why the fuck did you leave me like that? No explanation? Your poor mother - she felt abandoned. Then when it all came out about how Derrick had raped those girls, your mother really needed you Ronnie - why the hell didn’t you come back then?” “Wait, what are you talking about? Derrick - I mean what did you say he did? I didn’t keep in touch with my mother. I had no idea. Derrick, he, he raped me too. That’s why I left like that. I told my mother and she didn’t believe me. I figured you wouldn’t either, he was your uncle. I’ve suffered too, I lost my mother then and I lost her now.” Jake just shook his head. “You should have told me Ronnie, I would have believed you. We had NO secrets between us! All I knew was that the girl I loved, the girl I was supposed to spend my forever with was gone and I couldn’t find you. I thought maybe you’d be at the university. My parents insisted I still go. I went, I asked at the office for you. They said you’d never showed up. I didn’t know what to think. I went to classes and worked for four years without ever going to a party. Without ever enjoying my time there. Then I met Sarah and we fell in love, well, she fell in love, I couldn’t because my heart was tattered. She loved me enough for us both and we created a life together. We had two children together. Then two years ago, Sarah was coming home from parent teacher conferences, there was black ice, the car skidded and she went into a tree. I had to bury my wife. The mother of my children. So excuse me for not caring about your excuses 24 years too fucking late!” He slammed the door and left. Later that night Ronnie heard some laughing outside. She went to the front door and watched as Henry, who she assumed was Maddie, and Jake walked passed her house laughing about something. She made sure they didn’t see her. Veronica decided to leave Jake alone and get on with the sale of her mother’s things. The next day, Veronica had an appointment with her mother’s attorney. She showed up to the address and had noticed a familiar car parked in the lot. Shaking her head, she walked into the office building. The receptionist led her down a long corridor to an office. Inside she was met by Mr. Rathburn, her mother’s attorney. To her surprise, Jake was there as well. She asked why and Mr. Rathburn said that Jake was also named in her mother’s will. The reading began, both Jake and Veronica were shocked to hear her mother’s wishes. Veronica was to live in the house for one year from the reading of the will. In that year, she was to invite Jake over no less than twice a week for a meal. Once with his children, once alone. During this time, Jake was also going to be paid above his normal rate to fix up the house and get it ready to sell it when the year was up, splitting the money from the sale. Veronica was stunned. She’d assumed she would have to be here for a week at most to get things settled. Now, in order to inherit what her mother was leaving her, she’d have to stay here, and spend time with Jake! What was her mother thinking? Jake stood up, “Well, Wendy certainly has a sense of humor huh? I don’t want my children around her.” Mr. Rathburn replied, “I’m sorry Jake but these are Wendy’s wishes, she put in a clause that if either of you don’t do what is requested I am to sell the house as is and give the profits to Derrick’s son, Paul.” “My cousin is as big of a louse as his father”, Jake yelled, “What the fuck!” Veronica stood and walked over to Jake, looked him in the eyes and said, “I’m willing to uproot my life so we can both get what my mother wanted us to have, we can do this Jake. I promise I won’t be inappropriate when it comes to your children.” Jake shook his head. “Yeah ok, fine. So, how do we do this? How do we ‘prove’ we’re getting together for a meal twice a week?” “Wendy thought of everything - either myself or my associate Quinn will be checking up with you. All you have to do is send us a date and time of your meal and one of us will show up. You won’t know exactly when we’ll be there so Wendy’s thought is that you’ll have to go through with it.” After they signed the required paperwork, Jake and Veronica walked out together. “So, would you like to come over tonight for dinner? I’m not much of a cook, I know how to order pizza”, Veronica said smiling. “Sure, we’ll be there around 6 if that’s ok? Henry has a tutoring session right after school and Maddie has swim practice. Oh, and no anchovies on the pizza, ok?” Veronica shook her head and smiled. As she drove away, she couldn’t help but think that this was going to turn out to be a good thing in her life. One year later . . . The for sale sign on the lawn was just placed when a young couple driving by stopped. The young woman got out, clearly pregnant, but not ready to give birth. “Hello, umm my husband and I have been looking for a home in this neighborhood, do you mind if we come in and take a look around?” “Come on in”, Jake replied. The couple explained that they had been looking for a house now that she was pregnant with twins. They loved the neighborhood but couldn’t find what they needed in their price range. Jake listened quietly. He heard a car horn outside and smiled, knowing it was Ronnie coming home with Henry. In the year they had grown closer, and last month told his kids, Ronnie and Jake were getting married. Ronnie came in and gave Jake a look. “This is Eddie and Hannah, they were driving by when I put the for sale sign on the lawn.” “So nice to meet you”, Ronnie said. Something inside her told her these were the people who were meant to buy her mother’s home. They were starting a family of their own and could fill this house with happy memories. Ronnie and Jake gave them a fair price and the young couple soon moved in. Six months later they celebrated Ronnie and Jake’s wedding. Maddie has been maid of honor for her new step mother, and Henry was best man for his father. Ronnie had reconnected with friends she had lost long ago and they were all in attendance on the happiest day of her life. Jake loved her, wanted a future with her, and that was all that mattered. THE END