Relative Design

Anabel stepped out of the airport, three bags in tow, and breathed in the American air deeply. It just felt different. Like home, kind of, but London had become home, too. It was just… a different kind of home.

God, six years was too long to be away. No, four, she corrected. She’d come home for Eliza’s wedding.

Someone honked and she looked over, smiling widely when Zoe waved and got out of the car.

“Hey!” she greeted as she approached, laughing when Zoe threw her arms around her, squealing.

“Oh, hi! You look wonderful! Very European chic,” she said cheerfully, taking two of her bag and pulling them towards the trunk.

“Thanks. And thanks for coming to get me, Zoe.”

“Oh, absolutely,” she said airily as the two lifted the heaviest suitcase together to get it in the trunk. “How was your flight?”

“It was great, no turbulence thankfully. I’m exhausted, but only half of that is thanks to the trip here. Jet lag,” she explained, her spirits too high to be dampened even by that. “But what have you been up to?”

Zoe waited until she was in the car and had securely fastened her seatbelt to turn the car on. “Well, law school is killing me, just a little bit, but, I don’t know, I’m interested in it so I kind of like it even though I hate it.”

“You sound like you like it.”

“I guess I do. How weird does that make me?”

“Not at all. Maybe a little nerdy, but that’s okay,” she teased, laughing when Zoe made a face at her.

“So, we aren’t really telling people yet, but…” she held out her left hand, showing off the classic engagement band on her ring finger.

“Oh, my god! Chris proposed?”

“He did! Only like a week ago. What do you think?”

“It’s beautiful, honestly. Princess cut, right?”

“Right.” She glanced at her ring and the smile she wore could only be described as smug. “I’m glad he went with this. It’s perfect.”

“It is. It looks lovely on you,” she said, and meant it. It was simple and flattered Zoe’s skinny fingers.

“Thanks. I’m so glad we got back together.”

She blinked. “You’d broken up?”

“For the first two years of college, before you and I reconnected. It wasn’t a bad break up, and we both weren’t ready for something serious. When we were, we ended up together again.”

“That’s adorable.”

She glanced at her, amused. “I think so. You have the faintest European accent. Suits you.”

“Guess I picked it up,” she laughed, blushing.

“Guess so. But seriously, your turn! How’s everything?”

“Everything’s good. A little stressful, but you know, good otherwise. I’m having my stuff shipped over here in the next few days, and I’ll just feel so much better once it’s all here and I’m settled in.”

“I bet. Did you hate having to leave your friends and stuff? Did you like Europe? What was it like? How’s your love life? I want to know everything!”

“I see that,” Anabel laughed, shaking her hair out of her face. “Slow down! Okay, uhm… yeah, leaving sucked. I’m going to miss my friends and even some of my coworkers, but it’s good to be back home. Good enough that it doesn’t bother me as much as it should. Europe… Europe is incredible. I loved it. If I hadn’t, I wouldn’t have stayed nearly half as long as I did. It’s as close to being home without actually being home as it gets. I’ll miss it.”

“Okay, stop it. You just got home, don’t be sad. Besides, your siblings will kill me if they realize I got you all depressed ten minutes after stepping out of the airport.”

She laughed, shrugging it off. “Right, sorry.”

“Why didn’t they come get you, by the way? Not that I minded, but I know you’re close with your siblings.”

“It’s a long story. I’ll explain later. You’ll come inside, right, when we get there?”

“Oh, sure. Don’t you want time to catch up with everyone?”

“Of course, but I’m not going to shoo you off. I have to catch up with you too.”

She grinned, finding Anabel much kinder than she remembered her. “Okay, cool. Now stop distracting me! Finish answering my questions. Love life?”

“Pleasantly nonexistent,” Anabel said, shifting until she was comfortable and trying not to squirm as she looked out the window. It felt so weird, being on the wrong side of the road.

“Seriously? You’re lying to me.”

“No, I dated this guy seriously for awhile, during college and a little bit after, but… I don’t know. It didn’t stick, you know?”

“What do you mean?”

She bit back a sigh. Jack had been sweet, affectionate, and completely unable to get her blood stirring. But he’d treated her well and she’d hoped... “I don’t know. I never really got into it. He was a great guy and everything, don’t misunderstand me, but there was no… I don’t know.”

“Ew, that sucks.”

“It did. Breaking up with him was hard, but I felt so much better after.” She remembered she’d been relieved and had felt awful afterwards. She'd spent years with the man. Wasn't there supposed to be something other than relief?

“This left. Just park in front, please,” Anabel said, and felt a spike of anxiety.

Just as they pulled up, a ’72 Ferrari Dino Spyder pulled into the garage and a minute later two guys got out, shutting the garage door in perfect sync. They’d be going inside now, congregating in the living room because she’d sent out an email the day before, asking them to be there by seven, no explanation other than she needed them to do it given.

Anabel took a deep breath and climbed out with Zoe, who stayed silent, understanding she needed this moment. It was still in silence that they got her bags, started up the walk, approached the porch.

At the door, she took a deep breath and held it as she pulled out the key to her sister’s house, slid it in the lock, and turned. Pushing the door open, her eyes landed on the sixteen year old who was clearly on his way back to the living room from the kitchen, a jar of peanut butter in hand.

They stood there, simply staring at each other for a moment. Anabel blinked furiously, surprised to find him looking so much like a younger Beckett in just the last four years since she’d seen him.

He’d grown into his clown feet.

And then he grinned, the charm of it dispatching every thought in her head as she simply melted at the sight of her youngest brother smiling like it was Christmas morning. He put the jar down before charging at her and hugging her tightly enough that she wondered if he was going to crack a rib. “You’re home!”

She laughed, her own arms going around him as he lifted her. “I am. Hi, Eric.”

“Welcome back.” He put her down, going around her to bring her bag in, then the two Zoe carried before ushering her in and closing the door.

“Who’s at the door, Eric?” Eliza called from the living room.

“No one!”

“I heard the door closing!”

“Stop being weird, Liza,” he yelled before grinning conspiratorially at Anabel. “They’re going to flip when they see you. Come on.”

She let him grab her wrist and tug her towards the rest of the family, biting her lip as her stomach tightened with nerves and anticipation. She couldn’t stop smiling even as she clamped down on her lower lip when they stopped in the doorway. “Hey, guys.”

Everything was still for a moment as everyone froze, their eyes all locking on her before Eliza, whooping loudly, got to her feet and caught Anabel in a hug, snapping everyone out of it. Beckett laughed, coming to her and swatting at Eliza’s arms until she let go so he could hug her in turn.

“When’d you get in?” Beckett asked.

“And why didn’t you call?” Eliza asked, hands on her hips.

“I’ve got a ride you’d love,” Eric said, nodding as if to reinforce it.

“That’s a beautiful Spyder,” she told him, hugging Will and kissing his cheek in sisterly greeting. “And I wanted to surprise you. I just got here. My bags are in the foyer.”

“Foyer,” Eric snickered, making Anabel laugh.

“Still haven’t grown up, you brat.”

“Still a douche, aren’t you?”

“Bother her later, Eric, and I’ll help you,” Will laughed. “Do you want something? Water, food?”

“Oh, god, yeah,” Eliza said, “sorry, I was just so excited to see you.”

“Don’t worry about it. Maybe later. Tell me everything first,” Anabel said as she was ushered to the middle of the sofa then crowded around.

“Okay, just give me a second. Zoe, honey,” Eliza started, fussing, “are you hungry? Thirsty? Sorry about our lack of hospitality.”

“No, seriously, don’t worry about it. I’m okay, thanks.”

“Well, okay. You’ll stay for dinner, right?”

“Uhm, sure,” Zoe said, startled by everyone’s sincerity. When she’d stayed for dinner all those years ago, they were still friendly, but… there was warmth now, instead of formality.

“Great, come sit. Relax.” After making sure she was comfortable, she turned back to her sister. “You, don’t try weaseling out of this. Spill, then we’ll tell you what’s up here.”

“Eliza, please,” Anabel asked sitting back comfortably as she put an arm around Eric’s shoulder and pulled him closer before taking Beckett’s hand, needing the contact. “I missed home. You first.”

“Well, all right,” she conceded, sitting on the table in front of Anabel and resting her hand on her sister’s knee, completing the unit. “Everything here is mostly the same. Will’s an editor for the paper now, which means he's always hounding people about deadlines, I’m still working for the PR company I transferred to, though I’m up a couple of floors in a corner office now. Beckett is still writing for the paper, and he and Will are wrecking havoc in the office, just like they did in Europe, except when Beck doesn't meet his deadline, which is frequently, and that one,” she pointed at Eric, “has now been busted twice sneaking girls into the house. The plural implying they were different girls both times.”

“Hey, in my defense—”

“You don’t have one,” Beckett interrupted, lightly hitting him upside the head. “So shut up. Saving the best for last, Eliza?”

“Well, I was going to tell her later.”

“Tell me what later?” Anabel asked, confused.

“Lastly,” she said with a deep breath, “I’m pregnant.”

“Oh. Oh! How far along are you?”

“Just a couple of months. So you, sweetie, have chosen just the right time to come back.”

Anabel laughed, sitting on the table beside Eliza and hugging her tightly. “Congratulations. You too, Will. How are you holding up?”

He took the hand she offered, squeezed lightly. “Terrified.”

She grinned, wondered if he realized that wasn’t exactly an answer. “I’m sure you’ll be a great dad.”

“I still have to grow up. Now I just have a time limit to do it,” he laughed, kissing the top of his wife’s head.

“Yeah, yeah. Okay, your turn. Tell us everything,” Beckett urged, leaning forward to rest his elbows on his knees.

“Oh, god, I don’t know. Uhm, well, Europe was great, but I’m back. For good. You guys know I had that job at the architecture firm back there, right? Well, working for them helped me get a job here, in the city. I start on Monday. My stuff should be here in the next couple of days, and I’m having it sent here. Sorry about that, Eliza, I just didn’t know where I’d be staying and—”

“What do you mean you don’t know where you’ll be staying?” Eliza interjected, eyes narrowed. “You’ll stay here, of course. And maybe at Beckett’s for a night or two or something.”

“Eliza, I can’t—”

“Sure you can. Now I don’t want to hear another word of it. You’ll stay in your old room.”

Beckett watched as Anabel rolled her eyes for the sake of pretense, her lips twitching. She hadn’t said a thing about her personal life, and he wondered if Eliza had realized.

When the doorbell rang, Eric went to get it, grumbling about how much being the youngest sucked. Zoe jumped up to go help him, giving the three siblings and Will some time for themselves. The second they were gone, Anabel turned to her brother.

“Beckett, he looks exactly as you did at his age.”

Every train of thought about his sister flew out of his head. Whatever was wrong, she hadn’t lost her observation skills. “Well—it’s kind of a long story.”

“But—”

“I’ll explain later, Anabel. Promise. First tell me about this job of yours.”

She sighed, but nodded. “I guess I’m good at what I do or something. They wanted me here, badly. Bad enough to throw in major benefits and start my pay at more than my old job could offer a beginner. And… I wanted to be home. It all seemed to fall together perfectly.”

“Well, whatever it was, you know we’re glad to have you back here.”

“Yeah,” Eliza agreed, “we are. Are you excited to start? Isn’t Monday a bit soon? You only just got here.”

“I know, but I got delayed getting here and…” She shook her head. “I just had a lot of stuff to tie up in London. It’s my own fault, really, but I am excited. They’re one of the top architectural firms and I’m itching to see what it’s like.”

“I bet. Now enough talk about work,” Will said, standing. “Let’s go have dinner. I remember starving when I landed here. I’m sure Anabel is, too.”

After dinner, after endless stories told about family disasters and travels around Europe, Anabel found herself upstairs in the room of her childhood. They’d kept it the same, she thought sentimentally, looking around the room. It was clean, dust free, the sheets washed. She could see the amateur interior designer in the style of the room that, while aesthetically pleasing, was just a bit cluttered. But she’d done well for a kid, keeping the flow of the room and not confusing it.

She glanced at the bags her brothers, three of them now, one for each bag, had left by the door, considering. Then, shaking her head, changed into a tank she’d used as PJs when she was younger, dumped the clothes she’d worn on the plane in the hamper and climbed into bed.

Downstairs, the three men and one woman, since Zoe had left, gathered in the kitchen for old times’ sake.

“Something’s bothering our girl,” Beckett said, taking a long pull of the beer he held and half heartedly glaring when Will snagged the bottle from him.

“I don’t know that something’s bothering her. She’s certainly homesick though,” Eliza contradicted, frowning at the bottle and wishing she could steal a sip. Placing a hand on her stomach, she banished the thought.

“Is that all, you think?”

“She didn’t say anything about her personal life,” Eric added, making Beckett shoot him a distracted smile.

Smart kid, Will thought, taking another sip of Beckett’s beer before handing it back. “She seemed more interested in us. She was tired, but happy to be here. You could see that.”

“I think she just needs time to be,” Eliza mused, leaning against the counter. “Why don’t you and Eric stay here for the night, Beckett? It’s Saturday tomorrow and you’ve both got extra clothes here.”

“I don’t mind,” Eric said, shrugging. “We could even go to that café Anabel loved.”

“Is that still open?” Beckett asked, stretching.

“Yeah, I was there last week.”

“Sounds good to me. And we’ll do a family dinner at my place tomorrow.”

“And we can help Anabel unpack in between,” Eliza said, grimacing when the three men shot her incredulous looks on the way out of the kitchen. She sighed, turning the lights off as she followed them into the hall. “Okay, fine I will.”

“Now you know how I felt, always outnumbered when I was growing up,” Beckett teased.

“Got me back, haven’t you? So shut up.”

Anabel awoke in her room from light sleep, hearing her siblings bickering on the other side of the door. Some things, she supposed, closing her eyes again, weren’t meant to change.