One Week Later . . .
Emily picked up a duffel bag, and walked into the terminal. She looked back at her parents, and waved. She had already said her good byes to CJ, Amy, Amanda and Megs. She resumed walking, and got on the plane. She found her seat, and sat down. She looked out her window, and cried.
***
Lance ran down the hallway, to where her flight was. He saw her parents, and looked out the window. His breath caught. The plane was leaving. **I never got to say good bye.**
***
1999 . . .
(That's so weird! I'm now putting ‘99 instead of ‘98!)
Emily looked out the window, as the plane landed. She grabbed her duffel, and Seedling, her daughter, Jamie's stuffed animal. She got up, and put Jamie on her back. She got off the plane, and saw a crowd. She put Jamie down. "Oh my god! Amy! Megs! You guys!"
Emily ran to them, and hugged them tightly. "I haven't seen you guys in SO long!! How did you guys know I was coming?"
"Your mom and dad. They reached us, and said you were coming home. We weren't just going to not come!" CJ exclaimed. "We haven't seen you in what, three and a half years?"
Emily nodded her head. "You guys, this is Jamie," she said, gently pushing her daughter forward.
CJ smiled, and leaned down. "Hi, I knew your mommy when she was 17. How old are you?"
Jamie grinned, and proudly stated, "I'm going to be four in two days! My birfday is on the, um, what is it mommy?"
"It's on January 18th."
CJ laughed. "She's just like you, Emily. Loud!"
"Actually, I was the shyest little kid. Even around my cousins. She takes after, um . . . "
"Her dad?" Amy asked. "Does she know who her dad is?"
Emily's smile weakened. "No, she doesn't." She looked at Jamie, and continued. "She's a lot like him. Look at her eyes."
Amy looked and gasped. "You know, I never thought that I'd see another pair of eyes like Lance's." Amy straightened up. "Why did you tell Lance that you cheated on him?"
Emily sighed. "I didn't want him to have a burden on him. It was the right thing to do." "
No, it wasn't. It hurt him a lot," Megs told her. "You know, I think you should talk to him. Jamie needs a dad."
"How am I supposed to do that? He's off on tour or something. Should I just call him, and say, ‘Hi, you got me pregnant when you were 16, and my child wants to meet her dad'?" Emily asked. "I can't do that."
Amanda laughed. "Are you sure? You know, there is a concert they're doing here, when? Um . . . tonight!" She grinned demonically.
"What did you do?" Emily asked. There was screaming down the hall. A crowd of teenage girls were crowded around five guys, making their way towards them. Emily laughed, but it got blocked in her throat. "You didn't." She turned around, and played with Jamie's hair.
"What's wrong, mommy?" Jamie asked. "Are you freaked out?" Megs laughed. "Where did she learn that?"
"Kira, my friend. She gets a kick out of influencing my daughter," Emily told her. "No, honey, I'm not ‘freaked out'. I'm just a little nervous, I guess."
Behind her, Lance separated from the crowd, and walked over to CJ and the rest. "Hi you guys. Long time, huh?"
"About as long as it's been since we've seen Emily," Amanda replied. "Have you heard from her?"
"Not since she got sent to boarding school. Did she, um, have her kid?" he asked.
CJ nodded. "You wanna see her?"
"I wish I could, but isn't she somewhere in New Mexico?"
Emily straightened up, and turned around. As she looked at Jamie's dad, tears slipped down her cheeks. Jamie walked out from behind her legs. "Mommy, who's that?" she asked, pointing to Lance.