Chapter Two

Hailey and Katie had left, and Peyton and Riley were sitting on the ground eating pizza. "This pizza is really good." Riley said, but Peyton wasn't paying attention. "Mom. Hello. Earth to Mom." She waved a hand in front of her mother's face.

"Oh, sorry." Peyton said absentmindly.

"What's wrong?" Riley question.

"Um," Peyton put her slice of pizza down. "Honey I have to tell you something." She smiled reassuringly. "Your father is moving back to Tree Hill."

"What?! Why didn't you tell me?! Is this why you wanted us to move back here?!"

"No, no of course not. I didn't know. I swear. That's what Hailey was telling me tonight."

"Yah right. I don't believe you." Riley left her mom sitting on the living floor as she ran upstairs to her new bedroom. Once upstairs Riley sat and stared out the window. It was a large bay window and the window sill had a cushions and some pillows. Peyton thought it would be perfect for her daughter to sit there and read or draw. Outside, the sun was setting, and everything was so still. There was little noise except for some birds in the large oak tree in the backyard. It was so different from LA. It was Friday night and the town was completely dead. The knock she was expecting came after only a few minutes. Peyton didn't bother waiting for a reply. She entered to see her daughter staring out the window.

"Riley, you have to believe me. I really had no idea that he was moving back here. Really, I didn't." Peyton walked closer to her daughter.

"I know." Riley said quietly. She knew her mom wouldn't lie to her about this.

Peyton sat on the bed. "I think we better call him, and tell him that we moved. I should have done it before, but I just got so excited, and I forgot."

"I'm not talking to him. Remember?" Riley said still staring out the window.

"I know," Peyton sighed and walked over to her daughter. "Scoot over." Riley made room for her mother on the window sill. "Don't you think it's been long enough? I mean you can't stay mad at him forever." Riley continued to stare out the window. "Ri?"

"You can call him if you want, but I'm not talking to him."

Peyton sighed, but knew there was little she could do. Once Riley had made up her mind it was hard to change it. "Okay, but you're going to have to talk to him eventually." Peyton said as she stood up to leave. "Are you going to finish your pizza?"

"I'm not hungry. Can you shut the door when you leave?" Peyton did as her daughter asked.



--

Downstairs Peyton stared at her cell phone. She had been staring at his name for at least 10 minutes now, trying to work up enough courage to call him. Finally she pushed the green button, and waited.

"Hello."

"Hi, Luke." She said quietly.

"Peyton? Are you there I can barely hear you."

"No, no I'm here." She was louder this time. "So I heard you're moving back to Tree Hill." She was to the point. No sense in beating around the bush.

"Yah," he sounded confused. "You talk to Hailey?"

"Yeah, she um… stopped by." She hoped he would catch it.

"Stopped by? Where?" He asked puzzled.

"Luke, Riley and I moved back to Tree Hill today. I'm sorry I didn't tell you, but it was kind of spur of the moment, and I was going to call you. So yah." She said it so quickly he could barely understand.

For a minute it was quiet; neither of them knew what to say. "That's great." Luke finally said. "Now me and Riley will have a chance to talk face-to-face without one of us flying across the country." The happiness in his voice made her smile.

"Yah, I guess that is great. It'll be good for both of you. So when are you making the move?"

"Well, I got a job at the high school. I'm going to coach, and maybe teach a few English classes. So technically I don't have to be there until August, but I'm coming next weekend to look at houses, and I'm planning to move as soon as possible."

"That's great Luke."

"How's Riley? How's she liking Tree Hill?"

"Well, she's good, but she wasn't too happy when I told her about the move. I knew it was going to be hard for her with only 6 weeks of school left, but I did what I thought was best for her and me. I'm going to open up my own record company. I was just sick of working for someone. I want to be the boss, and I could have just rented the office down the street, but I decided that LA was not the best place for a teenager. So I figured, why not come home."

"That's awesome. I always knew that you'd have your own label one day. I'm really proud of you." Even though he was over 200 miles away Lucas Scott could still make her blush.

The two chatted for a few more minutes; they made plans for next weekend, and then they hung up. Peyton finished unpacking what was left in the kitchen, cleaned up dinner, and then headed upstairs to 

get ready for bed. It was early, but she was exhausted. She had a lot of work to get done tomorrow, and then her and Riley were going over to Hailey's for dinner.