"Home is the person or place you
want to return to over and over"- Unknown
ONE
She liked her surroundings, the multiple shades of green with the forest and ocean surrounding La Push. It was a relief to get away from the busy traffic and multiple people. It wasn't until she was passing the welcome sign to La Push with the window down, fresh air blowing against her face that the feeling of homesickness wrapped around her. She could truthfully say it was a pleasure to be back, though she wished the occasion could have been better.
She had received a call yesterday from the hospital explaining that her mother had a heart attack resulting in a stent implantation. Doctors' orders - the older woman needed care with limited physical activity and emotional support until her next appointment with the doctor to evaluate the progress. Dianne didn't need the advice, she had already been making a list of 'things to do' including buying a plane ticket and taking time off work while the hospital spoke to her.
She drove on the main road, passing the shops and pulled onto the familiar dirt road that bent around the trees. When she came to the end of the road, she smiled at the old, blue two-story house in front of her. Her childhood home had stayed the same over years but the peeling paint told her that it could do with some loving.
Taking note of the car beside her, she saw her mother wasn't the only thing that hadn't change. Sue Clearwater's car was parked beside her newly rented one, Dianne could remember getting lifts' home with the Clearwater's in that very vehicle after school.
Stepping outside of her car, the loud voice from the house told Dianne that her mother was obviously still fussing about her independence with the other woman.
She slowly made her way inside, not bothering to knock on the front door and headed towards the kitchen where she could hear the two women arguing about something. "I can make the tea." Her mother's voice once again reached her ears as she rounded the corner to see the two woman head to head with the hot kettle sitting on the stove between them.
"Aren't you meant to be in bed?" Dianne said, leaning against the kitchen doorway.
Both women turned to stare at her, making her feel somewhat uncomfortable under their gaze. "Dianne, it's good to see you!" Sue was the first to react, moving to pull the woman into a hug. "Gosh, hasn't my niece grown into a fine woman." She said, scanning the length of the young woman.
"Didn't expect you to come." The standoff tone of her mother was exactly what Dianne had been expecting. The last time they had seen each other, they'd been at each other's throats arguing – Dianne wanted to move away, experience something more than a small town while her mother thought it was best to stay in La Push.
"Irene!" Sue hissed in her sister's direction, not wanting the mother and daughter to get into a heated conversation and push her niece from them once again. "I asked her to come."
"I'm making myself tea." The woman stubbornly answers and turned to the kettle on the stove. Dianne didn't need her nursing degree to know that her mother wasn't in the best of shape - the shake of her hands and dark circles under her eyes told the truth. Dianne never really thought as her mother been old, even with her being the oldest sister but she could see the signs of aging now.
Dianne didn't ask, she simply did and moved forward to pick up the kettle before her mother could. She expected some fighting words to be thrown at her but Irene simply gazed at her with an expression she couldn't describe before taking a seat at the dining room table.
She finished the task of making the cup of tea, remembering the spoon of sugar to satisfy Irene's sweet tooth before placing it in front of her mother. "I'd like to stay with you for a couple of weeks." She whispered the words, not sure of the response she would be given.
"That…would be nice." Irene replied slowly, knowing that no matter the words said between them, Dianne would always be her baby girl. "You still have your bedroom upstairs."
The woman returned to her cup of tea and Dianne gave a small smile to Sue before getting up from the table to collect her belongings from the rental car.
With a bag in each hand, she climbed the stairs and smiled at hearing the creaking steps. Being a child, she could remember trying to sneak down the stairs without getting caught for a glass of milk at night or in her teenage years, it was sneaking out with Leah.
Walking to the end of the hallway, her bedroom door was closed and she slowly opened it to find nothing had changed within the room. Her blue and purple double bed still sat in the middle of the room, along with her bookcase of novels and the desk that she had used during her school years. She put her bags down on the end of the bed and sat on the edge of the mattress. She brushed her fingers on top of the bedside table to find not a speck of dust around the room, telling her that her mother has visited her room.
The heavy footsteps on the stairs made a smile appear on her face, she doubted that her aunt or mother could make that much noise. She turned her head expecting to see her scrawny little cousin but did a double take at the guy standing in her doorway with a large smile. "Seth?" She questioned, the goofy smile telling her who it was while the body wasn't the boy she had left behind. "What did you do? Lift logs while I was gone?" She joked before getting up and pulling him into a hug, once again surprised by the strength of his arms around her body.
"Not looking to bad yourself." He joked back.
"I still like to go running in the morning." Dianne answered, taking a seat back on the mattress. "Nothing's changed in here." She glanced at the wardrobe, having no doubt the clothes she had left behind would be in there.
"Can you still cook those crepes?" Seth questioned, a wicked look appearing in his eyes as he filled in the silence surrounding them.
"Yesss." Unsure of what her cousin was planning until he raised his eyebrow. "You mean now?" She replied.
"Now would be great!" He threw her another one of his goofy smiles and she rolled her eyes before getting up from the mattress and started for the stairs. "Hell yeah!" Seth muttered to himself as he quickly followed behind her.
She was in the kitchen getting the ingredients ready, her eyes constantly flickering to the older women sitting in the sun outside on the bench. "She'll get better with you around." Seth promised, having seen his cousin check outside multiple times.
"Do you think she'll forgive me?" Dianne quietly asked. Her mother wasn't only stubborn in her nature but she was a very traditional person and believed in supporting the town community.
"With time." At Seth's wise words, she looked down at her hands and wondered if two weeks would be enough to start healing the frail relationship.
Clearing her throat, Dianne opened the fridge and had a look at the fruit inside. "Bananas or Strawberries?"
"Strawberries." Seth replied instantly, making Dianne remember the times when he was a toddler and would eat a whole punnet of strawberries by himself. It seems his favorite fruit hadn't changed over the years.
Opening the container, she put the strawberries in the sink to wash them. "I see mum is still growing her own food." Another fond memory, sitting outback with her cousins and munching on the sweet fruits.
She turned back to the sink and twisted the tap on though no water came from it, it simply made a clunking sound that rattled through the walls. "Is that normal?" She looked behind her to Seth who negatively shook his head. "Maybe we should-" The cold water tap suddenly popped off, putting a hole in the plaster of the roof while water poured out of the tap hole like a fountain. Dianne quickly grabbed the tea towel and tried to put pressure on it, it did little to help with the situation. "Go turn off the water!" She yelled at Seth and he was out the front door within minutes.
Moments later, the pressure underneath her hands turned to a leak and she blew her wet hair from her face. "Did it work?' Seth came back into the kitchen only to start laughing loudly at the state of his cousin in her soaked clothes.
"It's not funny." She stated, trying to frown at the boy only to feel a small smile twitching at the corner of her lips.
"What happened!?" Sue's voice called from the front door as the two women made their way into the kitchen.
"Di decided to have a water fight." Seth joked, a large smile on his face at the unimpressed expression from his older cousin.
"There's a hole in my roof." Irene stated, making everyone's eyes glance to the roof where the tap sat caught in the plaster. Dianne gave one look at the roof and winced, knowing she wasn't making the best impression with her mother. Taking a chance, she looked in the direction of the older woman and actually found a small, hidden smile on her face contrasting to her dry words.
"How about we have dinner at my house tonight?" Sue suggested in which her sister agreed, knowing they wouldn't be able to turn the water on.
"I'll organize someone to come around to fix the pipes." Dianne tried to remember anyone locally who did plumbing.
"I've got a friend who would be willing." Seth answered, he gave the older women an expression that Dianna didn't understand before walking out of the house without a further word.
"I guess, I'll go get dry." The young woman received a nod from her mother before she started up the stairs, trying to skip the puddles of water on the kitchen floor as she went. "And I'll get the mop when I come back down."
She quickly made her way upstairs, going to the hallway cupboard for towels when the door handle came loose in her hand. "You've got to be kidding me." She muttered under her breath, the house was falling apart. She managed to open the hallway door and get a fresh towel before making her way into her bedroom with the door handle in hand.
Opening one of her suitcases, she pulled out another pair of jeans and a shirt. She quickly dried her shoulder length hair with the towel and threw it up into a messy bun before walking downstairs. She opened the storage area under the stairs and pulled out the mop and bucket as she made her way into the kitchen.
Dianne was caught by surprise by the person laying on their floor with their head stuck underneath the kitchen sink, she didn't expect someone to be around their house that quick. Her eyes run from the bare feet to the cut off shorts and muscular stomach, it was defiantly a male underneath there. He was laying on his back and her eyes went straight to the V line of his lower abdominal muscles, making a shaky sigh escape her.
"That should be right." The strong voice answered from under the sink, he pulled himself out from underneath and caught sight of the woman gazing at his body. He couldn't help the grin on his face at the effect he had on the woman.
She felt a blush cover her cheeks at the knowledge she'd been caught gazing at the man in front of her, and looked down at the mop in her hands for a moment before finally getting the courage to look the man in the face. She was caught by surprise by how much she liked the curve of his lips, the grin on his face. It wasn't until she reached his chocolate coloured eyes that she felt somewhat out of breath, and for some reason, she felt as if she had some kind of connection with this stranger. "Thanks." She finally managed to whisper while the man simply stared at her. Just as quickly, the grin on his face fell and a hardness overtook his eyes along with his tense body. "What do I owe you?" She asked hesitantly, wanting the previous grin to return to his face.
"It's on the house." His voice came out rough as he made his way to the hallway, not bothering to look back as she took in his shaking body. She felt compelled to follow him, her feet trailing behind him into the hallway as he made his way out the door quicker than her.
The slam of the front door barely missed her as it thundered throughout the house, making an unknown coldness spread through her.