We Made It

A soft smile took over her features, as somebody approached the steps of the inn. “You’re welcome to come on in,” She offered brightly. “It’s far too hot to be hangin’ out outside.” Of course, most days, you could find Lola tucker away catching a sunburn in the front yard. “It’s sixty a night, but that covers a breakfast in the morning each day and free reign of the entire place. There’s a pool out back and everything.” 

“Are you lookin’ for a place to stay?”

“Oh, um, sure.” He said as he followed her inside, taking in the peaceful surroundings. It was definitely his kind of place. Not crowded with people, not overwhelmed with noise, just perfectly peaceful. “Yeah, I was thinking about me daughter and I having a lil weekend getaway from our house.”

Church wasn’t a place that Finley found herself often. But as she passed it, she heard music – non-Church music. She stopped, waiting to listen as Devon played, enjoying it while she could. “I appreciate the free concert,” she teased.

He wasn’t expecting anyone to be watching, but he supposed an audience of one didn’t hurt. “I’m glad I could entertain.” He chuckled as he looked over at her. 

Abby sighed. “Man, I want to experience London more than anything in the world. And Paris. And Amsterdam. Mainly I just want to travel eventually. When my blog is making more- or enough- to let me do that without relying on my parents.” She sipped her coffee and looked at him thoughtfully. “Does it rain there as much as they say it does?  I feel like sitting and watching the rain fall out the window sounds really nice and peaceful.”

He laughed softly, nodding. “From what I remember? Yeah, it did rain a lot.” He took another sip of his drink. He shook his head and thought back to those days, smiling softly. “It’s even more beautiful in person.”

With the small home renovations she was doing to her place, she found herself always in need of some item she’d forgotten to purchase on her previous trip to the shop. She was always having a hard time remembering to buy more than she needed and keeping the extras. Pulling up to the store, she saw the worker that had previously helped her and maybe he could help her again if she didn’t catch him on a bad time. “Hey you,” she offered him a smile as she walked up to him. “Are you done for the day already?”

"Make sure you do all your homework before I get there. You know what we talked about.” He texted before looking up. He was technically off his shift, but he was known for being willing to help customers after his hours were up. He liked the feeling of helpin others. “Yeah, but I can spare a few minutes. Looking for something?”

Frankie muttered a quick thank you and his address, waiting for the man to get into his car first before he followed and climbed into the passengers side. His awkwardness was tangible and Frankie couldn’t blame him, the last thing he wanted though was to be the cause of any discomfort. He slipped his bag down between his feet and took a glance to his left. “Thanks for this. I, uh…I gotta get better at not losing my shit, damn keys go missing every other day it feels like.”

Devon raised his eyebrows as he started the engine, biting his lip as he turned the radio on at a low volume. “Hey, I do that shit all the time.” He mumbled softly before he noticed one of Alyssa’s folder’s left on the passenger’s side floor. Ugh, that kid was gonna get a talking to when he picked her up later. “Sorry, let me get this.” He grabbed the folder and laid it on the backseat. “Me daughter apparently forgot her homework folder.”

“hmm, yeah, that made me stop too.” ferazia told him, sounding a little dreamy. “i cannot wait until it’s me over there.” she admitted and smiled softly. “do you want to get married someday?” she asked, having not noticed a ring or anything. as well as his young age made her think he wasn’t married.

He chuckled softly, holding up his left hand to reveal a rose gold wedding band. “Already was.” He inhaled before lowering his hand. He didn’t exactly know how to bring up his wife to strangers. 

gaspar had just closed the shop and was walking home when they saw devon sitting down on the curb. “can you miss one?” they asked as they motioned towards the cigarette in his hand. “gettin’ used to bluebell, then?” they wondered as they sat down on the curb next to him, not ready to go home and settle down just yet.

Devon looked over at them, nodding as he handed a cigarette over. “Yeah, actually.” He chuckled as he took another drag. “I kinda like it as opposed to hearing a shit ton of noise outside me window every day.” He used to love the noise, but for personal reasons, he couldn’t say the same now. In fact, sudden noise could do...well, bad things to him. So he liked the peace and quiet of a small town.

Abby shrugged her shoulders a little. The farm wasn’t the worst thing she could imagine, she was slowly getting used to it, but she wasn’t sure she would call it pleasant. “It’s something.” She sipped her coffee and hummed a little. “I like it a lot at night when things settle down and you can sit outside and listen to the animals just existing. I like it a lot less during the day when my uncle wants me to help him clean poop out of stalls.”

Devon took another sip of his drink and nodded. There weren’t a lot of animals outside his window back home, but he could relate to the memories of peaceful nights listening to the world outside. That is, when his parents weren’t screaming at each other. “When I was in London, sometimes I liked sitting by me window and listening to the cars outside.” He shrugged. “It was...peaceful.”

Once outside, he sat on the curb a lit a cigarette, watching the cars pass by. He loved that Bluebell didn’t have quite as much traffic as Nashville did. It was quieter. Peaceful, actually.