Forever & Always

Two

When she was done getting ready for the day, she started to lock up the casita when her ankles were ferociously attacked. Her mother had already opened the back door for the dogs to roam, and the two little demons were jumping all over her as she stumbled towards the house.

“Well, good morning to you too, you little gremlins,” Emma whispered. They chased her into the kitchen, where one of her younger sisters ate at the counter.

“Emma!” her sister yelled at her as she swiped part of her toast.

“That was mine!” Her sister grumbled, and Emma laughed.

“Sorry boo, gotta go.” Emma kissed her sister’s cheek, grabbed her keys, and headed into the garage.

“Will we see you later?” her mom yelled from their master bedroom upstairs. Emma grabbed the door and yelled up at her mom.

“Nah, I should probably wait out traffic at Disney with Collin. You know how Fridays can be.”

“Tell him hi!” Her mother’s voice flittered down, and she mumbled yea-yea and headed out.

Her white Nissan Sentra was parked in the driveway. It was pretty, but she missed her bug. The VW Beetle had been bright red, and Emma had put in a twelve-inch sub-woofer with Austin’s help, which was ridiculous but worked in many ways when Emma was up at her college. There was an issue with the fuel line, and her father forced her to get rid of it. Emma was heartbroken over losing her first car.

She moved to this one when she got a great deal to lease it without a cosigner. Unfortunately, her parents wouldn’t help, so she now has a car payment plus car insurance because she left school and returned home and would face the adult responsibilities that came with her decision. They had a point. She was an adult and had been spoiled long enough.

Emma pulled out of the driveway, plugged in her phone, connected it to Bluetooth, and turned on some music. Although her drive was only thirty miles, it took almost an hour and a half in everyday traffic. Friday mornings were relatively clear of heavy traffic, as most commuters arrived later than usual, but Friday evenings? Yeah, right. She was lucky to be home in under two hours.

Last week, it took her three hours to get home! She only worked part-time at her cousin’s place, and she would love to work a more regular schedule but it’s location sucked. She was also 1099’d, which meant she had to track her miles or forget writing them off in her taxes and getting a break for the commute. She grabbed her mileage book and quickly recorded the mileage before her phone started ringing, she smiled at the name lit up on her screen.

“Hey, Col, were your ears ringing?” Emma laughed into the car.

“No, why?” Collin’s deep voice echoed a bit as Emma turned the volume down.

“Were you talking about me? I hope it was good things.”

“Of course, silly,” Emma replied. “My mom asked if I was coming home right away. I told her most likely not.”

“Well, I am working until six tonight. Do you want to grab a drink when I’m off?” he asked, laughing. He was a bad influence because he was already twenty-one and often gave her a drink while they walked around the theme park, waiting out traffic.

“Duh!” Emma said, smiling. “I told my parents I was probably going to Disney, so that works, but I get off at five. It will take me a half hour to get there with traffic, so...”

“Don’t worry, I’ll see if I can bounce early. My co-worker owes me for last week anyway. See you later. Oh, and Emma?” He said.

“Yeah?”

“Drive safe; don’t go weaving in and out of traffic like usual.”

She laughed at his bossy tone.

“Yes, sir.” She said as he snorted and hung up.

Traffic was smooth, heading towards Buena Park. Her cousin’s office was right around the corner from Knotts Berry Farm. Pulling into the parking lot, she noticed it was just Lisa at the office today. Emma grabbed her purse, keys, and water and headed inside.

“Good morning, Lisa. Is it just us today?” Emma asked Lisa, looking around at the empty building. Lisa smiled.

“Yep, Stu is out today, and Charlie called in sick.”

Of course, he did.

“No worries,” Emma said and approached the back. She fired up the computer and logged in to see how many orders she needed to fill. It wasn’t part of her job, but with Stu out, someone had to do it, or the order would back up, and no one was happy.

She glanced at the portal where orders came in and noticed it wasn’t too bad. She leaned back in the chair and said, “I can manage this on my own Lis.”

Lisa mumbled incoherently, and Emma got to work.

“Hey, kiddo, lunch is here,” Lisa said over her shoulder as Emma was stocking items that had come in on yesterday’s shipment. She didn’t realize four hours had already gone by.

“Great, thanks!” Emma stood stretching her legs.

“No problem, Stu is an äss for leaving that,” Lisa said, smiling at first, then scowling as she turned and walked to her office. Emma laughed, then pulled open the Panera bag and dug into her salad. Every other Friday, she and Lisa took turns picking out lunch that her cousin paid for; it was a small thanks for working hard without his hoovering.

Since she returned, her mother had been on a rampage about her diet, having gained 15 pounds while she was away. Her mother made sure she ate healthier options when they were available and checked in with the office to make sure. Emma rolled her eyes. She was always built differently from her mother and sisters and felt it shouldn’t matter. No one cared about her body before; she doubted it would change in her non-existent love life.

Her middle sister weighed barely 100 pounds, and though Emma ran and still worked out, she weighed over 120 pounds. It didn’t matter that she was back in a size 2. Her mother constantly complained, which made her extremely self-conscious. In college, it was nice not to have someone regularly pressure her about eating and exercising daily.

Her phone vibrated. Looking down, she saw Collin’s name appear.

--

Collin

It is so slow today🥱.

Rod said he would cover for me. I’m leaving at five, so we should meet in the parking lot around the same time.

--

Perfect, she thought and hit reply.

--

Great! Thank you, Rod! Shall we meet at the tram?

--

She put her phone down, and it quickly vibrated again.

--

Collin

😁

--

He must have gotten a customer. After lunch, she finished her food and cleaned up the desk before returning to the pallet of stuff and organizing again. Time moved much faster after lunch; before she knew it, it was fifteen minutes until close.

“Ready?” Lisa peeked through the door just as Emma shut down the computers.

“Yeah!” Emma said happily.

“Great, you got a lot done today. Honestly, I don’t know what those boys do all day.” Lisa said, and Emma laughed.

“I just put on the radio and do it. Like sorting inventory from that shipment yesterday, it shouldn’t take three hours, as Stu makes us believe it takes. I know they had enough time to put all that away, but since I am not technically an employee, I can’t say shït to them.” Emma rolled her eyes as Lisa locked up.

“Well, I can and plan to. I also sent your cousin an email about it, too.” Lisa smirked, and Emma laughed.

“That’s my girl. Anyway, have a great night, Lisa.” She waved and unlocked her car, sliding in and pulling out her phone. Collin had already texted that he was on his way. She opened up the map app and looked at the traffic. The freeway was decent, so she planned to hop on the 91 to the 5 and take the carpool lane on the 5 to bypass traffic and head straight into the parking lot in under thirty minutes.