Olivia

Intro I hadn’t stepped foot in this town in ten years, and it felt exactly the same and completely different all at once. The same cracked sidewalk in front of my mom’s house. The same dusty corner store with the flickering sign. But everything else? Me? All of it had changed. Life had a funny way of doing that. When I moved back to take care of Mom, I told myself I wasn’t here to reconnect or settle in—I was here for her. Nothing more. But then my childhood best friend, Blake texted. Said Hallie, his wife and my other best friend, was cooking dinner and their “friend group”—which apparently was a thing now—was coming over. I figured I could use a break from sorting prescriptions and unpacking boxes. Maybe even make a couple adult friends who didn’t wear scrubs or answer to “Mom.” I walked through their front door expecting small talk and maybe a few names I wouldn’t remember. Instead, I saw her. Olivia. Sitting barefoot on the couch with a glass of red wine, like she’d always belonged there. Head tilted back laughing at something, hair catching the porch light, one leg tucked under the other like she had nowhere else to be. And suddenly, neither did I.