The Luna's Bain

“Hey sleepyhead. Time to rise and shine.” Jane Will’s singsong voice wafted into her daughter’s room from the kitchen down the hall. The unmistakable, delectable smell of freshly baked cinnamon rolls and dark pike roast coffee followed. Amory groaned as she stretched her arms high above her head, wriggling her legs in an attempt to shake herself awake. “I’m up,” she called, rolling onto her side as she pried open one cerulean blue eye. Her bed was soft and warm and hard to leave. She pulled her pink comforter back up to her chin as she reached for the cell phone propped up on her night stand. The clock on the screen read “10:20AM” with no missed calls. Amory wasn’t surprised. Her best friend Zami had gone to Rome with her parents to escape the cold Montana winter and wasn’t due back for a month at least, and Amory didn’t really hang out with anyone else. She was definitely what some would call a loner. Occasionally her father’s sister, Aunt Sherri, would call to check in and chit chat, but they’d just spoken a couple of days ago. What day was it again, she mused? Amory made a mental note to check the calendar. It felt like Saturday, although since her high school graduation the days had blurred together like a fog rolling through her brain. She didn’t really have any plans, but Heathrow Bookstore downtown was having a sale this weekend and she’d been saving up money to purchase the entire hardback Game of Thrones set she’d spotted during her last visit. That was one month ago… it felt like an eternity. “Amory. Let’s get moving, sister,” her mother yelled again. Amory swung her legs off the bed and stood, her cherry red and white plaid nightgown settling below her knees. She gave her arms one more long stretch before plodding down the hallway to the kitchen and perching on the edge of a stool at the dining bar where her mother was pouring creamer into two steaming cups of coffee. “Mornin’, mom.” Her mother smiled gently. “Good morning, honey. Cinnamon roll?” Amory eyed the gooey pecan topped rolls and nodded, her stomach growling in agreement. Cinnamon rolls were her favorite. “Yes, please.” She reached for a mug and brought it to her lips, inhaling the chocolatey aroma deeply before taking a sip. “So good,” she murmured appreciatively. Her mother laughed, a twinkling sound that warmed Amory’s heart. “Coffee and cinnamon rolls. Some things never change.” A ghost of a smile played on Amory’s face as the memories poured in. Her mother, hair long and brown, not a gray in sight, standing beside the stove with a tray of cinnamon rolls. Amory running by her, dressed in her school uniform and ready for her first day of kindergarten, jumping onto her father’s lap where he sat at their kitchen table. Her father’s blue eyes shining with pride as she showed him her new backpack and strappy shoes… her family had been so perfect and peaceful, so storybook happy it was almost too good to be true... Amory shook her head, dark sable hair pulling free from its loose bun to frame her face, pushing the memories firmly back into their place. “Mom, you can make me cinnamon rolls forever. Seriously. Yours are the best.” She picked the whole pastry up and savored the sugary bun as she sank her teeth through its softness, licking the frosting that gathered at the corner of her mouth. She cleared her throat. “I’m thinking about hitting that sale happening today at Heathrow. Starts around eleven, I think.” She looked at her mother. “Do you wanna go?” Her mother’s eyes shifted quickly to the side as she turned away. “No… Amory… honey, we need to have a talk.” Suddenly the mood had shifted. Amory felt the light heartedness of the morning disappear as a tense anxiousness etched itself across her mother’s face. “What’s up?” Amory asked, trying to keep her voice light. Her mother sighed and said carefully, "There's been an unexpected change in our plans for this weekend. I got a call yesterday that there has been an emergency with your father's family. We'll be taking a little road trip up to Troy to help sort everything out." Her father’s family? Amory vaguely recalled overhearing a conversation her parents had had when she was a child. "Hasn't it been like 100 years since they reached out to us?" she asked. "Last I remember, Dad said we were better off without them. Why now?" Her mother took a deep breath and Amory thought she detected a hint of nervousness in her voice. "It's … complicated.” Her mother gave her a soft smile. "It'll just be for a few days. I've got a bag packed already. Go ahead and grab what you might need while we're gone. I figure we can leave in the next hour or so."