I woke up early the next morning. I threw on a robe and made my way towards the kitchen. There was a coffee mug for me set out on the counter. I poured myself a cup and said good morning to Emily.

"Good Morning, how did you sleep?" Emily asked. She was taking cinnamon rolls out of the oven.

"Pretty good," I replied. I did finally go to sleep after tossing and turning for most of the night. It was way too quiet here. I missed the noises from the city.

Sam came in the kitchen and said good morning to us. He kissed his wife and rubbed her round belly. We sat down to eat breakfast. As we were eating, there was a knock on the back door. I turned around to see my Aunt Sue enter with her arms stretched wide. We embraced and I started crying. I haven't seen her since my mom's funeral. Aunt Sue was my rock. She was the one who was by my side when my mom passed. It was hard finding the courage to call her. Mom didn't have any family that I could count on. My grandparents cut her off when she married my father. The night my mom died, I paced the floor of the hospital thinking about what I would say to Aunt Sue when she picked up the phone. I wasn't even sure if she would talk to me. Mom stopped talking to her years ago, and I never understood why she cut off all communication with the only family we had. I had swiped Aunt Sue's number from one of the letters she sent to mom. When she answered I apologized for the long separation and begged her to forgive me. She hopped a flight in the wee hours of the morning to be by my side as my mom took her final breaths. When I had no strength to move, she made all the funeral arrangements.

"Aww, baby, stop crying. I missed you too." She said, as she wiped the tears from my eyes with her hands.

"I have something I want to show you after breakfast."

An hour later, Aunt Sue, Emily and I got into the car for a drive to our unknown destination. I had a feeling that I knew where we were going. My suspicions were confirmed when I recognized the dirt road that led to the driveway before we approached it. We pulled up to a simple brick house that was in the middle of a clearing. Aunt Sue's old house was a short walk to the right. She left the house to Seth and Leah when she married Charlie. My house stood there as a quiet reminder of the past. It was strange for the house to be so silent. It had so much life in it before my dad died. Although we rebuilt we couldn't bring back the energy that kept that house alive. Aunt Sue handed me the keys, and my hands shook as I unlocked the door. My eyes were closed as I stepped through the entrance. For a brief second, I expected to see my dad sitting in his favorite chair and my mom in the kitchen. When I opened my eyes I saw a small group gathered in the living room, Leah, Seth and Chief Swan.

Charlie, this is Nala," Aunt Sue said. I had heard a lot about Charlie in the last few months. He wasn't unable to attend my mom's funeral, so this was the first time we met.

"Hi, Nala, welcome back," he stated.

"Thanks, Charlie," I replied. I felt shy all of a sudden. It was sad that I hardly remembered anyone.

I walked around the house taking in my surroundings. Everything was different. There were new floors and carpet. I noticed new cabinets and counters in the kitchen. I walked upstairs, lining the hallway there were pictures of me and my parents. I wondered where did, Aunt Sue find all these? I walked into the front bedroom and a surprised gasp escaped my lips.

"Wow!" I exclaimed.

The room was painted my favorite color lavender. There was a queen size bed and two dressers. I stood in the middle of the room speechless. Emily, Aunt Sue and Leah walked into the room. Aunt Sue spoke first,

"Nala, sweetheart, we thought that you would like to return to your home. We fixed the place up so you could live here."

"What about my things?" I asked.

"All taken care of, your things will arrive on Tuesday. I even packed some of your things for tonight. I wasn't sure if you wanted to stay at our house after you saw this," Emily replied. I walked over and hugged everyone.

"Thank you, everyone," I said, surprised.

I was astonished that they would do all this, knowing my stay here was only for the summer. I had a full scholarship to attend UCLA's Production/Directing Master's program. Ever since I was old enough to own a video camera, I was filming something. Mom and Dad brought my first one when I was eight. I created movies about, frogs, trees, and the ocean, anything I could. When we moved to New Orleans I filmed many short films with my friends. I had made a video about my mother as part of the application process. Never in my wildest dreams did I think I would be accepted into the school. I enjoyed the early morning talking to my family and laughing at Seth's jokes. Leah was talking about Isaiah and was actually glowing. She talked about how generous he was. She said they were starting their own charity for the kids in Seattle. She also hoped to start a scholarship program for the rez kids. Once I met him, I would have to thank Isaiah for the new entertainment system and living room furniture. Leah said they wanted to give me a welcome home gift. My family left the house shortly before noon. Before they left, Charlie invited me to come to the house for dinner later on in the week. I agreed. It would be good to spend some time with my Aunt. Leah and I drove into town and ended up at a small diner. The waitress came over to take our orders. We both ordered a burger, some fries and an iced tea.

"So little cousin, what's been up with you? I haven't spoken to you in months. I know you're excited about going to Cali,"

"Lee, I am soo excited. I've wanted to direct movies for as long as I can remember and now it looks like it's really gonna happen."

"Mom is so glad you're back. With Seth working and me in Seattle all the time, she's glad to have someone to fuss over."

"I miss having someone to fuss over me. I'm so glad I got the opportunity to come back and see you guys. I never understood what made my mom wanna leave."

"Nala, your mom wanted you to have a good life. She didn't want you to be a cashier at Wal-Mart or get knocked up by some rez boy at sixteen. Look at you. You have a degree, and you got accepted into one of the best film schools in the country."

"I know that Lee, but I gotta feeling it was more than that. She was scared when we left. She didn't even tell your mom where we were. I don't know. I always felt like she knew something and didn't wanna tell me."

"We always hoped she'd call one day. I know everyone is glad you came back. We can't make up for all the years that were lost, but I hope you know we're all here for you now."

"I know," I replied. I knew she was right. I hoped one day I'd have the answers to all my questions. I just couldn't understand what could have been so dangerous here, that she felt we had to move halfway across the country to avoid it. La Push always had its little quirks, but it never was scary to me. I did notice some changes leading up to the time we left. Leah and Seth got sick that year. They both started acting really strange. I thought it was weird when Leah stopped coming to our house. She was really close to my mom. She could come and talk to her when she couldn't talk to her own mother. We had all been through a lot in such a short period of time, so nobody gave it too much thought.

The waitress came over with our food. She smiled and told us to let her know if we needed anything. Leah and I started to eat.

"By the way, what's up with the looks you were giving Jake last night?"

I gave her a surprised look. I was embarrassed that she noticed and started laughing nervously.

"Okay, you caught me. I had a crush on him when I was a kid. I had no idea he looked like that! Somebody should have warned me."

"You should see the chicks that walk by his shop. It's hilarious. I think some of them crash their cars on purpose just so they can go to him."

"Speaking about cars, I need one. You think we can stop by his shop on the way home?"

"Sure," she replied "You know Jake's been there for me whenever I needed him. When my dad died he was the only person I talked to. I annoyed the hell out of everyone. Hell, I annoyed him too. I was so mean to him and he still stuck by me. I was lashing out at all the people who loved me. I know he went through a lot. He should have never come back after what she did to him. She was such a selfish little bitch. I hope my "step-sister" never comes back."

"Wow, Lee, no happy family reunion for you, huh?"

"I'm serious, Nala, she never gave a damn about him. She played him and he was too caught up in loving her to notice it. She did what she could to get him to stick around her and as soon as pretty boy wooed her with all his riches, she was gone," Leah replied shaking her head.

"Are you sure Jake never got over her? He looked pretty happy last night."

"You should see the last four girls he dated. They look like copies of the bitch. Right down to the brown eyes and hair. One even dressed like her."

Jake did a pretty good job of hiding how he felt. At least from what I saw. I thought about the conversation we had on the porch and how nice it felt just talking to him. We finished eating our food and paid our waitress.

After we left the diner, Leah took me to the market so I could get a few things. I wasn't the typical broke college student. I was grateful that I had some money put away in a saving account, since both of my parents had life insurance policies. I didn't plan on living on that money, so I would have to get a job for the summer. On the way home we drove past Jake's auto repair shop. I noticed three cars had for sale signs on them. I got out and took a look. It was a small shop that rested on the corner of Main Street. There were two garages in the front. Several cars took up the asphalt in the front of the shop. I looked inside and saw someone lying on the floor under a red sedan.

"Hello?" I called out. The person slid out from under the car.

"Can I help you?" An olive skinned man asked. He stood about five foot nine inches with short cropped black hair. I was disappointed, because he was not the person I was looking for.

"Um, I was looking for Jacob?'' I squeaked out.

"Oh, he'll be back in about an hour" He said moving towards me. He was trying to be discreet as he checked out my shapely figure. I was wearing tight jeans and a pink hoodie. I turned and noticed Leah coming up behind me.

"Hey, Jose, what's going on?" she asked smiling at him

"Leah, what's up girl? Tell my man Isaiah I'm rooting for him next season."

"Will do. Hey is Jake selling these cars out front or what? He's got a customer," Leah replied.

"He'll be right back. The name's Jose, by the way," Jose said, extending a hand.

"Hi, Jose, I'm Nala," I replied, shaking his hand.

"I'm sorry, so much for a formal introduction," Leah said

"Whatever, you are so rude," I joked. She gave me a shove and we laughed.

"You're more than welcome to stay and wait for him to come back. You're lucky though, usually he's at the other shop by now," Jose said.

"Alright we can wait. I don't wanna be this woman's chauffer forever," Leah said pointing to me.

"Hey! I thought you like driving Miss Daisy!" I shouted, pretending to be offended.

"There's a record store around the corner from here. I know how much you like your old school music," Leah replied.

"Okay," I said, following her back to the car.

"Jose, we'll be back in an hour," Leah shouted.

We went in the record store and shopped around killing time for an hour. I had picked up some of my favorites. My mom was a big fan of old school R & B and Hip Hop. As a child I got to listen to all the greats Luther Vandross, Teena Marie, Rick James, New Edition and my all-time favorite Prince. She would break out the old record player and play 45's. Every Saturday we would listen to music while cleaning the house. I still have that old record player. It's one of the few things that I had from my childhood. After paying for the records we made our way back to the shop. I noticed a new Mustang parked in front of the shop. I was admiring the car when Jake came out the shop and approached us.

"Yours?" I asked, pointing to the shiny blue car.

"Yup, I got it about a month ago," he replied

"V8 engine, is it a 5.0 or 5.4?"

"What do you know about that?" Jacob asked.

"I know my way around a Mustang."

"OK, well it's a 5.4L Supercharged 4V V8," he replied

"I thought so; this is the Coupe GT 500 right?" I asked

"Yeah, wow I'm impressed," he replied

"Told you I know my Mustangs," I stated smiling

"Alright enough with the Mustang foreplay, Nala needs a car," Leah said interrupting my lust of Jacob's car.

"Did you see something you liked?" he asked.

I wanted to say "you" but instead I pointed towards the black Toyota Camry sitting in front.

"How much?" I asked

"That's four thousand," he replied.

"Sold, fill me in on the details," I said.

He led us into his small office to talk in private. He sat down at his desk, which was covered in papers. He pulled out a drawer that was also filled with papers. He got up and looked in a messy file cabinet. Finally he found what he was looking for, which happened to be the title for the car.

"Jeez, Black! This place is a mess!" Leah exclaimed

"Yeah, I know. I just haven't had the time to do anything about it. I need to hire somebody to work in the office."

Leah nudged me.

"Jake, I have some front office experience and I need a job. How about you hire me for the summer? " I asked.

"Sounds good to me, Can you work ten am to seven pm?"

"Sure, we can discuss everything after I finish buying this car."

Jake went over the details and I paid for my new car. By the time we left I had a new car and a new job.