Authors Note: Again, I am so sorry for the VERY long wait. I forgot about this story but want to get back into it, so this update includes two chapters. Thank you to everyone who has read it. I hope you have enjoyed the story!
Margot stood at her childhood bedroom door, the familiar salty smell of Virginia Beach drifting in through the open window. Once her sacred sanctuary, the room now felt like a stranger's. Virginia Beach had always been a place of comfort growing up, but now it was riddled with memories she wasn't sure she was strong enough to face.
The mornings were quiet—too quiet. She was painfully aware of her mother's absence. The woman who had been the glue that held their family together was now gone, leaving a void that seemed impossible to fill. Margot began moving through the days on autopilot; she started her new job in just three days. She went through the motions of her responsibilities, but her mind was elsewhere, lost in thoughts of what her return home truly meant.
Her thoughts were interrupted as footsteps approached her.
"Hey, Margot…"
She turned around to face her younger sister. She was holding a soft yellow gown. Emma was getting ready for a school dance. This would be one of Margot's first big tasks, helping her get ready. Margot couldn't ignore the weightiness that lingered in the space between them. Emma, usually so composed, seemed on the edge of breaking. Margot could see the pain in her little sister's eyes and watched as she tried to be strong despite still grieving.
"Do you think Mom would have liked this dress?" Emma asked quietly, looking shyly at the ground.
Margot's throat tightened as she paused. She walked to her sister and lifted her chin with her hand so their eyes met. "She would have loved it," she replied, smiling as tears pricked her eyes.
Before Emma leaves, Margot takes a picture of her, something she is sure her mother would have done. Reluctantly, she sends it to her dad, not expecting a reply.
Later that evening, the house was still bitterly quiet. She retreated to her mother's room. It was just as it had been left, untouched, as if her mother had only stepped out for a moment. Margot sat down on the bed, her fingers touching the soft quilt.
She lay down on the bed and held her mother's pillow close to her chest as she cried. Her resolve to stay strong began to break down. Margot took a deep breath and continued to cry, tears soaking the quilt that still held her mother's scent. The weight of her new-found responsibilities began to crash down on her, along with the realization that she couldn't do this alone. She needed to be there for Emma and Mikey, but she also needed to be there for herself.
She thought of her family, her breath hitching at the thought of her father. Their relationship was just another wound that hadn't been healed. He hadn't answered her many texts updating him about Emma and Mikey. He was distant, even over video calls, and Margot could feel her resentment towards him growing. How could he just leave them like this? How could he not see that they needed him?
Then there was Clay. She hadn't expected the intensity of her feelings for him to resurface, especially after all she was dealing with. But they did, and they made everything much more complicated.
That night, she fell asleep in her mother's bed. Margot wasn't sure what the future held, but she knew that this moment of breaking down, of feeling everything she had been holding back, was a beginning. It was the start of her journey toward healing, toward understanding what home meant now that everything had changed.