Darcy Jones
Outfit hex #eb5bc9
Christmas had been interesting. The last few weeks had been interesting in fact. It was a lot to mull over on the drive back to Cascadia. Darcy banged her head against the wall. She never thought she would be grateful for the distraction of classwork. Still, it had been nice to see her brothers again. Their gentle teasing was her strange little safety blanket.
”Father, who is this woman at the dinner table?”
“No, no, I distinctly remember that my sister was much smaller.”
“Who’s Booker?”
“She’s blushing! Who is he?”
It had been a good Christmas. Jesse brought his family down, his fiance Sarah and his daughter Emma. Emma had spent most of Christmas Day on her uncle’s knee, the two of them utterly smitten with each other. Darcy and Sarah had browsed through wedding dresses. It had been a nice Christmas until her mom’s card arrived. Darcy had only read it twice, but she knew the details by heart.
She hid the card at the bottom of her sock drawer. Darcy wasn’t sure why she had bought it with her. Leaving it at home felt wrong and she couldn’t bring herself to destroy it. Cards and letters from her mom were few and far between. Each item toed that line between precious and damned. It had occurred to her that leaving at home might have meant she wouldn’t have been allowed to come back to Cascadia. Her mom getting in touch and what had happened to that kid before Christmas, no way would her dad have let her come back.
Darcy slid her dress on. Maybe a party was exactly what she needed to get her mind off things. It would be good to see everyone again at least. Even the ones she didn’t particularly like. She checked her hair in the mirror and left.
The party was in full swing when she arrived. Darcy danced around the crowd to the bar and poured herself a vodka and orange. She looked around the room, looking for a familiar face. She saw Hatch’s mane of hair moving across the room, stopping by Isabella. She couldn’t see Booker anywhere. The realisation sent a pang through her chest, which she ignored, because it was totally ridiculous to feel that way about someone not being at a party. Instead, she snuck through the crowd to Beau. She placed a hand on Beau’s shoulder. “Hey Beau.”