Page 103 of Sing Me Home
The truth is…
Charlie still owes me $7
and two chicken nuggets
I guffawed. He’d loaned me some money a couple of weeks ago to buy two new music composition notebooks when we’d all gone to Honeyville and I’d forgotten my wallet. And I had stolen a couple of his nuggs when he wasn’t looking last time we made a midnight run to Mickey D’s.
“I’ll pay you back when I win this money!” I yelled.
But then he flipped the sign around.
Keep it. I won’t need it when I win this race.
But also…
Thank you, Charlie, for always loving me exactly the way I am.
I let out a little sigh.
It looked like Maggie was reading the back of the poster for the first time too. Her hand pressed to her heart and she gazed at Bowen with that same dewy-eyed look she’d given him the evening he taught her to throw the spear.
I couldn’t go one step further. Not without hugging him. I threw my arms around his neck. “I do love you. You’re one of my favorite people.”
“Ditto.” He chuckled, crushing me against him as he swayed me side to side. “But you gotta let me go, because Charlie girl? We've got a race to run.”
“Let’s do it.” I broke into a jog, waving for them to hurry.
Cash and I stuck right behind Bowen and Maggie, who once again had the stride of an Olympic synchronized swimming team. Over the hills, through the trees, and past every obstacle—the atlas carry, the multi-rig, the slip wall, and the rope climb, which I rocked by the way—the four of us stuck together, hooting, laughing, and cheering each other on.
And after every obstacle, there were more family members and more signs trying to right all the wrongs the world believed about me—and that I believed about myself.
The truth is…
Every time Charlie walks into a room, it feels like when the sun breaks through the clouds on a stormy day. She shines so bright, you can’t help but shine too.
The truth is…
Charlie is tougher than any acid. She’s the strongest person I know.
The truth is…
It’s okay to come home messy. Been there, done that. It happens to the best of us. And Charlie *is* the best of us.
That one was Ford.
Just when I was beginning to get overwhelmed from so much love, Maddie’s sign gave me the laugh I needed to release the pressure.
The truth is... I’ve spent the last year telling all my college friends that my gorgeous cousin lives in Paris doing secret agent stuff. Don’t ruin this for me, Charlie. Keep being mysterious and beautiful.
PS: Seriously tho—never disappear again, okay?
But when I saw my strong, steady dad holding his sign—tall, bearded, eyes full of love as he watched me run toward him…something cracked wide open in my chest.
The truth is… Charlie is mine. Not by blood but definitely by choice. And I would choose her again and again and again. No regrets.
Then, of course, because he was a retired literature professor and a bestselling author, there was a quote at the bottom:
“Love, not blood, makes a family.”
