She saw Winter Grace's blonde tendrils before anything else. Samantha looked exhausted, but at the sight of her friend Christina could see her features soften.
"you look better," Samantha commented.
"yep, I'm dry," Christina answered back.
"So, tell me about the guy."
Winter, who had been coloring mostly on the table cloth rather than the designated paper place mat, stopped immediately and looked up at her aunt. "what guy?" she asked, a look of concern on her face. "what have you been telling her?" Christina asked Sam. "oh, nothing. Aside from the fact that the reason you weren't with us was because you were with some guy you had just met."
Christina looked hurt. She had no idea why her friend was acting this way. It wasn't like she meant for anything to happen. And then she remembered... Jimmy. He and Sam had actually gotten along. They never met in person but they had spoken on the phone a few times and had a rapport going. Samantha was looking forward to meeting him until he was abruptly cut out of the picture. Oops.
Christina bit her bottom lip. She had no idea how to explain what happened, so she just went for the first thing she could think of. "Jim told me he loved me."
Sam looked unimpressed. She raised an eyebrow. "And...?"
"and nothing. He told me he loved me and I left."
Samantha saw the pain in her friend's eyes and knew she had to tread lightly. She grabbed Christina's hand. "it got too hard, didn't it?"
Christina bit her bottom lip again. She could feel her throat tighten, stray tears threatening to fall. She hadn't really given herself that much time to think about Jimmy but in that instant she missed him. "it was just time to move on, I had to keep moving so I could see my two favorite girls," she said.
"okay so that explains Jimmy. Tell us about Ryan." Winter's face perked up at the sound of a new boy's name. "oooooohhhh auntie Christina has a new boyfriend," she said loud enough for anyone within earshot to hear. Christina felt her cheeks redden but she managed to keep her embarrassment to a minimum. "he's not my boyfriend," stated. "he was just a guy who wanted to make sure I was safe."
"a complete stranger?" Samantha asked.
"well... Yeah."
"and he didn't want anything from you?"
"nope."
"hmmmm...."
Christina could see the wheels turning in Sam's brain. If she listened closely, she could probably hear them as well. "so a complete stranger who you've never met offers you to stay at his house for a whole night and doesn't want anything from you?"
"yes."
"somehow I really doubt that."
"well, he might have wanted something from me but he didn't get anything."
"fair enough. Did you want anything from him?"
"nothing besides his friendship."
"that's not what your mom said."
"look, I know you liked Jimmy and you were excited to meet him but I couldn't deal with his feelings. Or mine for that matter. But that has nothing to do with Ryan. He took me in and was a complete gentleman and for once I didn't have to run away from him. He knew I was coming to see you and wanted me to be safe."
As soon as she said those words, the whole room felt lighter. Samantha could see the toll that the whole past year was taking on her friend and with that last statement she retreated, throwing up her white flag. "as long as he didn't try anything on you, I guess I'm okay with him."
"well, I'm glad to hear you say that because I think I might invite him over when we finally find our house."
"ooh yeah, about that, miss Winter and I have a surprise for you. But we have to finish our dinner first."
Christina was usually the one with the surprises. She spent the whole rest of her meal wondering what in the world kind of surprise could be bigger than both of her favorite people being here right now.
They all finished the rest of their meals with the usual banter, Sam asking about the rest of Christina's trip and Winter being her usual cute self. By the time they got back to their room, Christina was exhausted. She almost thought of telling her friend to wait until the next morning to tell her the surprise, until she saw it.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Right on top of Samantha's bed there was a huge binder. Christina's eyes widened. "oh my goodness, is this the surprise?"
"duh, why don't you check it out?"
Christina sat in the middle of the bed, cross legged. Samantha was on one side of her, Winter on the other. Looking down she saw a binder with the words "Christina's dream house" on the cover with some pictures obviously drawn by a very crayon savvy 5 year old. "oh my Goddess, what is this?"
"just open it!!"
Christina opened the binder up to the front page. Instantly she felt herself tear up. There were just so many things in this book, such an outpouring of love. From page one there were pictures of different beach houses, floor plans, even pictures of Sam and Winter at the actual houses. Some of the places were really far away from Boynton Beach. There were houses in Tallahassee, Kissamee, Juno beach, Tampa, just all around the Sunshine state. As Christina turned each page and saw the detail of every house that Sam and Winter had looked at, she realized something. It didn't matter where she ended up as long as she never left those two again. She could find a photography job anywhere. She would get Hunter back somehow, maybe travel up to get him and then come back down. But she knew from then on that it wasn't just going to be her dream house. It was going to be theirs.
And with that, she turned the page and immediately drew breath.
"this house... Where did you find it?"
Samantha looked down to see which house Christina was pointing to. "that's a real beauty up in St Petersburg. The area was really nice and Winter really loved that it was by the water."
"it's this one."
"this one what?"
"it's this one, this is the house."
"you haven't even looked through--"
"no. It's this one. There's beach stuff all around and pictures of us and a quilt--" she stopped herself before she could say Jimmy's name. But that was the beach house of her dreams, the one that kept coming back to her.
Christina didn't have to look at the rest of the houses. "that's where we're going."
Samantha knew not to question her friend. Especially when she had that look on her face, the one that said "all who question me will get cut." "don't you even want to look at the rest of the book? We worked our asses off to finish it before coming to get you."
"okay, okay. I will finish the rest of the book. Tomorrow after I get some sleep."
"fair enough," Sam said, a little yawn to show that she herself could use some sleep.
Christina didn't care that she hadn't moved from the spot where she found her house. She bookmarked the page immediately, as if she would lose her place and never find it again if she simply closed the book. Somewhere in the recesses of her mind she was aware that she had her own bed, but she didn't want to leave the comfort of her best friend on one side of her and her little niece on the other side. They all lay down on the queen sized bed, all snuggled into one another, the feeling so familiar that Christina had wondered how she could have gone so long without it. Back when Winter was just a little one, back when Sam's husband had left her in tears again, Christina would snuggle with them both. Sam would only stop crying when Christina was there with her, and in turn the baby would sleep through the night. Christina knew they couldn't carry on forever that way, so as much as it broke her heart, she knew she had to leave.
And now it was Samantha's turn to comfort her. Winter fell right to sleep snuggled in Christina's arms, and Christina could feel herself drifting off to sleep as she listened to her best friend's sleeping breaths beside her. It took almost a year, but she was finally home again.
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