Six Months Earlier
Andrea Zuckerman looked over at her daughter Hannah, who was sleeping peacefully beside her. Their drive from New Haven had taken four days, four days in which Andrea had taken joy in spending every minute with her daughter.
Hannah, at seven, was too young to understand the real reason why her Mom had sold their house, or why she'd had to leave her school, or why she was moving to a completely different state from her Dad, Step-Mom and baby brother.
Andrea felt guilty about so many things, but she knew she was making the right decision.
Andrea was going home, going back to everything she'd missed so much in the last few years.
As the crisp New England grass had grown shaggier and sparser, Andrea had grown more excited. When she caught her first glimpse of the ocean, she had almost squealed.
Instead, she reached a hand over, and gently shook Hannah awake.
"Hannie…" She said gently, as Hannah started to stir, rubbing her eyes, and pushing the bushy dark brown hair out of her face.
"Look!" She said excitedly, before Hannah had a chance to complain about being woken up.
Andrea was pointing to the endless ocean in the distance, just viewable over the top of the hill they were driving down.
Hannah squealed when she realised what she was looking at, and Andrea smiled. Like mother, like Daughter, she thought, her heart warming.
"And we're going to live on the beach Mom?" Hannah asked excitedly.
"We sure are," Andrea said, reaching out again to push some of Hannah's frizzy hair, behind her ear.
"Mom!" Hannah complained, swatting her mother's hand away.
Andrea bought her hand back to the steering wheel, shaking her head. Hannah refused to let Andrea do anything about her hair, and yet, she was too lazy to ever pull it back, so it was out of her pretty face.
"How long til we get there?" Hannah asked eagerly.
"No long now," Andrea said, pulling off the expressway.
"In fact, I'm starting to recognise landmarks already," she said, peering out her window at a familiar burger joint.
Andrea could practically taste the peach pie melting in her mouth, but she drove on, reminding herself that soon, she would be able to go for peach pie whenever she wanted.
As she continued driving, Andrea marvelled at how different some aspects of her old home had changed in her absence. She hadn't been home for a visit in two years, but things had certainly changed.
Some things, not all things, she thought, as she pulled up a few minutes later outside a very familiar beach apartment.
This is it, she thought, as she sat in her seat, staring up at the apartment, you can't hide for much longer.
"We're here Hannie," she smiled at her daughter, who was practically bouncing in her seat, trying to get a look at the beach.
"Come on. Let's leave all this stuff for later, and go on up," Andrea said, unbuckling her seat belt.
They got out of the car, and stretched, sore from not having stopped for three hours. Three hours was the longest Andrea had driven for at a time, she knew a lot about road fatigue from her job as a free lance writer for various newspapers, and she had been determined to rest plenty on their trip.
Grabbing Hannah's hand, she led her daughter up to the memorable apartment, and rang the bell.
After a few moments, Kelly Taylor answered the door, a massive smile plastered all over her face.
"Oh, I've missed you!" She said, grabbing Andrea in a big hug.
Andrea felt tears welling up in her eyes, and her throat constricted at the sight of her old friend.
No, she definitely couldn't hide anymore.
