The Claimed Promise

Goodbye

Sunlight poured into Lindsey’s living room, my eyes were already open and my mind racing with thoughts of the future. A lot was getting ready to change but, first, I really needed to try and get some of my things out of Mandi’s house. Hopefully we could be civil, and she would return my belongings without a fuss but a part of me knew that wasn’t going to be my luck. Nothing Mandi ever did was civil. Without wasting another moment, I left the couch and headed straight for the kitchen to make coffee in hopes of raising Lindsey from the dead.

Heading up the stairs, I carefully juggle coffee and some toast to help soak up some of the alcohol and acid. Lindsey’s house is no mystery to me but, had I been lost, the echoing sounds of snoring would have led me there without a doubt. With my hands full, my only choice is to the kick the door open and do so without a second thought. To my surprise, Lindsey actually pops up and looks at me bewildered and then slumps back into her den of covers.

“Kora, you scared the hell out of me. What time is it and why are you awake?” She whines loudly while questioning me.

“You have to get up. It’s almost 10 in the morning and we have a special assignment.” Her head pops out of the blankets like a prairie dog eyeing my suspiciously. “What special assignment?” Laughing, I come to sit next to her on the bed and coax her arms out of the blanket to take the coffee and toast I’ve made. “Well, we have to retrieve my belongings from the Mandi’s house and the sooner we do it, the less I’ll lose.” Our eyes meet and I can tell she’s processing what I’ve said.

“Do I have permission to speak to her however I want?” The mischievous glint in her eyes is not lost on me and its apparent this is going to be her deciding factor.

After a short silence and a loud sigh, all I can do is nod. A triumphant smile covers her face and soon she’s out of the bed and hurrying around the room grabbing clothes. All I could do was chuckle and watch as my best friend frantically dressed, still reeking of alcohol from last night.

“Come on Kora, you said it yourself that the sooner we get over there the better. Kick your butt in gear and help me find some panties!” The crazed look in her eye sent me over the edge and laughter erupted in the room. Before long, Lindsey joined in laughing and I slithered across the floor to the bathroom afraid I would pee myself from gut wrenching laughter. Once Lindsey was dressed, and I had emptied my bladder, we ran out the door in hopes of retrieving my belongings.

Our ride over was surprisingly quiet and my mind quickly wandered to Samara and Yuri. If only I could have seen her transform and met her wolf. The thought of a wolf brought on an anxiety as I thought about their Moon Goddess and being worthy to have my own wolf. Dying has never scared me but, dying before I had the chance to truly experience what this mate bond had offer had me terrified. We had just barely met, and my body ached to be near her, to touch her… Samara’s beautiful figure dances through my head before a deafening screech brings me to reality. Lindsey had slammed on the breaks in front of Mandi’s house, and we were met with a very disheartening sight. Everything that belonged to me was scattered across the yard, but nothing was whole. Clothes were shredded, electronics broken, books cut to pieces; all of it was destroyed. Slowly, we both exited the car to survey the damage closer. As we wandered around the yard looking for anything that was salvageable, I realized, I didn’t feel sad but instead, a sense of relief washed over me. Everything tying me to this life with her was gone. Yes, I had lost some things that had been important to me but now, these materialistic things meant nothing. “Come on Lindsey, nothing here is of any value to me anymore. It just looks like Mandi has given herself a big mess to clean up.” Our eyes met and I gave her a big smile to show her I meant it. Lindsey in return gave me a dazzling smile and pulled me into a hug.

“You’re the strongest person I know Kora. If it were me, I’d beat her face in and if you want, that is totally an offer.” Immediately, we were both consumed with laughter and turned to leave.

“Kora! Where the hell are you going? Take your damn s**t out of my yard!”

Before I was even turned around, Lindsey was screaming back at her. “Listen here you bit…”

I wrapped my arms around Lindsey’s shoulder’s and stopped her before she could continue. “Sorry Mandi, I don’t know what you’re talking about. This doesn’t look like my stuff, at least not from what I remember it looking like. In fact, what it looks like is you have a huge eye sore that needs to be cleaned up. Maybe a call to the city code inspector would get you motivated?”

With that, I pulled Lindsey back into the car, and we sped away to the wonderful echo of Mandi’s frantic screaming.

Once back to Lindsey’s house, I headed straight for the shower. My plan was to go to work today and spend as much time with my family as possible and, to give them the good news about Mandi and I. Quickly, I stripped the clothes from last night and stepped into the hot water; letting it cascade down my body and wash away the stress of the morning.

After my shower, the next stop was Lindsey’s room to borrow clothes. That will be another thing I’ll have to do today, clothes shopping. Dread filled me at the thought of trying to replace my wardrobe. Shopping for fun things didn’t bother me but clothes shopping? Yuck. As I enter Lindsey’s room, I realize she’s gone back to bed. Quietly, I sneak in and grab a pair of jeans, a t-shirt and bra. I’m very thankful her and I are of similar size otherwise it would be back into my shame and sweat soaked party clothes. However, I refused to wear a pair of her underwear, clean or not. So, underwear was at the top of my list to buy today. Dressed and feeling better, I call my mom and thankfully, she’s at home and agrees to bring my truck to me.

As soon as the truck was in park, my mom was out of the drive seat and whining about me getting a smaller vehicle. All I could do was laugh and shake my head because this was a conversation, we had many times over.

“Alright mom, where do you want me to drop you off?” I looked over, smiling at her.

“Well, how about to the café’? Your father is there and needs some help and I know he’d love to see you. We’d also like to have dinner with you tonight if you can talk Mandi into letting you go for a couple of hours?” She looked at me hopefully, but I could tell she was expecting a no.

“Eh, well, Mom, about that… Mandi and I aren’t a couple anymore…” I quickly side eyed my mom to catch her facial expression which went from a look of absolute joy to a look of sympathy.

“Oh Kora, I am so sorry to hear that. What happened sweety?” Within a second, I broke out laughing and the bewildered look on her face only made me laugh harder.

“Mom, I know your happy about it. I saw your first reaction. It’s fine, I caught her with a guy who is apparently her boyfriend. The baby she’s having is his and honestly, I couldn’t be happier about this whole situation!” The revelation left her speechless for a moment and then she was smiling ear to ear.

“Oh my goodness, I am so happy you’re getting away from her! Your father will be so happy. He was going to try and talk you out of marrying her tonight at dinner. You’ve saved both of us an evening of lecturing, I’m sure. What are your plans now honey? Are you going to try and get your own place?” Her questions finally ended when she realized she needed to take a breath and I figure now would be a good time to let her know I was going to may start travelling.

“I’ve been really thinking about it, and I don’t want to upset you or dad but, I’ve been thinking about doing some travelling like I always talked about. Go out, see the world and just live, you know?” I eyed her again to see how she was handling the idea of me not being around and to my surprise, she had another ear-to-ear smile spread across her face.

“Kora, I think that’s a fabulous idea and, I have a small confession myself. Your father and I have been saving money for some time now in hopes that we could give it to you before you married Mandi. One final push towards getting you away from her and get you out there living your life the way you always talked about.” Her voice was much softer, and a guilty expression had replaced her once brilliant smile. All I could do was laugh again and, before long, she joined in laughing with me all the way to the café’.

As soon as we pulled up to the café’, my mom was out of the truck and rushing inside, my assumption was telling my father the good news. I took a little longer to head in, giving her the chance to fully update him and to really process the lengths my parents were willing to go to try and save me from a bad marriage. How could I have been so blind to so much with her? And how the hell had I thought so little of my own happiness? Well, not anymore. Again, my thoughts trail to Samara and my draw to her. I must be insane to jump in headfirst to this, but I can’t talk myself out of it. However, the thought of giving up my parents and my best friend has been weighing heavily on my mind as well. Deep in thought, I wander towards the café’ door and before I’m even fully in, my father has me wrapped into his arms in the tightest hug he’s given me.

“You’re finally back to acting like my daughter! I knew you would come to your senses!” His loud voice and laughter carry through the café’ and I can’t help but turn beet red from embarrassment.

“Dad, you’re embarrassing me… Stop…” I struggle and finally wriggle free from his arms and quickly shove him away. “Your mom told me you’re finally thinking about travelling and living for yourself. Lucky for you, I planned for this day and have tucked away a little money for my favorite daughter.” While he gloated, I could see my mom rolling her eyes behind him and I couldn’t help but laugh. Soon, mom and I both were laughing and soon, the three of us. After a few moments my dad cleared his throat and looked at me seriously.

“We want you to take the money we’ve saved for you and really experience what life has to offer. Do something amazing. See somewhere beautiful. Maybe even truly find love.” A sheepish grin came forward and he wrapped his arm around my mom’s waste. “Whatever you do, do it for you.” With that, pulled a box from his apron pocket and handed it to me. “Happy not married present.” A triumphant smile was plastered to his face, and I just laughed, shook my head, and opened the box. Inside, I found a check for $20,000 and a brand-new satellite cell phone. My eyes instantly teared up and I found myself engulfed into a hug with my parents.

“Thank you so much for this and for understanding that I need to do this. There are no better parents in this world, and I promise, I’ll call all the time.” My eyes flooded with tears once more and we all hugged once more.