Lost Journals

Aislin was able to chat with her little sister about Colm. The night had been amazing but with no one to share it with. Elspeth did not judge and was stoked that things had gone so well.

Aislin was not looking for a relationship with Colm, just a night of laughs, a night of healing, a night when the past was absolved.

Then the call came while Aislin was brushing her teeth and laying out her clothes for the morning.

"When are you coming home?" Liam asked.

"I am home," she answered this perennially sticky question. The farmlands of Iowa may have seen her birth and rearing but Colorado had been her home for the past eight years. "I'll be in Iowa for Christmas. Why?"

"Could I fly you out for Thanksgiving? My dad would love to see you."

"Liam, I wouldn't feel comfortable with that. I already have plans with a friend of mine. Besides, isn't your dad still married to Sybil?" Sybil was the supreme wicked witch of step mothers. She treated Liam as a servant to her own ill-behaved brats.

"Yes, but she's going to see her sister in Washington. Baby, please."

"It's been ten years since you could get your way with baby please. I will be in Iowa for Christmas and that is final."

Aislin only returned to Iowa once a year to spend time with her mother and piece together missing memories. After high school and her own husband's death, she'd lived out of her car for about seven months. Most of that time is missing from Aislin's memory and for some reason putting it all together had become a quest.

"What if I came out there? My mom still lives in Denver."

"The answer is no. I start filming next month. This is one of my hardest semesters. I need to be able to concentrate."

"You're dating someone, aren't you?"

"No, I'm not. I actually got stood-up this weekend."

"What about that theatre guy you were seeing? Is he still hanging around? Is he the one that stood you up? Didn't he stand you up once before?"

"You were a theatre guy once, too. I remember a certain intermission during Sherlock Holmes in the light booth."

"You're avoiding the question. Are you still fucking him?" Liam's voice had raised an octave to imply accusation.

"I never had sex with Colm. We're still friends. Why are you getting so upset? Did something happen?"

"Why would something have to happen for me to interested in my friend's life? I just want to see you."

"Why don't you tell me what happened?"Liam paused before he confessed that he'd had dinner with his in-laws and things hadn't gone well. They wanted all of their daughter's possessions back, arguing they spent more time with her than her work obsessed husband.

"Baby, I know I work too much, but I always took time when she needed me - doctor's appointments, hospital stays, or days she was just too sad to get out of bed. They want everything," Liam sputtered before decending into uncontrolable sobs."

"They're grieving and overreacting just like you. Please calm down. You're not doing anyone any good when you get this upset."

Suddenly, Liam began laughing.

"What are you laughing at?"

"I told you that once when you got sick at the Hard Rock in Kensington Park. Do you remember?"