Home Is Where the Heart Is

by Hart, Abigail

  Kyra returned to the bags on her bed and filled them with enough clothing to last her a week, or maybe two if it came to that. After she added her toiletries, she headed for the front door, grabbing her Kindle and tossing it into her purse as she went. There’s no way in hell she would leave home without the mountains of books tucked into her trusty ereader, especially since she would be stuck in Sizzle, Texas, the equivalent to the middle of God’s nowhere, or BFE, as she liked to call it.

  She locked the front door to her cozy little condo and headed for the elevator, letting out a depressed sigh as she pressed the ground floor button. The air in the elevator was thick with the uncertainty that radiated from her. A lone tear escaped her already-swollen eyes as the doors opened to a bright Houston afternoon. It was one of those days worthy of spending in the park, reading a chunky romance novel where the girl gets the guy and they live happily ever after, which was as close to romance as Kyra got these days.

  Her love life was utterly loveless. She hadn’t had the courage five years ago, and she didn’t want to chance another broken heart. Instead, she lived for her job at the bookstore. She found romance in black and white, between the covers of romance novels written by women who obviously had an idea what real love was like. That wasn’t her.

  There was only one man for her and he was taken… forever. There were moments when she hoped to find love, to be swept off her feet. She prayed for it, begged for it. She yearned to be touched, to be held by a man as he whispered tender loving words into her ear as they lay in bed, but she had never made it past dinner with the few dates she had worked up the courage to go on. None of those guys could compare to Dylan.

  Paula told her it would happen for her when she wasn’t expecting it, that the love of her life would appear at a time when she needed his love and companionship most of all. She hoped Paula was right.

  She fumbled for the keys to her shiny, pepper-white convertible Mini Cooper and hit the button to unlock the doors. Tossing her bags into the backseat, she wondered what it would be like to see Dylan again after all these years. Would he be as handsome and drool-worthy as he was when she fled town like a bat-out-of-hell? Of course he would! But that wouldn’t change the fact that he was a married man.

  She had a long drive ahead of her. She settled into the cool leather seat, fastened her seatbelt, and revved up the engine. The car purred like a kitten as she pulled out of the parking garage, sunglasses hiding her puffy eyes. Even though this wasn’t a vacation, she rather enjoyed the freedom of a long drive, the wind whipping through her long brunette hair as she sped down the highway.

  She had changed a lot since she left Sizzle. Being on her own had allowed her to experience so much and grow stronger as an independent woman. She treated herself like a queen in every way that she could. Romance aside, she wanted for nothing. The last five years had been good to her. Sure, her heart still ached, but it had lessened some.

  As she zoomed down the highway, her thoughts began to drift to her old life in her hometown, memories of her childhood flooding her thoughts. In middle school, she had met her best friend, Jenna. They had been inseparable. She remembered the first time she slept over at Jenna’s house and met her older brother, Dylan. She hadn’t thought much about boys at that point until she saw him. He was so much older than her and he was drop-dead gorgeous. Every time she slept over, she watched him, oogled him, and dreamed about him.

  Of course, he didn’t notice her. Why would he? She didn’t have a sexy body or any breasts to speak of. He was way out of her league and she knew it. He wouldn’t care the slightest about a little girl the way she cared for him, but he would joke and pick on them all of the time. As they got older, Jenna had noticed her infatuation with her brother, causing the longtime-friendship between the girls to fracture.

  Jenna had accused Kyra of only being her friend so she could be close to Dylan. Kyra had sworn that it wasn’t true. She didn’t want to lose her friend. But that’s exactly what happened. The argument between the two girls had been brutal and filled with hurtful words that stung deep. They went their separate ways and hadn’t spoken since.

  Of course her childhood was filled with plenty of happy memories, too, but all she could seem to remember as she drove further out of town were the ones that made her feel bad about herself and her life. Going home would be hard as hell, even now. She groaned at the thought of facing Dylan and Harley. It was a small-town so she was certain to run into the happy couple at some point. Swallowing her pride, she decided to hold her head high and ignore the feelings assaulting her. “Damn small towns,” she groaned to herself.

  Kyra’s cell phone buzzed with her mother’s ringtone and she quickly hit the speaker button. “Hello, Mom.”

  “Kyra, honey, I have some really bad news.”

  She remained silent, dreading the worst. She had already been told her father had been shot. What other bad news could there be? She was afraid she already knew the answer, praying she was wrong. Today was turning out to be the worst day of her life.

  “Kyra, your dad is gone. I’m so very sorry, honey,” her mom said.

  Kyra’s eyes flooded with tears as she took in the news. Her dad was gone. She hadn’t thought this would happen, hadn’t wanted to believe it was a possibility. She was so sure that he would be okay. Her dad was a strong man, a fighter. The sudden loss she felt as her mother’s words sunk in sent a cold wave of heartbreak through her.

  “Oh, mom. I just... I can’t believe this is happening.” Wiping her tear-stained face with the heel of her palm, she mumbled, “I’ll be home soon. I’m… I’m not too far away.” Her voice cracked with each word as she sobbed. She hung up and pulled over at the next rest area and cried until she couldn’t anymore. This couldn’t be happening. Her dad was a wonderful man. He had been a partner at Perry and Michaels Law Firm for thirty-five years, and had always been a well-respected attorney in Sizzle and the surrounding counties. The firm covered an array of legal cases, from civil cases to criminal law. He was the go-to guy if you needed legal help, and he practiced law like he lived his life – on the straight and narrow, following all the rules, always doing the right thing.

  “Who could possibly want to hurt my dad?” Kyra thought aloud, her voice gravelly from crying. She raised her fist, banging it on her steering wheel over and over again. She was on an emotional rollercoaster ride from hell, not knowing what to feel or think.

  As she pulled out of the rest area, she realized she was only an hour away from Sizzle’s city limits. Her return home was going to be an extremely sad one. There was no way she could hide from all of the people wanting to comfort her and her mom. She would be forced to face everything and everyone, forced to not only see, but also feel everything.

  Grumbling at the thought of standing face-to-face with Dylan and that harlot of a wife of his made her stomach turn. Stomach acid rose like a geyser up her throat, burning like liquid fire. Surely she could manage to hold herself together for a week or so. It’s not like she would have to spend a lot of time around the two lovebirds. They weren’t important. The trip home was to be one of mourning, not of lost love. She needed to be there for her mother, help her through their loss, help her to begin again without her father.

  “God, please give me the strength to handle anything that comes my way. I’ll just have to put on my big-girl panties and hope that I can survive Sizzle one more time.” She floored the Mini Cooper, determined to meet this challenge head-on. She could stop at every rest area along the way, but the destination remained the same. Might as well not put it off.

  The city lights had faded into long sweeping highways lined with pine trees and lush greenery as she got closer to Sizzle. The beauty of the countryside had been something she had missed desperately when she moved to Houston. She longed for the miles of wildflowers growing in the countryside. The cozy homes that lined the streets of Sizzle had had colorful manicured yards akin to a painting by Monet. She was certain the beauty of the little town was
still the same. Things like that never really changed. That’s part of what gave Sizzle its charm.

  As a child, she felt like Sizzle was a magical place filled with amazing people that magically knew everything. Now she knew the truth. There wasn’t a drop of magic in that town. It was just a small town where everyone knew everyone else’s business and nobody could have or keep a secret. That bit of reality stole the magic she had once grasped so tightly in her youth.

  “Leaving Sizzle was the best move I ever made and I’ll tuck-tail and hall ass again as soon as I can,” Kyra said to herself. “Forgive me, Dad, but I just can’t stay in that dreadful little town. My secrets will swallow me whole if I stay too long.”

  Finally, the moment Kyra had been dreading arrived. The Sizzle city limit sign was bearing down on her like a rabid animal gnashing its teeth. She closed her eyes for a brief moment – gripping the wheel until her knuckles were white as snow – as she flew by that damned sign. She was headed straight for her own personal hell at breakneck speed and there was no way she could ease the pain that was awaiting her.

  Kyra rolled onto Main Street in the middle of the afternoon, all eyes on her as she eased down the street. People on the sidewalks slowed their pace, their nosey bodies twisted this way and that way to get a look as she eased by them. She slumped against her seat, wanting to bury herself inside the soft leather. “Just as I expected,” she mumbled to herself. “Every damn eye is on the unknown vehicle driving into their perfect little town.” She forced a smile and waved at the onlookers. They didn’t wave back. No surprise there.

  She really wanted to scream at the top of her lungs. Of course it wouldn’t help a darn thing but it would make her feel a little better. Home was the only place she wanted to go… for now anyway. She needed to see her mother and find out what the hell happened to her dad.

  Kyra turned onto her parent’s street and eased the car into the driveway, glancing up at her childhood home as she put the car in park. The white, two-story house looked exactly as she remembered. Dad had kept the hedges trimmed the same, and the jasmine vines along the driveway smelled amazing. Jasmine had always been one of her favorite flowers and the sweet scent made her smile for the first time all day.

  She remembered helping her father plant each of the plants when she was a young girl. She had been the stereotypical daddy’s girl. The memory sent another wave of sadness crashing through her. Her shoulders slumped and her lips trembled at the memory. She rubbed her trembling hands up and down her arms in an attempt to comfort herself, but it didn’t work, the memory of her father so strong she couldn’t fight the emotions and she really didn’t want to.

  After she grabbed her bags, she walked slowly; feeling like each step was delivering her into the clutches of her past as she made her way closer to the front porch, feeling eyes bearing down on her from the neighbors as they no doubt watched from their curtained windows. Since she hadn’t been home in years, she knocked like a stranger and waited. Her mother opened the door and the tears began to fall once more.

  “Kyra, you made it. I’m so glad to see you, honey.” Liz hurried forward and hugged her daughter tight.

  “Mom, I…” Kyra had no words; she just tucked herself into her mother’s arms and followed her into the house. She hadn’t realized until then how much she had missed the warmth of her mother’s embrace. She needed her mother as much as her mom needed her.

  They made their way into the kitchen, the heart of the home. Catching up would have to wait for there were more pressing matters to discuss. Liz knew that Kyra would want to know more about her father’s death. She just didn’t know what to say or where to start exactly. So much had happened and Sizzle wasn’t exactly the same quaint little town her daughter had grown up in. It had a dark side to it now.

  Her husband had shared his concerns with her many times, but she knew there was more to the stories than what he had told. He had held something back; she was sure of it. Liz was happy that Kyra had run off to Houston to start a new life. If she had stayed, there’s no telling what her life would be like now.

  Kyra broke the silence with a question, cutting through the tension rumbling like a storm through the room. “What happened to dad?” The words rushed out of her mouth.

  “Darling, I just don’t know. He was shot at work. Tom found him.”

  “Did they catch the shooter?” Kyra asked.

  Liz didn’t meet her daughter’s eyes as she swallowed the lump in her throat. “No, darling. Nobody saw anything. Your dad was at the office alone.”

  “What do the cops say?” Kyra asked, pressing for more details.

  “They said they will be investigating your father’s cases and will talk to Tom. It’s possible that it could have something to do with his work… but they don’t know anything for sure at this point,” Liz stated, not sounding optimistic about their chances of discovering anything important.

  “Do they think he was killed by one of his clients?”

  Liz hesitated. “Kyra, I really don’t know much about his cases. Your dad didn’t really talk about his work at home anymore. Why don’t you go upstairs and get settled. I’ll fix us something to eat and we can talk some more.”

  Kyra grabbed her meager luggage and headed upstairs. She reached for the handle to her bedroom and hesitated. She couldn’t understand why someone would kill her dad… and she really wanted to know the answer to that question. As much as she hated to admit it, she might just have to stick around Sizzle and find out.

  Turning the handle, she stepped into her old bedroom and froze stiff. Nothing had changed. It was as if she had stepped back in time. Her childhood room had remained untouched for the entire time she had been gone. Not a single item out of place. Everything was just as she had left it.

  Her stomach grumbled at the thought of being nineteen again, all of the memories of her last day in Sizzle bubbling to the surface like lava erupting from a volcano. Her heart began to race, thundering like a stampede of wild horses across a field, as her eyes roamed over the old band posters decorating the walls. She quickly turned on her heels and ran for the bathroom across the hall.

  “Dear God, I can’t believe this. How will I ever survive this place?” she cried. She collapsed on the floor in front of the porcelain toilet and heaved, releasing the contents of her stomach. Her throat burned and her lungs ached. Finally, she slowly stood, grabbing a hand towel out of the cabinet. She quickly rinsed the putrid taste from her mouth and splashed cold water on her tear-stained face. Righting herself, she stepped back across the hall and back into the room that seemed to be frozen in time. She hung up the few clothes that she had packed and returning downstairs to her mother as quickly as possible, not wanting to be in that time capsule of her childhood any longer than necessary.

  Her fear of returning to Sizzle was more real now than it had ever been. She was facing the demons that had haunted her for years. Kyra wouldn’t admit it but coming back might be just what she needed. She had secrets when she left and now she was returning with those very same secrets in tow. Secrets safely locked away within the recesses of her soul. Maybe it was time to set them free.

  Liz and Kyra shared a quiet dinner and talked about Kyra’s life in Houston. Kyra began to wonder if her mother might want to return to Houston with her. A fresh start might do her good. She couldn’t imagine her mom alone in this big old house, facing years of memories each day by herself. Now wasn’t the time to bring it up, but after everything settled down, they could have a little chat and maybe make arrangements for an extended visit. Having her mother with her in Houston would be nice.

  Liz had always been a patient mother; she had never pressed for personal details, but she truly hated knowing that Kyra was so lonely. She prayed that her daughter would find a loyal and passionate man to make her happy. Looking at her daughter now, she knew she was more than deserving of a great man. After several hours of chatting over this and that, they headed to bed. Both women were exhausted and knew that the
morning would thrust darkness and grief aplenty into their lives. One thing was certain; the townspeople would begin to descend upon their quiet home soon. There was no way around the parade of condolences that would hit like a thunderstorm.

  After the way her world was flipped upside-down, counting sheep wasn’t going to ease Kyra into a calm sleep tonight. She lay stiff as a board in her bed, with her eyes trained on the ceiling. Tomorrow, she would be a shoulder for her mother to cry on. As a tear fell from the corner of her eye, she closed her eyes to the nightmarish day and fell asleep. Sleep took Kyra into its arms, holding her tight until her dreams finally overtook her.

  Kyra dreamed of the day she left Sizzle, but things didn’t happen exactly as they originally did on that day. She had packed her bags and headed for the city limit sign, when all of a sudden, she slammed on her brakes and whipped the car around. Dust billowed from the road, arcing high into the sunny sky as she headed for the gorgeous old church downtown.

  Cars lined the streets as she pulled into the church parking lot and threw her car into park. She slammed the door and ran, making her way up the steep steps to the main doors of the church, stopping only to catch her breath before flinging the doors open and marching up to the bride and groom standing at the altar. One look at the groom and she knew she was doing the right thing. She stepped in front of him and declared her love.