Three Months Later

Mom enters the kitchen and she has a smile on her face. She's whistling too. "Morning, Liza."

"Morning, Mom. What are you so chipper about?"

"All my kids are going to be under the same roof again. Also, all the rooms are going to be used. This day can't get any better."

I'm not looking forward to all my siblings being under this roof. Their half-assed apologies were enough for Mom to want them to come home for my reunion.

Before my siblings moved out of town we used to have a family day, but they forgot about it when they had there own family and lived far away from us.

Mom takes a seat across from me. "Liza, I know you're siblings aren't your favourite people in the world right now. Can you at least pretend to be overjoyed that they're coming home?"

I do a circle around my head and say. "I'll be the perfect angel you raised me to be."

She throws her head back and laughs. "That's all I can ask for. When are you going to get ready for the reunion?"

Looking at the clock I say. "I have a couple of hours to spare until the appointment and Clive's."

"How's his daughter, Rena?"

"She's perfect. Just got a job at her Dad's salon and they work closely together. Since, she moved out of her parents place. Her relationship with her old man has grown."

"That's good." She kisses the top of my head. "I love you, Liz."

"Love you, too, Mom. What are you going to do tonight?"

A smile spreads across her face. "Your father is taking the night off as he wants to spend it with me. We're going to watch our Grandkids and have fun with them until it's they're bedtime. Then we're going to sit on the deck and have a few drinks."

"That's sounds lovely, Mom. Please, don't stay awake until I get home. I'll tell you how it went tomorrow. I promise." I kiss her cheek.

"You better."

The front door opens and kids start running into the house. When they reach the kitchen I see that it's brother, Jasper's Children.

Jasper enters the kitchen a couple minutes later. He looks me up and down before saying.
"I thought you'd be taking the entire day to get ready. Nina and Chloe are. They won't be here until the reunion starts."

"They're not supposed to be here for the reunion and neither are you. You weren't apart of the year I graduated."

"Thank god I wasn't. But, this time of year is when we all get together to meet up with the other kids that went to school with us. There's another three years until we reach Nina's year. So, we'll be coming back every year for it."

"Have any of the years that you've come to the reunion have a problem with you being there?"

"No, which is why I keep on coming back. I'm looking forward to seeing a couple of guys from your year. I'm going to put a football game together for tomorrow night."

Great, another game that I'm supposed to cheer my family on with.

I'd rather spend the night in the house nursing the hangover that I'm going to get tonight.

"And you're going to be there to cheer me on. As part of the family, you're expected to pick our side and that ex of yours is going to be in a lot of pain."

"What are you talking about?"

"Ever since Austin broke up you, Dylan and I have been trying to figure a way to humiliate him in front of his girlfriend and friends. He's going to know how it feels to be left heartbroken like you were when he walked away."

I don't need them to stick up for me. I can handle my own battles when it comes to Austin.

Stepping past him I say. "You're not going to anything to him, Jasper. I want you and Dylan to stay out of my life. You've done a bang-up job all these years."

He grabs my arm and squeezes it slightly. Making me flinch. Peeling his fingers off my arm. "Don't touch me again, Jasper."

Dana walks in at that moment and says. "Jasper, you promised to be on your best behaviour while we were here. Leave your sister alone. It's about time you let go of your feelings about how her life is turning out. Just because everyone has a family doesn't mean you have to make her feel bad about doing something you didn't have the balls to do."

He looks at his wife. "Dana,"

She holds her hand up. "Shut up, Jasper. I don't want to hear anything from your mouth. The kids want to go to the park and I told them you were taking them." She gives him the keys.

Jasper takes the keys and walks out the door.

I turn to the blonde-haired, blue-eyed woman my brother married. "Thanks, Dana. I'm about to head to the salon. Do you want to come with?"

"Sure, I made an appointment there last week and they told me that it was after yours."

Grabbing my keys we head out of the house to the pick-up. I climb into the drivers seat and start the car.

Pulling the car out of the driveway I head in the direction of the salon.

***

When we get to the salon I see Rena with another woman curling her hair. "Dixon's going to drop dead when he sees the way you look tonight, Ava."

The bell above the door rings as a group of men enter the salon.

Ava looks in the mirror and her mouth drops open. "Eliza? Is that you?"

"Yes, it is."  I step closer to her. "It's good to see you, Ava Zane."

She smiles at me. "It's Ava Jensen now. I got married."

"Congrats, I'm guessing we get to see the luck fella tonight."

"That's right you are." She holds her ring finger out. "He brought me a diamond ring for our engagement and wedding bands."

Now, she's just rubbing it in my face.

Rena finishes spraying her hair. "We're all done, Ava."

"Thank you." She stands up from the chair and walks over to the counter and pays. Walking out the door she gets a few whistles by the men.

"Eliza, give me a couple minutes and then I'll do your hair."

"Okay," I take a seat next to Dana and we flip through some magazines, looking at hairstyles.

Clive walks out of the back room with a smile on his face. "Hey, Zeke. You're the first one up."

Zeke walks over to the chair and sits on it. He tells Clive the way he wants his hair cut.

Once Rena's station is cleaned she calls me over and I tell her how I want my hair. She starts doing my hair and then starts a conversation. "How are you, Eliza? It's been a couple weeks since I last saw you."

A smile spreads across my face. "I've been good. What about you? Are you going to the reunion tonight?"

"I've been great too. I won't miss out on catching up with all our classmates."

Rena curls my hair and puts spray in it to keep it on place. Once all the curls are done she puts bobby pins in my hair and then tell me she's done.

I look at my hair a smile spreads across my face. "Thank you so much."