Page 24 of Forever Focused

Pack a light bag.

Overnight?

Scared?

I’m already packing.

See you at ten and I’ll bring the coffee.

You got it!

Sweet dreams, Poppy and thank you.

For what?

For everything.

Poppy stared at the string of text messages, unsure what to say. Her heart swelled in awareness of what a miracle this was. She and Michael were going to run away together, be alone, and work toward being a couple. This was the most amazing turn of events that she could have ever wished for. She looked up to see her parents standing there on the front porch. Her father’s arm was around her mother’s shoulders as they smiled at her.

Getting out of the car, she hesitated, unsure how they would react to her taking off for several days with a grown man. Her father could be very conservative, almost prudish, and her mother would not disagree with the man. The two were as solid as a rock when it came to their decisions.

“’Bout time you got home,” her father chuckled easily, glancing at her mom before smiling back at her. “You need to hurry.”

“For what?”

“Your trip.”

“How’d you know…” she gaped, stunned, staring at them in shock. “Wait, you don’t mind?”

“You’re a grown woman, and if he disrespects you,” her father shrugged, his lips twitching. “I’ll break his face.”

“Gage,” her mother hissed, swatting at his chest and chuckling before looking at her. “Your father and I think you are both capable of making decisions that bring you happiness in your life. It’s about time you stopped worrying about what other people think and start grasping at joy for yourself. Have a great time, take pictures, and we’ll want to hear all the details of your trip when you get home.”

“Who are you, and what have you done with my parents?” she asked warily, walking past them slowly, like she was about to be attacked.

“We were young once,” her father began, giving her a steady look. “When you get to a point where you’ve made up your mind – it’s settled. Things happen fast from there, and all I ask is that you never look back.”

“Okay, again, weird conversations. Is everything all right? Invasion of the body snatchers?”

“Not at all,” her father said and looked at her mother. “I just remembered how sometimes you can let imagined problems get in the way of real happiness, but if you trust the other person to be the one, talk it out, life has a way of being better than you ever imagined… so go with that. Okay?”

“You’ve been waiting for Michael this whole time,” her mother added softly, glancing up at her father. “Sometimes you get to a point where you are tired of waiting – only to realize that they are too. Go pack your things, sweetie.”

“Y’all are weird,” she uttered once more skeptically and heard her parents laugh as they suddenly lost interest in her, speaking to each other.

“Abbykins, wanna dance in the moonlight with your guy?”

“I thought you’d never ask, Gage…”

“Maybe we can run for ice cream later…”

“Revisit some old memories?”

“Treasure them… and make new ones, my love.”

Poppy sighed, melting at the sweetness between her parents, and then realized she’d just had her own moment with Michael in the pantry. It was weird and quirky but exceedingly tender, which made her look at her parents again. Her father was staring down at her mother with this yearning written across his face as he slowly began to tug her toward the backyard for their moonlit dance.

Had they shared dumb little moments? Did it mean so much to them because of the other person that they were with? After all, what was a memory but a record of those feelings in that moment? Excitement, love, and everything in between – and none of that mattered about the location, the time, or the place. It always boiled down to that other person, and for her, it was and would always be Michael.

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