A little happy family moment at the end of this one. Hope you all enjoy it.

Chapter 52- Arizona

I can't believe she forgot her birthday. Dinner was on the table as I made my way downstairs after leaving Callie to get dressed. "she forgot" I say as I sat down at the table

"who forgot what?" Aria asked turning to look at me

"Callie" I laugh "she forgot tomorrow is her birthday"

"she's had a lot going on lately" Lucia says "with the wedding"

"tomorrow is Callie's birthday?" Sofia asked

"it is, she'll be 42" Lucia says with a smile "I can't believe how fast time flies"

"I remember when Zo was born" my dad says "she was a little chunk" I roll my eyes but let him talk, he doesn't talk about my mom that often, so when he starts I let him. "Barbara was in complete awe with her" I send up a silent prayer that he wouldn't start telling stories from when I was little. My prayers are answered when Callie came down and the conversation shifted to wedding talk, and of course Aria and Alex make fun of her for forgetting her birthday. After dinner I found myself alone on the back porch. With so many people in this house I didn't often have alone time, and truth be told I was a little lonely. Lighting my smoke, I looked out over the field, I couldn't' see much, it was dark and the moon wasn't out. I could see an overabundance of stars, I smile as I look up. A shooting star makes its way through the night sky, I close my eyes and make a wish. A wish no one will know about until it happens. Taking a drag off my smoke, I watch the smoke float into the air and float away in the slight breeze. This isn't what I wanted for my life, back when I was younger, I always thought I'd go away to college somewhere, and become an amazing writer, either a journalist or an author, I didn't care, I just loved to write. I used to sit for hours, when Alex and I weren't together, at my desk and write. There's something soothing about getting lost in a make believe story line. There were times when I'd be writing I'd have trouble remembering if something happened in real life or if it was in the current story I was writing. I wrote a book once, printed it out, and a friend was in the process of helping me edit it, and we were going to send it in. That never happened, the friend disappeared, and so did my dreams of being published. I let out a deep sigh as I hear the screen door slam "hi Zo" came the younger voice.

"hello Sofia" I smile

"what you doing?"

"smoking" I held out my cigarette

"hmm" she hums and sits down next to me "the smell reminds me of my mom, what kind do you smoke"

"Marlboro" I say nodding to the pack on the table, she reaches over and picks it up looking at it "yeah that's the same kind" she sets it back down "is it ok that I'm out here with you?" her voice is soft.

"it's fine" I say looking at her, I give her a smile so she knows she's not really bothering me.

"good" she sits back in the chair, and lets out a sigh.

"do you want one?" I ask

"no she does not want a cigarette" Callie says in a voice that let me know I was in trouble "Arizona she's 13, just because you started when you were 12 doesn't mean you can get her started"

"it's ok I don't want to smoke anyway" Sofia says, she lowers her voice and leans towards me "sorry I got you in trouble" I laugh "it's ok"

"Sofia, I know you're not used to it, but it's getting late, and you should get to bed" Callie says, I hear Sofia let out a sigh "you're right" she says and stands "but um, do you think maybe you two could tuck me in?" she asks "I know I'm kind of too old for it but" Callie looks at me, I nod, stubbing out my cigarette in the ashtray "lead the way" I stand. I could tell Sofia was excited, I wondered if she'd be able to sleep in a new house. I'm not sure if I have ever explain the layout of this house. The upstairs has 4 bedrooms and a half bathroom, the downstairs has another bedroom which my grandpa added once my grandma got arthritis so bad she couldn't make it up the stairs anymore. The downstairs room is my dad's, me and Alex have two rooms upstairs, leaving two guest rooms. Lucia is in the one Callie slept in her first night and Sofia is leading Callie and I to the other. Once inside she crawls up onto the bed, and I look around the room "tomorrow we'll go shopping, and get you somethings so you can decorate"

"you don't have to do that" Sofia says as she pulls the covers over her

"we want to" Callie says sitting down on the bed "I know you're a little old for it but do you want a story?"

"will you tell me how you two met?" Sofia asks, I see Callie smile and nod. I walk over to the other side of the bed and sit down. I was interested in how Callie was going to tell our story. "well" Callie starts out, then looks at me "why don't you start" I roll my eyes and move so my back is leaning against the foot of the bed. Taking a deep breath I begin "that day was hot, like super gross hot, I had to go into town and get some dog food, we go through a lot of it. The truck I was driving didn't have any air conditioning, and I had both windows down as I drove. It started raining, and I had to pull over to roll up the passenger side window" I look at Sofia, I could tell she was totally invested in this story "as I lean over the seat I saw some tire tracks leading into a corn field, so I looked closer, I saw it was a car"

"Callie was in the car wasn't she?"

"I was" Callie laughs "something had ran out in front of me and when I swerved to miss it, my tires hit something and I went into the field. I had actually been there for a while before Arizona came. And it was a lucky thing she came when she did"

"why is that?"

"because a tornado formed moments after we got into the truck and drove away, it picked up my car and put it in the Kepner's barn"

"no way" Sofia says, Arizona and I both laugh remembering that. "Zo, what did you think when you first saw Callie"

"I was awe struck at first, I remember thinking she was the woman of my dreams" I say

"and you Callie?"

"I knew there was something amazing about this woman and I couldn't get her off my mind" she looks at me and we share a smile "you two really are in love" Sofia comments "I just met you and I can see it"

"we are" Callie says reaching for my hand

"it's late, and I'm tired, I haven't been sleeping well, as you know"

"you don't want to hear the end of the story?" Callie asks standing up

"I already know how it ends, you fall in love and live happily ever after, then you find a random kid sleeping in an alley and end up adopting her" Sofia says as she pulls the covers up. "and we all live life as a happy family"

"is that how it ends?" I ask as I stand

"no" Sofia shakes her head, that's just the beginning" she smiles, I watch as Callie leans down and places a kiss on her forehead, she whispered something I couldn't hear, once Callie stood up, I leaned in doing the same. "good night Sofia"

"good night Callie and Zo and thank you"

"you're very welcome" Callie says as we leave the room.