The Cop and the Crook

Chapter 8 - Dani

The home of my childhood comes slowly into view as we pull into the driveway. Everett took it over after my aunt left for her whirlwind trip to explore the world a few years ago, and it almost looks the same as I remember, with a few new additions of a couple of plants hanging from the front verandah on the deck.

"Home sweet home Dani"

I turn to find him watching me, a small smile on his face, and I smile back. I really did miss him, and until I saw the house again I didn't realise how much I missed home to. LA was home to for a while, I love my job, my small apartment and my friends back there are incredible, even threatening to hunt me down and drag me back if I didn't come back first. But I missed my first home to.

We hop out the car and grab my bags, Everett taking the big one and me slinging the other over my shoulder, before making our way up the small path and few steps to the door. I'm amazed at how much is still the same outside. The white paint, the red roof, even the flower garden my aunt planted before her trip. We walk inside, stepping into the lounge room. The inside is a mixture of Everett and old home, with the layout being the same but the furniture is all new.

All except one piece. A simple long dresser with three draws, against the side of the staircase, and I take a moment to run my hand over it. Everett has made a lot of changes over the years but this is the one thing that has stayed the same. Our parents brought this just before they got married and it had been a treasure to them. The dark wood still gleams, shining as the light dances across it. Each picture I remember from my childhood, and I pick up the middle one of the last holiday the four of us took together, smiling down at it. Our parents grin at both of us as we pull faces at the random stranger who took it for us. I cringe at my hair in the classic awkward kid faze everyone seems to have, except Everett it seems who looks like he's from a freaking teen movie. It was taken only a month before the car accident that took both of them. I put the photo down and my eyes travel to the other ones. A few before and a few after with my amazing aunt who took us in and became a second mother to us. At the end a few postcards lean against one of the pictures of my aunt, in front of a pyramid in Egypt, are identical to ones I have containing her stories of adventure back in LA.

Everett clears his throat and I turn around to see him rubbing the back of his neck, a nervous gesture he's always had.

"So I don't know how long your staying...but um you can have your old room"

My head turns, and my eyes follow as he points up the stairs.

"I really do need to get back to work....."

I jump in as Everett trails off, deciding to save him and the trip down memory lane for another time.

"Thanks"

Smiling, I take my bag off him, pulling it up the stairs and plopping it down in the second bedroom that has always been mine.

The room is just how I remember it, except that someone has tidied it up as I was, and still am, not that tidy. There's a queen bed stuck in the middle of the room that's been freshly made, and the sight of it makes me blush. Thanks Ev. The only other large piece of furniture in the room is a desk in front of the window that still has pictures from my teen years, the last newest one being a picture the day I left for LA on an internship, not long after I turned 22. 

I shake my head and throw the bag on my bed to rummage through, trying to find a swim suit. Everett's probably close to having a panic attack by now that I'm taking too long. I almost give up when I spot blue material. Ah ha, there you are. I pull the bikini out and a dark blue racer back dress I can throw over it. Once changed I bounce downstairs​ and, yep, find Everett pacing the floor, his hand rubbing the back of his neck again. The man is terrible at poker, he has so many tells.