Coming Home

“Well, what have we here?” Jeff asked, smirking toward the woman walking his way. She smiled back at him as she wrapped her arm around his neck.

“Hey Jeff, long time,” she commented to her best friend. He shrugged and looked down to the stroller she was pushing in front of her.

“Understandable,” he replied. “She’s getting so big.” he sighed, staring into Lillian’s big brown eyes.

“She is,” Adrienne smiled, reaching down to stroke the soft brown hair on the top of her daughter’s head.

“So, Matt’s having a barbeque later on tonight. Stop by, I’m sure he’ll love to see little miss Lily.” Jeff said, looking back up toward Adrienne.

“You know what, I just might take you up on that.” Adrienne nodded. “I need a little, escape.”

“I’ll let Matt know to expect you,” Jeff said. He bent forward and kissed her cheek before kneeling down. “I’ll see you later princess,” he said to Lily. The baby stared up at him and smiled. He laughed and stood up, saying a quick goodbye to Adrienne before walking away. Adrienne sighed and looked back down at her daughter. She smiled at the baby and kept walking through the mall. She went into a store she knew she could find things she needed for Lily.

“Let’s see,” she muttered, looking at racks of baby bottles and formula.

“Hello, can I help you find something?” A voice behind her asked.

“Uhm,” Adrienne sighed, looking around. She spotted the tin of formula she needed and reached down. “No thanks, found it,” she smiled to the woman behind her.

“You’re daughter is absolutely beautiful,” the woman said, looking down at Lily. “How old is she?”

“Seven months,” Adrienne replied, grabbing a couple more cans of the formula and tossing them into the basket on her arm.

“So stunning.” the woman said a final time before bustling off to help someone else. Adrienne could not deny that Lily was a beautiful little girl, she just wished that Lily’s father could be involved in her life. Adrienne found out she was pregnant after she left home. Though she was legally still married to Lily’s father, they hadn’t spoken in almost a year. She couldn’t stand to be around him anymore, but he refused to sign the divorce papers, saying they could work out their problems.

Adrienne knew there was no way for them to work out their problems. They were just to big and the most he’s ever done is gone off to drink with his friends or just ignore them by going down to his home studio to play with his stupid guitar.

“We’re doing good on our own, right baby?” she muttered, running her hand over her daughter’s dark locks again. Adrienne sighed and finished her shopping, knowing she had to go home to get herself and Lily ready for Matt’s barbeque.

“Thank you for coming,” the cashier smiled at Adrienne as she left. Adrienne smiled back at him and walked out of the store, heading toward the elevators.

He was back in California, she was here in North Carolina. There was no way he would find her.

“You made it!” Jeff shouted as he opened Matt’s front door, revealing Adrienne carrying Lily’s car carrier. “Give me that pretty little princess,” he said. “Go outside and say hi to Matt.”

“If I go out there without Lily, you and I both know he’ll bite my head off.” Adrienne pointed out.

“Okay fine, we’ll hang out in here all day and leave Matt alone outside.” Jeff smirked.

“Give me my daughter Jeff,” Adrienne glared at him playfully. Jeff backed up, making sure that he didn’t swing Lily around too much. He was so busy making sure he didn’t shake the baby and keeping her away at the same time, he didn’t see his older brother sneaking behind him. Matt grabbed the car seat, giving Adrienne the chance jump on Jeff and take him down.

“There’s my little niece,” Matt smiled down toward Lily. The baby looked up at Matt with a big smile and held her arms up to him. Matt set the seat down on the couch and unbuckled the straps, lifting her out gently and placing her in the crook of his arm.

“Hey princess,” he cooed over her. Adrienne looked up from her place on the ground beside Jeff, feeling her heart melt at how accepting Matt and Jeff was toward her and her daughter. They knew her past, she didn’t want there to be any surprises with these two guys. They took her in when she had nowhere else to go, and have been here for her ever since.

“Hey Addy,” Matt said, looking down at her and holding out his free hand.

“Hi Matty.” Adrienne replied, taking his offered hand and standing up.

“So, just so we can get this question out of the way, any luck with the divorce?” Jeff asked, standing up.

“Nope,” Addy sighed, looking at her daughter. “You know she looks so much like her father.”

“Don’t let that affect your feelings toward her,” Matt warned.

“I could never do that,” she smiled toward him. “This is my baby girl, I wouldn’t trade her for the world.”

“Good, cause I don’t want to have to kick your ass.” Matt said, looking back down at Lily. Adrienne shook her head and looked at the clock on the wall, sighed when she realized it was time to feed her.

“She still have to have that special formula?” Jeff asked as Addy made the bottle up.

“Yep, her stomach can’t handle the regular stuff.”

“Poor girl,” Matt sighed.

“Are we the only ones who are going to be here?” Adrienne asked, noticing there were no other sounds coming from the house or the backyard.

“No, Shannon and Julie’s supposed to be here. I don’t know if Shane’s gonna make it or not. Legend’s going to swing by later today as well.”

“Where’s Beth?” she asked Jeff, who was now playing with Lily’s hands.

“Her mom wasn’t feeling good so she took Ruby to go cheer her up.” Jeff replied. Adrienne nodded, and thought about her own mother. She was still in California. She knew about Lily, of course, she just can’t take time off of work to come to North Carolina to visit. Adrienne would have gone to see her a long time ago, but she couldn’t travel because she was pregnant with Lillian, and there were a lot of complications when she gave birth. Adrienne almost didn’t survive.

“Why does asshole keep holding up the divorce? You two haven’t been together for what a year now?” Matt asked, handing Lily back over to Jeff and walking out into the kitchen.

“Just about, and he keeps saying we can work out our problems.”

“Yeah, by ignoring them right?” Jeff muttered, following them into the room. He sat Lily on the breakfast table and sat himself in the seat in front of her. Lily looked around and picked up a metal fork. Jeff quickly grabbed it away from her and handed her a spoon instead.

“Watch her with that,” Adrienne warned Jeff. “But pretty much. When there was something going on, he would run out to a bar with his friends or go play guitar in the basement. I couldn’t go talk to him because he got pissed when I went downstairs while he was playing. There are no working out our problems with him. Just ignore them and they’ll go away. I’m glad I got away before I found out I was pregnant. Otherwise I have no idea how he would have taken it, or what he might have done.”

“It could have turned him around, knowing he had a baby coming into the world.” Jeff said. “I know it changed me a helluva lot when I found out Beth was pregnant with Ruby.”

“And we’re all extremely proud of you for that,” Matt smiled toward his younger brother. “But just because it happened for you doesn’t mean it would happen for someone else.”

“It got really bad after his best friend died,” Adrienne sighed, sitting down next to Jeff. “He never talked about it, not to me, not to the rest of the guys. Nobody. He just, sat there and moped for a long time.”

“Well, maybe that’s his way of dealing with grief. I remember Dad when our Mom died told us we had to stay strong. We cried, yeah, but we didn’t grieve. We knew she was in a better place.” Jeff said, a far off look going in his green eyes.

“I just want things with the two of us to go back to the way they used to be,” Adrienne sighed.

“Well, even if you two do end up back together, it won’t end up that way. You have a daughter now.” Matt smirked. Adrienne smiled as she looked at her daughter. The baby took the spoon out of her mouth and hit it against the wooden table. Addy knew she would never give up her daughter for anything, she just wished the baby’s father could be here to share in her happiness.



“Hear from that lawyer again?” Matt asked, sitting down next to his friend and band mate.

‘Hell yeah, she’s relentless on getting this divorce,” Brian muttered, scrubbing his face with his hands.

“Why don’t you just give in and give it to her? You two are done Brian, there’s no need for you to hold on to something that’s broken.”

“Funny thing about something being broken,” Brian muttered. “It can always be repaired.”

“But there’s always cracks where the break happened,” Matt pointed out.

“Not unless you cover it with a little paint.”

“So you’ll be willing to put everything aside for a second chance at your marriage?”

“Yeah, I still fucking love her Matt. I don’t want to lose her.”

“Then stop leaving her out of shit. Stop fucking running away from your problems and face them head fucking on.”

“I know, I messed up in the past.” Brian groaned, standing up. “I don’t know how I’m going to make that up to her, but, I need to find her Matt. I need to know where she is.”

“Why?”

“So I can talk her into coming home with me. To coming back to being the family we were before.”

“I don’t think she’ll come back that easily Brian. You hurt her really bad, and you acted like you didn’t even give a damn.”

“Because I was fucking hurting just as a much Matt. For fuck’s sake we had just lost fucking Jimmy, then she turns around and leaves! What the fuck was I supposed to do Matt? I was dying on the inside, and nothing could stop it.”

“Your wife tried to help you, but you pushed her away. That’s why she left Brian. You forced her away from you. I don’t blame her for leaving and not telling you where she is. Fuck Brian look at yourself! You’re wallowing with no sign of stopping any time soon.”

“I’m not you, Zack, and Johnny Matt. I can’t just get over losing him.”

“You think it was that easy for us? Johnny still fucking cries at night. Lacey told Val this not too long ago. Johnny is still fucking heart broken that Jimmy’s gone. Zack is too. Hell, I still want to bash the hell out of something when I think about how he didn’t deserve to go so soon. You’re not the only one still hurting from this Brian. What about Adrienne? How do you think she felt when he died. Her older brother died in battle, then a couple months later, Jimmy dies. Think about how you would feel if Brent died, then Jimmy did. We get you and Jimmy was close. Every one of us was close with him, but think, there are people with bigger problems than you, you’re just too self absorbed to see the fucking truth.” Matt stood up and stormed out of the house, slamming the door on his way out.

Brian remained on the couch, shell shocked by the words that had left Matt’s mouth. Brian knew Matt was right, but he didn’t want to believe it. Brian wanted his wife back, but he knew it was impossible since he had no way of tracking her down.

Brian stood up from the couch and went to the basement, flipping on the light that showed he was busy and not to be disturbed should anyone decide to visit. He picked up his guitar and sat down on the stood in the corner of the room, placing his fingers on the frets where he needed them to be. He started playing the new song he had been working on for a while now, getting lost in the melody instantly. His eyes closed as his fingers danced across the neck of the guitar, feeling all the hurt, sadness, and frustrations welling up inside him.

Suddenly, he realized something. Dropping his guitar, Brian quickly stood up and rushed up the stairs, grabbing the envelope his latest copy of the divorce papers came in. He looked at the address, and realized with a jolt that the law firm is in Raleigh, North Carolina. That meant she was somewhere in the state.

Without hesitation, Brian ran into his office and started up his computer. He looked up the law firm, and jotted down the address. He bought a plane ticket and quickly went upstairs and packed his bags. After calling his step-mother and explaining he had to go out of town, Brian packed up his car and drove straight to the airport. He had a lead on where his wife was, and he wasn’t going to pass it up.