A Fresh Start

“Tulsa is about two hours away. We’ll have to leave soon.”

Micah and Cherise were packing up in his apartment. It was small with a rather comfortable kitchen. He had a medium sized television and two bedrooms. Micah took both of their suitcases out to his car while Cherise gathered up Lira’s food and other supplies.

“You’re in charge of the music,” Micah said, handing her his phone and the aux cord.

She plugged it in to a random station on his Pandora and typed in her sister’s address in her phone GPS software. Harold had given Micah permission to take the two weeks off with Cherise. They planned on spending it in Tulsa after her sister’s wedding.

Imagine Dragons’ song ‘Friction’ began playing and she grinned. He turned the music up and they sang along. Almost each song after was a good one and they spent the time holding hands and singing. They stopped once to let Lira go to the bathroom.

When they finally pulled into her sister’s driveway, Cherise sighed.

“What’s wrong?” Micah asked, unbuckling his seatbelt.

“I’m excited for my sister,” she muttered, “but I’m not looking forward to being around my family.”

“You know, I’ve only ever met your mother,” he mused, tapping his chin. “What about your dad?”

Cherise unbuckled her seatbelt. “Let’s go,” she said and got out.

“Cherise!” he called after her but the door opened and someone squealed.

“CHERISE!”

Her sister came running out, arms thrown open wide. She already had a small bump but Cherise barely had time to admire it before Jean threw herself into her arms.

“It’s so great to see you!” she cried, squeezing her tightly.

“You, too,” Cherise said.

Jean grabbed her hand. “Everyone’s inside!”

“Hold on,” she said, pulling her hand out of hers. “Micah came with me.”

Jean tilted her head to the side. “Who?”

Cherise turned and held her hand out for him to take. He smiled and took it.

“Jean, this is my boyfriend, Micah,” Cherise introduced and he shook her hand.

“Took you long enough,” Jean giggled. “Let’s go inside.”

They followed her inside and he laced their fingers together. He gave her a reassuring squeeze and she smiled weakly at him.

“You ready?” he asked and she sighed.

“As ready as I’ll ever be.”

They entered the kitchen where her mother, brother, and sister had all gathered.

“… And Martin’s family will be here tomorrow,” Jean said excitedly.

“That sounds wonderful,” Cherise chimed in as Micah came in behind her, putting his arms around her waist.

“Oh, just wait until you meet him,” Jean gushed.

“It’s good to see you again,” her brother, Seth said to her.

“Likewise,” she nodded and her mother pulled them to the living room.

“Come see your sister’s dress,” her mother said.

“It’s beautiful,” Jean laughed.

Cherise had never seen her this excited before. They followed them into the living room where a mannequin was set up with a long white dress and a train.

“You’ll be my maid of honor,” Jean said, grabbing Cherise’s elbow. “Martin’s brother is going to be his best man.”

“You’ve got quite the bump there,” Cherise complimented, gesturing at Jean’s stomach.

Her grin got bigger. “Thank you! I’m so excited!”

“Do you know the gender?” Micah asked.

“Not yet. We’re hoping for a girl, though.”

“I’ll show you to your room,” her mother said.

“Oh, that’s okay,” Cherise said quickly, snatching Micah’s hand. “You see, Micah snores. Really loud.”

Jean winked. “I’m sure you know about that.”

Cherise blushed. “He fell asleep on the way up here.”

“You drove?”

She gulped. “No. We pulled over. Anyway, I know how much you hate snoring, Jean, so we got a hotel not far from here.”

Jean shrugged. “Okay,” she said and went back into the kitchen.

“Let’s go check in,” she muttered.

“Be back by seven!” her mother called after them. “We’re meeting for dinner!”

Micah didn’t talk until they got to the hotel. Cherise sighed in relief while he drove, closing her eyes. Just being around her family drained her. Tomorrow would be unbearable.

“We have a reservation under Allen,” Micah said at the front desk.

The man behind the desk pulled up the reservation. “Oh. I’m sorry, sir,” he said and Cherise frowned. “There was a mistake with the reservation and we lost your room. We’ve upgraded you to a King’s suite, though,” he added quickly, seeing the look on Micah’s face. He handed them their keys. “We haven’t charged you for the upgrade.”

Micah shrugged and led the way to the elevator. He was being unusually quiet, something that was making her feel a strange sense of dread. When they got off the seventh floor, he opened their room and flipped on the light. It was much larger than their other room and had a 48 inch TV built into a cupboard. She put Lira’s food bowl down by the desk and turned to the bed.

There was only one.

Micah closed the door with a snap and she turned. He had put his suitcase down and was leaning against the wall. He had his arms crossed and he was frowning at her.

“You want to tell me what happened back there?”

“I don’t know what you mean,” she muttered, looking away.

“Why did you lie to your family?” he demanded and she sighed, sitting heavily on the bed.

“When I went to school,” she began, “I didn’t keep in much contact with my family. My mother is the only one I ever got along with. Jean and I were okay but she started getting different after college. She got meaner. And my brother.” She sighed again, fighting back tears. “Well, that’s another story.”

Micah hadn’t moved. “So you’re willing to ruin any chance to fix your relationship with your family?”

She glared at him. “You don’t know anything about my family.”

“Exactly,” he retorted. “Why haven’t you told me all of this before?”

“Because it didn’t matter before!” she snapped, unzipping her suitcase angrily.

“And you aren’t even going to try to be a sister?”

Cherise slammed her suitcase closed, turning slowly. Micah wasn’t backing down, though, and Lira began to whine.

“How about you stop judging me!?”

“How about you start telling me the truth!?”

Lira barked but they ignored her.

“You really want to know?” she yelled. She threw her pill bag on the nightstand. “My ex-boyfriend was my brother’s best friend. After Bryce raped me, I told my brother. He confronted Bryce who admitted it. Instead of doing something to help me, he high-fived him and told me to suck it up.” She was crying. “Not everyone can have a perfect family, Micah.”

He scoffed. “My family isn’t so perfect, Cherise.” She frowned at him. “My father overdosed on meth when I was nine. My mom took it hard and moved to Seattle, leaving me with her dad. I haven’t heard from her in 15 years. Why? Because I look like my dad and she can’t stand it.” He slammed his suitcase on the other desk, glaring at the mirror. “She’d rather leave me alone with my grandpa than accept her duties as a mother. At least she paid for my college,” he added bitterly.

Cherise felt her anger ebb away. Micah was unpacking now that their fight was over.

“I’m sorry, Micah,” she said quietly. He didn’t answer. “Sometimes I get so caught up in things…. I should have thought before I lost my temper.” He still remained silent so she took a deep breath, walking up behind him. That’s when she heard him sniff. He was crying. “Micah,” she whispered but he hung his head.

She forced him to look at her and she wiped his tears away. He kept his eyes firmly closed.

“Please don’t cry,” she said. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to upset you.”

She hugged him and felt his tears on her neck. She let him cry for a few more minutes then he cleared his throat. He kissed her lightly on the lips.

“Let’s finish unpacking. Do you want me to sleep on the floor?” he asked, eyeing the bed.

“We can share,” she said. “I trust you.”

He gave a brave attempt at a smile. “I don’t know. I might lose my resolve tonight.”

She giggled and Lira jumped on Micah’s legs. He knelt down and let her lick his face, laughing gently.